Mossback Ridge

Mossback Ridge

Mossback Ridge is a high, forested summit on the broad plateau of Mount Magazine in Logan County, Arkansas. Rising to approximately 2,725 feet (831 meters) according to Peakbagger, it is only about 28 feet lower than Signal Hill, the 2,753-foot summit of Mount Magazine and the highest point in Arkansas.

That makes Mossback Ridge particularly interesting: although it receives far less attention than neighboring Signal Hill, Peakbagger ranks it as the second-highest named summit in Arkansas. Its gentle summit terrain, hardwood forests, wildflowers, and connection to several of Mount Magazine State Park’s major trails make the ridge an attractive destination for hikers exploring Arkansas’s highest mountain.

Mossback Ridge should not be confused with the Mossback Ridge Trail, although the two are closely connected. The ridge is a physical landform and subsidiary summit of Mount Magazine, while the 2.1-mile trail crosses the high plateau and serves as an important link in the park’s trail network.

⚡ Fast Facts

Feature	Details
Mountain	Mossback Ridge
Country	United States
State	Arkansas
County	Logan County
Physiographic region	Arkansas River Valley
Broader mountain region	Ouachita Mountains / U.S. Interior Highlands
Elevation	Approximately 2,725 feet / 831 meters
Prominence	Approximately 183 feet / 56 meters
Isolation	Approximately 0.82 mile / 1.32 kilometers
Nearest Higher Neighbor (NHN)	Magazine Mountain / Signal Hill
Approximate coordinates	35.167° N, 93.629° W
Protected area	Mount Magazine State Park
Principal trail	Mossback Ridge Trail
Trail distance	2.1 miles
Trail difficulty	Moderate

Elevation figures for Mossback Ridge vary slightly among mapping and peak databases. Peakbagger lists the summit at approximately 2,725 feet, while other topographic sources place it between roughly 2,713 and 2,730 feet.

🏔️ Arkansas’s Second-Highest Summit

Mossback Ridge occupies the eastern portion of the summit plateau of Mount Magazine, Arkansas’s highest mountain.

Peakbagger lists Mossback Ridge at approximately 2,725 feet, making it the second-highest summit in its Arkansas peak database. Signal Hill on Magazine Mountain reaches 2,753 feet, leaving a difference of only about 28 feet between the two.

The contrast between the two summits is subtle on the ground. Mount Magazine is a broad, flat-topped mountain rather than a sharply pointed peak, and Mossback Ridge rises only modestly above the surrounding plateau.

Its topographic prominence of approximately 183 feet reflects this relationship. Mossback Ridge is a recognizable summit, but it remains closely connected to the much more prominent Magazine Mountain massif.

📏 Nearest Higher Neighbor

The Nearest Higher Neighbor (NHN) of Mossback Ridge is Magazine Mountain, whose highest point is Signal Hill.

The two summits are separated by less than a mile of high plateau terrain. ListsOfJohn gives Mossback Ridge an isolation of approximately 0.82 mile, emphasizing just how closely the ridge is tied to Mount Magazine.

This is a dramatically different topographic situation from Magazine Mountain itself. Mount Magazine has more than 2,000 feet of prominence and hundreds of miles separating it from higher terrain, while Mossback Ridge is essentially a subsidiary summit on the same elevated plateau.

For peakbaggers, this makes Mossback Ridge an interesting extra summit to visit while exploring Arkansas’s high point.

🗺️ Where Is Mossback Ridge?

Mossback Ridge is located in Logan County in western Arkansas, within Mount Magazine State Park.

The ridge lies east of Signal Hill and south of the Arkansas River. Nearby communities include Paris, Magazine, Havana, and Blue Mountain.

Geographically, Mount Magazine rises from the Arkansas River Valley, a physiographic region situated between the Ozark Plateaus to the north and the main Ouachita Mountains to the south.

Peakbagger groups Mossback Ridge and Mount Magazine within the broader Northern Ouachita Mountains, and the mountains are frequently associated with the Ouachitas in popular geography. The Arkansas Geological Survey, however, places the Mount Magazine area within the Arkansas River Valley physiographic province.

This distinction is worth noting because Mount Magazine and Mossback Ridge occupy an interesting transitional landscape between two of Arkansas’s great upland regions.

🪨 Geology of Mossback Ridge

Mossback Ridge shares its geological history with Mount Magazine.

The mountain is composed primarily of sedimentary rocks deposited during the Pennsylvanian Period, more than 300 million years ago. Sand, mud, silt, and organic material accumulated in ancient coastal and delta environments and were eventually transformed into sandstone, shale, siltstone, and related sedimentary rocks.

Later tectonic compression associated with the Ouachita mountain-building event folded the rocks of western Arkansas.

Mount Magazine occupies a broad structural feature known as the Magazine Mountain Syncline. Erosion gradually stripped away softer surrounding rock while resistant sandstone layers helped preserve the elevated plateau.

The result is the unusual flat-topped form visible today.

Rather than forming an isolated pointed summit, Mossback Ridge represents a slightly higher portion of this erosion-resistant plateau.

Along the margins of Mount Magazine, harder sandstone forms steep cliffs and bluffs while softer underlying shale has weathered away. Large blocks of rock have broken from the bluff lines and accumulated along the slopes, creating talus and rocky habitat.

🌲 Mossback Ridge Trail

The Mossback Ridge Trail is one of the main hiking routes within Mount Magazine State Park.

Arkansas State Parks lists the trail as approximately 2.1 miles long and rates it moderate. Most of the walking is relatively easy because the route remains on top of the ridge rather than making a sustained climb from the base of the mountain.

The trail is marked with yellow blazes.

One of its most useful features is connectivity. The Mossback Ridge Trail intersects or connects with four other park trails:

Benefield West Loop
Greenfield Trail
North Rim Trail
Signal Hill Trail

This makes Mossback Ridge an important crossroads in the park’s larger hiking network rather than simply an isolated out-and-back destination.

👨‍🏫 Who Was Mossback Ridge Named For?

Despite what the name might suggest, “Mossback” was not simply a description of the vegetation covering the ridge.

Arkansas State Parks explains that the trail was named for Albert Morsbach, an early settler, farmer, and teacher associated with Mount Magazine.

The name provides another connection between the modern trail system and the history of people who once lived and worked on the mountain.

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, families established farms and small communities on portions of Mount Magazine’s plateau. Remnants of old roads, homesteads, fields, stonework, and other cultural features remain incorporated into the landscape.

Several park trails preserve pieces of this history.

🌼 Wildflowers Along Mossback Ridge

Mossback Ridge is particularly appealing for hikers interested in plants and wildflowers.

Arkansas State Parks specifically recommends watching for the variety of wildflowers found along the trail. The relatively high elevation and range of habitats on Mount Magazine support plant communities that differ from those found in the surrounding valleys.

Spring brings some of the best wildflower conditions, while summer produces dense green forest and autumn transforms the hardwood canopy with reds, oranges, and yellows.

The summit plateau contains oak and hickory forests along with areas influenced by cedar glades, rocky openings, springs, streams, and bluff habitats.

Because elevation, slope direction, soil depth, moisture, and exposed rock vary substantially across Mount Magazine, numerous ecological communities occur within a relatively small area.

🐻 Black Bears on Mossback Ridge

Hikers may also encounter evidence of American black bears.

Arkansas State Parks notes that visitors along the Mossback Ridge Trail should watch for places where bears have moved rocks or logs while searching for food.

Black bears inhabit the forests surrounding Mount Magazine, although actually seeing one is considerably less common than finding signs of their presence.

White-tailed deer, squirrels, raccoons, wild turkeys, and numerous smaller mammals also occur in the area.

As with any bear habitat, hikers should avoid approaching wildlife and should never intentionally feed wild animals.

🦋 A Remarkably Diverse Mountain Ecosystem

Mount Magazine is one of Arkansas’s most biologically interesting mountains.

The mountain’s combination of elevation, rocky slopes, sandstone cliffs, forest, glades, and relatively cool summit conditions creates numerous habitats within a compact area.

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas reports that 94 of Arkansas’s 134 recorded butterfly species have been documented on Mount Magazine.

Among the best known is the Diana fritillary, a large woodland butterfly found in portions of the southern Appalachian and Interior Highlands regions.

The mountain also provides habitat for the Magazine Mountain shagreen, a small terrestrial snail historically considered threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. Its specialized habitat occurs among moist talus and rocky slopes below Mount Magazine’s cliffs.

The species ultimately recovered sufficiently to be removed from the federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife, making it an important conservation success associated with the mountain.

🥾 Connecting Mossback Ridge and Signal Hill

Visitors can use Mossback Ridge Trail as part of a hike toward Signal Hill, the actual high point of Arkansas.

The Signal Hill Trail is approximately 1.5 miles long and connects with Mossback Ridge Trail. At the 2,753-foot summit, hikers find a large stone map of Arkansas marking the state’s highest point.

Because the two high areas are so close together, exploring both makes sense for hikers interested in the topography of Mount Magazine.

Signal Hill receives most of the attention because it holds the state high-point distinction, but Mossback Ridge provides a better appreciation for the unusual breadth of Mount Magazine’s summit plateau.

🥾 North Rim Trail Connection

Another worthwhile option is combining Mossback Ridge Trail with the North Rim Trail.

The North Rim Trail extends approximately 2.2 miles along the northern edge of Mount Magazine. Arkansas State Parks rates it moderate to strenuous.

Unlike the relatively gentle terrain of the plateau, portions of the North Rim Trail approach exposed bluffs and rugged hollows.

Views extend across the Arkansas River Valley and toward the Ozark Plateau, creating some of the most impressive scenery on Mount Magazine.

A spur between North Rim Trail and Mossback Ridge Trail allows hikers to form an approximately 4.4-mile loop back toward the visitor center.

🌿 Greenfield Trail Connection

The Greenfield Trail provides another approach to Mossback Ridge.

This roughly 0.9-mile moderate trail begins near Greenfield Picnic Area, crosses Arkansas Highway 309 and the headwaters of Big Shoal Creek, and climbs approximately 210 feet before joining Mossback Ridge Trail.

The area was once farmland before the Great Depression, providing another example of how Mount Magazine’s trail network combines natural scenery with traces of the mountain’s human history.

The Greenfield Trail can also be used as the beginning of a substantially longer hike toward Cove Lake.

🌄 Views and Scenery

Mossback Ridge itself is largely wooded, so hikers should not expect a bare summit with a sweeping 360-degree panorama.

The best views occur where connecting trails approach the edges of Mount Magazine’s plateau.

The North Rim Trail provides views over rugged hollows toward the Arkansas River Valley and Ozark Plateau, while overlooks along other portions of the mountain look toward Blue Mountain Lake and the Petit Jean River Valley.

The contrast is part of Mount Magazine’s appeal. A hiker can walk through quiet upland forest and then, within a relatively short distance, emerge near sandstone bluffs hundreds of feet above the surrounding terrain.

🍂 Best Time to Hike Mossback Ridge

Mossback Ridge can be explored throughout much of the year, although conditions vary considerably with the seasons.

Spring is excellent for wildflowers and mild hiking temperatures. Rain can leave trails muddy, but the forest is particularly lively during this period.

Summer brings a dense green canopy and abundant wildlife. Mount Magazine’s higher elevation can make it somewhat cooler than the valleys below, although Arkansas summers can still be hot and humid.

Autumn is arguably one of the finest times to visit. Hardwood forests across the mountain turn brilliant shades of yellow, orange, and red, and cooler temperatures are ideal for longer hikes.

Winter provides quieter trails and better visibility through leafless forests. Temperatures on the plateau can be considerably colder than in nearby lowlands, and occasional freezing conditions, snow, or ice are possible.

🏞️ Mount Magazine State Park

Mossback Ridge lies within Mount Magazine State Park, which protects more than 2,200 acres on and around Arkansas’s highest mountain.

The park contains approximately 14.2 miles of hiking trails, ranging from easy walks to more strenuous routes.

Outdoor activities include hiking, camping, mountain biking, wildlife watching, technical rock climbing, hang gliding, and scenic driving.

The mountain is unusually accessible for a state high point because Arkansas Highway 309 climbs directly onto the summit plateau. Visitors can therefore combine short hikes with overlooks and longer trail loops without making a major climb from the base of the mountain.

🏔️ Nearby Mountains

Mossback Ridge sits amid a surprisingly rugged collection of mountains and ridges in western Arkansas.

Immediately west is Mount Magazine, whose Signal Hill summit reaches 2,753 feet and forms the highest point in Arkansas.

To the south and southwest lie the core Ouachita Mountains, an unusual east-west trending mountain system extending across Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Rich Mountain reaches approximately 2,681 feet along the Arkansas-Oklahoma border and is among the highest mountains in the core Ouachitas.

Farther east, Petit Jean Mountain rises prominently above the surrounding Arkansas River Valley and contains one of Arkansas’s best-known state parks.

Together, these mountains show how varied the upland terrain of western and central Arkansas can be.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

How high is Mossback Ridge?

Peakbagger lists Mossback Ridge at approximately 2,725 feet (831 meters). Other mapping sources give slightly different elevations, generally ranging from about 2,713 to 2,730 feet.

Is Mossback Ridge the second-highest mountain in Arkansas?

Peakbagger lists Mossback Ridge as the second-highest summit in Arkansas, behind only Magazine Mountain at 2,753 feet. Because Mossback Ridge has relatively little prominence and lies on the Mount Magazine plateau, it is better understood as a subsidiary summit rather than a completely independent mountain.

What is Mossback Ridge’s Nearest Higher Neighbor?

The Nearest Higher Neighbor (NHN) is Magazine Mountain, whose highest point is Signal Hill at 2,753 feet.

What is the prominence of Mossback Ridge?

Peakbagger lists approximately 183 feet (56 meters) of topographic prominence.

How isolated is Mossback Ridge?

ListsOfJohn calculates approximately 0.82 mile (1.32 kilometers) of isolation, with Magazine Mountain as the nearest higher summit.

How long is Mossback Ridge Trail?

Arkansas State Parks lists Mossback Ridge Trail at 2.1 miles and rates it moderate.

Is Mossback Ridge Trail difficult?

The trail is rated moderate, although the park notes that most walking along the top of the ridge is relatively easy. Its connections with other trails make it possible to create longer and more demanding routes.

Is Mossback Ridge the top of Mount Magazine?

Mossback Ridge is one of the high points on Mount Magazine’s summit plateau, but it is not the mountain’s highest point. Signal Hill, at 2,753 feet, is approximately 28 feet higher.

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