Delta Heritage Trail South End: Arkansas City to Rohwer

The Robert S. Moore Jr., Arkansas City Trailhead is the southern terminus of the Delta Heritage Trail. The Arkansas City Trailhead has ample parking, many picnic tables on the lawn and a sheltered pavilion area with tables that is open for public use. This trailhead has two walk-in non-reservable tent pads for camping and the men’s and women’s restrooms are accessible 24/7 for overnight guests. There is a community water spigot and water fountain as well as trash cans, a bike repair station, a large group grill and several smaller stand grills. A park office is also located at the Arkansas City Trailhead.

From its southernmost point at the Robert S. Moore Jr., Arkansas City Trailhead, the Delta Heritage Trail runs north 15 miles atop a blacktop paved section of the Mississippi River levee and across a connector route to the Rohwer Trailhead. The Mississippi River Levee rises 20-to-25-feet above the surrounding landscape and offers breathtaking views of both the river itself and the bottomland swamps that inhabit the Mississippi’s backwaters. 

This section of trail follows the blacktop levee for around 13 miles then onto a connector route for just over a mile to Rohwer Trailhead. The trail starts by going up the levee ramp located near the northeast corner of the trailhead lot (intersection of Desoto Ave. and Sprague Rd.)

At the other end of the Levee section, the route from the end of the Levee section to Rohwer Trailhead can be tricky. There are signs and roadway paintings to mark the end of the levee section but an unmistakable indicator you’ve gone too far is if you reach a point where the blacktop levee turns back to gravel. Just before the transition back to gravel is an asphalt “exit ramp” down off the levee and onto Rohwer Lane (aka Desha CR 64). Rohwer Lane runs west from the levee through crop fields, across a small metal bridge over Boggy Bayou to a stop sign, and through a small neighborhood before hitting a second stop sign at AR-1 directly across from the Rohwer Trailhead. Cross the highway to reach Rohwer Trailhead. It can be recognized by its flat yellow structures (designed to resemble a rural rail depot from the early 20th century) and its stout perimeter wooden fence.

Rohwer Trailhead has a large parking area with full-service restroom, water fountains, several picnic tables, a covered seating bench, and bike repair station. The covered seating area has interpretive panels about the general history of the area as well as the existence of a Japanese-American internment camp located nearby during World War II, known as the Rohwer Heritage Site. 

The Rohwer Heritage Site is located just off the trail to the west at the first road crossing (roughly 0.5 mi) north of Rohwer Trailhead. Park guests may wish to also visit the WWII Japanese-American Internment Museum in nearby McGehee, AR, about 20 minutes by car south on AR-4, to learn more about the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII.