The Ozark Highlands Trail (OHT) is a combination of simple footpath and old forest roads favoring the heights of land, and located for minimum reliance on construction for protecting the resource. Views from the OHT are predominantly forested, sporadically intermixed with old fields, pastoral valleys, and cultural landscapes. The OHT offers a diversity of topography and a variety of vegetation and animal life exposing the hiker to the entire range of land forms, clear water features, history, and uses of the land found throughout the Ozarks.
The trail is the only designated National Recreation Trail on the forest. Facilities include the OHT footpath itself, trailhead parking areas, information boards at road crossings and developed recreation areas. Management practices are modified to recognize the nationally significant aesthetic and recreation values of these lands.
