Arkansas Highway 5: Mountain View to Drasco

Take a winding ride through the Ozark foothills as we follow Arkansas Highway 5 from Mountain View to Drasco. This 26-mile stretch mixes quiet valleys, patchwork farmland, and thick hardwood forest, carrying us from one of the Ozarks’ cultural hubs into the rolling countryside of Cleburne County. It’s a journey that reflects the balance of music, history, and land that define this part of north-central Arkansas.

We begin in Mountain View, where Arkansas Highway 5 meets AR-9 and AR-14. Known as the “Folk Music Capital of the World,” Mountain View is a town where fiddles and banjos still echo from the courthouse square on summer evenings. As we head east with AR-14 for a short distance, the road quickly bends southward, leaving behind the bustle of town for the quieter terrain of the foothills. Here, pastures and small farms spread across open valleys, and the ridges close in with stands of oak and hickory. The road itself carries a steady rhythm of curves and climbs, a reminder that we’re traveling deep into Ozark country.

As we continue southward, the highway grows more intimate, tracing the contours of hills that rise and fall like waves on a green sea. Along this stretch, scattered homesteads dot the roadside, often set back with red barns or weathered outbuildings that speak to generations of farming in the valley. The traffic is light, and the sense of space feels almost timeless. This is a corridor less about speed and more about the land itself — a place where travelers are encouraged to slow down, roll the windows down, and breathe in the mountain air.

Nearing the community of Wolf Bayou, the road widens slightly as Highway 5 intersects with AR-25. For a short distance, the two routes run together, carrying us west toward Drasco. This approach to town feels like a transition: the hills soften, the valleys open wider, and the countryside becomes more pastoral than rugged. Just before reaching Drasco proper, we pass the Drasco Trading Post, a familiar landmark where travelers often stop for supplies or a quick break. Soon after, the road bends south again, and the drive concludes at the junction with AR-92. From here, Highway 5 continues toward Heber Springs, while AR-92 offers a path eastward into more of Arkansas’s hidden hill country.

Driving this section of Highway 5 is more than just a way to get from one place to another — it’s an immersion into the landscape and culture of the Ozarks. From the music of Mountain View to the quiet ridges south of town, and the pastoral crossroads at Drasco, the journey reflects a region where heritage and geography are inseparable. It is a drive that feels both rooted in the past and open to discovery, a reminder that the backroads often tell the richest stories.

🎵 Music: Track List