Pinnacle Mountain State Park is in the planning stages of trail expansions. The park is a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts, hikers and cyclists, as well as Harding students.

According to Lynn Warren, a landscape architecture specialist from the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, an ongoing concern in the area has been the size of the bike trail that is part of Pinnacle Valley Road, a roadway shared by bikes and cars.

“There has been a lot of stress on Pinnacle Valley Road–cars are in a hurry, there are small hills, sometimes the cyclists get in a driver’s blindside,” Warren said.

Developers from Pulaski County are planning to add bike lanes to several sections of the road, but Warren said her department’s objective is to give cyclists more routes without the hazard of cars. The renovation process will begin as soon as funding is in order.

A new paved trail will connect to the current bike trail, branching off in various directions, giving cyclists the opportunity to take shortcuts to different areas within the park as well as surrounding parks that the bike trail connects to. Warren said the new path will be 12 feet across to accommodate cyclists and hikers.

“The expansion of the trail will probably bring more people to the area which is nice,” junior Bronson Crabtree, a native of Little Rock, said.

Crabtree said most Harding students go to the park for the summit trails. These trails span the base of Pinnacle Mountain to the top,

Pinnacle Mountain State Park is located just west of Little Rock, an hour drive or a six-hour bike or a 22-hour hike from Harding’s campus. The park is open year round from 8 a.m. to one hour after sunset.