Rich Mountain is the second highest point of the

U.S. Interior Highlands The U.S. Interior Highlands is a mountainous region in the Central United States spanning northern and western Arkansas, southern Missouri, eastern Oklahoma, and extreme southeastern Kansas. The name is designated by the United States Ge ...

and

Ouachita Mountains The Ouachita Mountains (), simply referred to as the Ouachitas, are a mountain range in western Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma. They are formed by a thick succession of highly deformed Paleozoic strata constituting the Ouachita Fold and Thru ...

, and in the U.S. state of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

; it is also the site of Queen Wilhelmina State Park. Rich Mountain is a long, generally east–west-trending ridge composed of hard

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

. It is located just outside of

Mena, Arkansas Mena ( ) is a city in Polk County, Arkansas, Polk County, Arkansas, United States. It is also the county seat of Polk County. The population was 5,558 as of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. Mena is included in the Ark-La-Tex socio-econ ...

and is intersected by the Arkansas-Oklahoma border. Atop its summit is the Rich Mountain Lookout Tower, which is approximately east-southeast of the Queen Wilhelmina Lodge. Arkansas State Highway 88 and

Oklahoma State Highway 1 State Highway 1, sometimes abbreviated as SH-1, is a highway maintained by the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It travels through the southeastern part of the state, nicknamed Little Dixie. SH-1 is signed east and west. Route description Madill to A ...

, collectively known as the Talimena Scenic Drive, traverse the entire top of Rich Mountain and provide excellent vistas of the surrounding

References

Ouachita Mountains Landforms of Le Flore County, Oklahoma Landforms of Polk County, Arkansas Mountains of Arkansas Mountains of Oklahoma {{Oklahoma-geo-stub