Just a few miles to the northeast of Van Buren is White Rock Mountain, a majestic, flat top mountain rising up out of the Arkansas River Valley to begin the Ozark plateau. This thickly forested wilderness is in the heart of the Ozark National Forest and is home to Shores Lake and campground and the wild and scenic Mulberry River.

From the top of White Rock Mountain, you get a commanding view of the Arkansas River valley stretching all the way into Oklahoma. The mountaintop offers primitive camping, cabins and one of the state’s best picnic destinations. The Ozark Highlands Trail passes up and over White Rock offering short hikes as well as long distance backpacking. The entire area is criss-crossed with trails, national forest roads and old logging roads making this one of the state’s best multi-use trail areas for 4WD’sand ATV’s plus mountain bikes, horseback riding and hiking.