Alert: Fire Closure: April 28, 2025: Due to yesterday’s wildfire the park grounds will be closed today as we assess the damage along the trail system. This is a precaution for visitor safety. No structures were affected.
National Historic Site
Bent's Old Fort
Horse and Mule in the Plaza NPS Photo
Overview
In the 1840s the Arkansas River was the border between territory claimed by the United States and Mexico. Located along the river, Bent's Fort was an adobe trading post on the Santa Fe Trail, where traders, trappers, travelers, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes came together in peaceful terms for trade. Today, a reconstructed fort allows visitors to explore the front line of Westward Expansion.
Applications for fee waivers must be received two weeks prior to your anticipated trip.
Those organized, educational groups of children who are less than 16 years of age with less than 75 students and no more than 10 adult teachers and chaperones must call to schedule a field trip to the park at least two weeks in advance of their visit in order to enter the park free of charge without a fee waiver.
Map
Things To Do
Category
4 Results
Hiking along the Arkansas River
$
Description
Visitors can hike a 1.75 mile trail that winds its way through the cottonwood trees alongside the wetlands and the Arkansas River. Interpretive exhibit panels explain the further significance of this important river ecosystem.
Park entry fee or annual pass required for all adult visitors.
Pet FriendlyTime:30-90 Minutes
Trail to History
$
Description
The entrance to the reconstructed fort is gained from the one-quarter mile paved pathway extending from the shade shelter to the fort doors. The pathway is wheelchair accessible; however, the perimeter and interior flooring of the fort plaza is loose sand.
Park entry fee or annual pass required for all adult visitors.
Pet FriendlyTime:3-15 Minutes
Become a Junior Ranger at Bent's Old Fort
$
Description
Upon your arrival at the fort, request a Junior Ranger booklet from a park ranger. Tour the fort and grounds while completing the booklet according to your skill level. Take your completed book to a park ranger to receive a Junior Ranger Badge.
While Junior Ranger booklets are free, a park entry fee or annual pass is required for all adult visitors..
Pet Friendly
Birdwatching at Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site
$
Description
Birdwatching can be a fun activity that the whole family can enjoy. Seventy-two species of birds are currently documented at Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site. The park has a Bird Check List (hard copies available at the fort) that includes 137 species of birds and lists 15 species that were identified from period diaries as being here during the 1840's. Park Species Lists
Park entry fee or annual pass required for all adult visitors.
Pet Friendly
More Images
Two animals are tied to a wooden frame in the interior of a large adobe structure.Bent's Old Fort with shortgrass prairie in foreground and blue sky and clouds aboveWooden boxes and buffalo furs are scattered around a plaza inside an adobe fortification.Bent's Old Fort with shortgrass prairie, tepee and wagon in foreground and blue sky & clouds abovebundles of glass trade beads tied together hang from a wooden rafterAn adobe fort with lights under a starry skyBent's Old Fort in background with wagon in front; fall yellow cottonwood leaves in foregroundA Conestoga wagon and a solar race car stand on a road with a large adobe fort in the backgroundA row of saddles are arrayed along a wooden beam near an adobe buildingA wooden counter is in the foreground of a trade room, with sales items on display in the background
