Pullman Avenue Dead-Ends. The Trail Behind It Doesn't.
Drive to the end of Pullman Avenue and the pavement just stops. No cul-de-sac loop, no turnaround, just a gravel lot and a wooden trailhead sign a few blocks off Park Avenue. Most cities would call that a dead end. In Uptown, it's the busiest on-ramp in the neighborhood, and it happens to be the only place inside Hot Springs National Park where the National Park Service lets you ride a bike.
That's not a minor technicality. National parks are, almost without exception, foot traffic only. Hot Springs carved out one exception, and it starts a few blocks from Park Avenue front porches. If you live in Uptown, you already know the trailhead exists. What's changed is what's on the other side of it this fall, and how unusual it still is that it's there at all.
The Pullman Trail covers about six tenths of a mile of actual national park land, climbing over Sunset Ridge before dropping into the Northwoods Trails System on the far side. Ride it door to door, gravel lot to Northwoods boundary, and the distance stretches to roughly eight tenths of a mile. Either way, it's short. It's also, according to the National Park Service's own announcement when the trail opened, the only stretch of the park where mountain bikes are permitted. Sunset Trail crosses right over it partway through, and bikes still aren't allowed there. Horses aren't allowed on Pullman either. Dogs are welcome, but they have to stay leashed the moment you cross into park boundary, which for most Uptown riders happens within the first quarter mile.
The trail was built by the International Mountain Bicycling Association's Trail Solutions crew, the same team that laid down the first phase of Northwoods itself, with funding from a Walton Family Foundation grant recommended by Steuart Walton and Tom Walton. It also passes close to a historic homesite, and the National Park Service is specific about what that means in practice: the bottles, tin cans, toys, and even the remains of an old car you might spot along the route aren't trash. They're archaeological artifacts protected by federal law, and the instruction from the Park Service is simple. Leave them exactly where they are.
For years, Pullman Trail has functioned as a connector and nothing more, a way to get from downtown and Uptown into the real riding on the other side. That's shifting. Construction is set to begin in 2026 on seven miles of new trail circling Sanderson Lake, part of an eleven-mile expansion IMBA has already mapped for the property.
Traci Berry, Northwoods Trails Coordinator for Visit Hot Springs, described the plan to Singletracks in terms any Uptown rider will recognize as a real upgrade rather than a marketing phrase:
"We're going to circumnavigate the Upper Lake, Sanderson Lake, with trail. The west side of Sanderson will be green. The east side of Sanderson will be blue. So we will eventually have a green figure eight on the west side, so the green riders don't have to go out and back."
That last detail matters more than it sounds. Right now, a beginner riding the green sections of Northwoods often has to backtrack the way they came. A figure-eight loop means a shorter, family-friendly ride that never repeats itself, accessible from the same Pullman Trailhead Uptown residents already use.
The Northwoods and Cedar Glades system was voted best in the state for the sixth time in an Arkansas Outdoors Magazine reader poll in April 2026. Six wins in that poll is the kind of tally that stops being a coincidence and starts being a description of what the system actually is, which is a legitimate destination that happens to sit five minutes from a residential Uptown street.
The clearest marker on the calendar for anyone riding out of Pullman this year is the Güdrun MTB Festival. The event moved to new November dates and partnered with the Ozark Foundation to become part of the Arkansas Enduro Series, folding a three-day local festival with races, exhibits, and a skills showcase into a regional competitive circuit. It still culminates in the Attila the Hun XC race, an Arkansas Mountain Bike Championship Series event, and it still happens on the trails Uptown riders reach without ever putting a bike on a car rack.
Four trailheads feed the full Northwoods system, and knowing which one is which changes how you plan a ride:
Hot Springs carries an IMBA bronze-level Ride Center designation, a rating reserved for towns that offer a genuine range of terrain and experience rather than a single showcase trail. Riding out of Pullman puts an Uptown resident on the same map as riders who fly in specifically for that rating.
Two locally owned shops handle the gear side of things without leaving the neighborhood. Parkside Cycle covers sales, rentals, and repairs, and Hot Springs Bicycle Touring Co. adds guided downtown tours to its rental and repair lineup. Neither requires a drive across town.
The more distinctive stop comes after the ride. Superior Bathhouse Brewery uses thermal spring water as a brewing ingredient and holds the distinction of being the first brewery located inside a U.S. national park. For an Uptown resident finishing a loop through Pullman and Northwoods, that's not a novelty fact for out-of-town guests. It's the actual closest cold drink to the trailhead, sitting inside the same park boundary the ride just crossed.
Not every Uptown resident rides, and the neighborhood's own green space holds up on its own terms. David F. Watkins Memorial Park, named for a former city manager, came together through local fundraising the same way the neighborhood's antique-style streetlights did, and it now has an all-inclusive playground, an amphitheater, and a creek running through it, with a splash pad in the planning stages. A little farther north on Park Avenue, DeSoto Park offers the same creek-and-green-space formula on a quieter scale.
That pattern, residents funding and shaping their own public space rather than waiting for it to arrive, is consistent with how Uptown has described itself for years: locals pouring effort into remodeled houses, new small businesses, and community projects in a neighborhood that runs along Park Avenue from Whittington Avenue up toward Forrest Hills Trail. The Pullman Trail fits the same mold. It wasn't built as a tourist amenity. It was built as a neighborhood connection, and the city manager who helped open it in 2020 said so directly, calling it the connection the trail would provide to residents and visitors alike.
What's true this September is that the connection just got more interesting. Seven new miles are coming to the far side of the ridge, the system holding the trail has been named best in the state for the sixth time, and the festival calendar built around it now plugs into a statewide competitive series. None of that required Uptown residents to change anything about where they live. The trailhead was already at the end of their street.
If you're weighing what a specific address near Park Avenue or Whittington actually gets you in terms of trail access, green space, or walkability, that's the kind of detail worth walking through property by property. 501 House to Home knows this stretch of Uptown at street level, from Pullman Avenue to Watkins Park, and can walk you through what's genuinely close by foot or bike versus what only looks that way on a map. Get Your Free Home Valuation to start that conversation.
When you work with Jeff Kennedy and his team, you benefit from professionals who understand your needs and will work their absolute hardest to ensure excellent results for you and your family. Give Jeff a call today and discover the difference he can make for you!