Pinnacle Mountain East Summit Trailhead — Attraction in Maumelle

The east trail is HARD. The first 0.4 miles or so (as you ascend) isn't too terrible, gradually gaining about 200' in elevation. For about 0.2 miles after that, though, you gain about 500'. And it's almost entirely boulders and rocks you're climbing up. My 8-y/o son enjoyed the hike immensely; it was too much for my 5-y/o daughter and 11-y/o black lab mix to handle, so they didn't go too much beyond where the steep ascent begins. Even for myself, I wasn't mentally prepared for the amount of bouldering we'd be doing (and also underestimated the amount of time it would take), so we turned back before reaching the summit. If we're ever in the Little Rock area again, though, we'll plan to hit this and conquer. In talking to others hiking this (both ways), it sounds like the easier route, if you're wanting to do the whole thing, is to hike up on the west side, as the elevation gain there is more evenly distributed throughout the entire ascent, and down on the east side, then pick which way you want to head back along the base trail. Bring plenty of water (don't forget for your dog, too, if you're planning on bringing them) and don't expect to be able to fly through this (I'd suggest planning on at least 2 hours here). In reading other reviews, it seems staying on the trail might be an issue, but at least in our experience, this trail was well-marked with red blazes, so perhaps they improved...

before coming here I read some reviews on Google to see what I was getting myself into and there was a mix between good and bad easy hard no real definitive answer. well here’s a definitive answer for those of you wondering about the hike, If you go in on the trail that’s opposite of the main complex I don’t know east west whatever it is it’s the one of the smaller parking lot with a porta potty. But you go and it’s fairly decently boring hike to start off with very confusing signage as to which trail to actually go to or where to go in my opinion but the trees are marked with colors to guide you just follow the color trees and after a short distance you’ll come up to the actual climb or rugged portion of the hike. By definition I would agree that it’s rugged but since it’s so steep and you’ll be using your hands and feet to get to the top I would say it is much easier of a hike. Going down is the tedious time-consuming part watching your steps and you cant exactly go on all fours going down. If you’re afraid of heights or you’re not very confident in your eye hand coordination or mental resolve Then i would say it could be a little challenging to those individuals. And yes bring water as they say but make sure you put it in a backpack you can carry on your back because you will be using all four...

This is one of the most fun trails I’ve ever hiked. Decent views and fun rocks to climb over. Some shade.

I recommend you park at the west entrance, then use the base trail to walk to the east entrance. Then climb the mountain from the east and descend the west. This is because climbing the big rocks will be easier than descending them. Plus as you become more tired, the hike will become easier, as the west side is much easier.

We parked at the east entrance, and then use the base trail to walk back to our car at the end and while that was fine, we were already exhausted by that point.

There is a north and south summit so don’t forget to go and look at the nice views from both sides. Bring a lot of water. And a few snacks and preferably some sandwiches for you to eat because you are going to get tired and hungry and thirsty.

As others have said, this is a difficult hike, but my wife and I are not the most experienced hikers, and we are from South Louisiana and we managed to do this hike in exactly 4 hours and we had a blast. So that makes me think that you can do it too.

However, if you think it might be too difficult for you, you could just walk on the base trail itself and then turn back when you think you might have...