Ouachita Trail, Hwy 9 trailhead, near Williams Junction, Arkansas October 9th, 2012: Beautiful secluded trail!

I have always heard of the Ouachita Trail, and have always wanted to discover it....what a nice hike!  In my prior hiking experience (The Lost Valley Trail in Missouri), I did not do a good job in regards to socks, and because of that tore the almighty out of my heel.  That being said, I only wanted to go a few miles on this trip just to see how my feet were doing.

This trail has a ton of shelters along the way, and is one of the more secluded trail in the central Arkansas area.  I am looking forward to coming back and potentially doing some kind of an overnight trip.  The forest is beautiful right before fall....the mosquitoes know something is coming- they were definitely out.  I am glad I had some OFF in my kit.  That is why it is always a good idea to have some kind of a light pack, just in case.

Hike ON!

Ouachita Trail, Hwy 9 trailhead going west

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Lost Valley Trail, Weldon Spring CA, St. Charles County, MO: New trail features- resembles Ozark Trail

Hiking Lost Valley Trail, St. Charles County, MO: New and Improved trail!

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The Lost Valley Trail located in St. Charles County, MO. (Weldon Spring CA) has gone through several changes for the better. This trail used to be just old roads from the ordanance factory days, however, the switchback area is new.
I have to say this...if you are going to hike this trail, know what you are getting into.  The sign at the trailhead still has the old trail system.  It was a much more ambitious hike than I thought I was getting into, especially since I have hiked this trail before, and was using past experience as a reference point.
The west side of the loop trail (I believe it is now up to 10 miles- the old style trail was 8 and less rugged) is what I focused on for this trip.
I really like the improvements to the trail system.....It really reminded me of the Ozark Trail in the southern part of Missouri.  The video below does not do the beauty justice....enjoy!

Hike ON!

Mike

Hiking Prairie State Park Missouri amongst the Buffalo, Elk, and Deer- Barton County, Missouri January 6th 2012

Prairie State Park located in Barton County, Missouri (Between Lamar, MO and Pittsburg, KS) provides a different type of hiking experience.  This is an interesting park due to the fact that the park contains a herd of bison, as well as Elk.  If you get out there on a week day (especially in the winter) you will have the entire park to your self, as I did.

I did a small loop hike off the campground.  There are electrical fences to negotiate throughout the park.  I had a small pack on, so I went right through (the crossing points have plastic over the wires).  If I was going for an overnight, I think I would take the pack off before negotiating.  After I crossed the fence, I did see what appeared to be an elk (I had a little distance on him).  The photos of the bison actually were taken on the other side of the fence.  I would never recommend getting that close to bison unless you had some form a barrier between them an yourself.
Tip especially for the winter:  Print out a trail map online before you go out.  Maps are not readily available, and the prairie blazes are harder to interpret in the winter when the tall grass is down

Hike ON

Mike

Bison viewing and prairie hiking at Prairie State Park, Missouri

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Bell Mountain Wilderness, Ozark Trail, Iron County, MO December 30th, 2011: Windy and amazing hike in the Missouri Ozarks

This section of the Ozark Trail is one of my personal favorites.  We had originally planned on going the other direction, but due to the fact that we have got some rain recently, Ottery Creek was up (which, in going the other way you need to cross) and we did not feel like getting wet feet/shins/ankles.  So we made the decision to go ahead and hike Bell Mountain Wilderness area.  The good news about all the moisture was the fact that it was easy to load up on water with the water purifier righ on the trail.

Unfortunately, at the trail head there is some signs that have been torn down and/or vandalized, and the sign at the top of Bell Mountain is severely faded (this is where the Ozark trail ventures off from the Bell Mountain Trail, a nice mountain top loop trail.  I got very windy up towards the top, but it was crystal blue skies and moderate temperatures- not bad for the end of December!

I look forward to getting back into the Mark Twain National Forest and hiking some more of the Ozark Trail.

Tips: solid hiking boots- especially up Bell Mountain.  Quite a bit of rock to negotiate on the trail, and mud spots.  Also, at the trail head, avoid the temptation to go south from the parking lot....it looks like it is trail, but in actuality is private land (although it is not blazed with purple of any sorts).  If you go that way, it will take you along Ottery Creek.

Tech Tip:  The map below looks pretty bad.  I have a DeLorme PN-60w with Spot.  I have been using the spot way points to map for the last year. Just realized that if I was to take the SD card out and load, the trail will be 100% accurate....nothing like technology to make you feel kinda stupid!  Next trail map will be much better, promise!

Hike ON!

Mike

Hiking Bell Mountain, Ozark Trail, Iron County, Missouri

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Hiking in the Big Sugar Creek Wildlife Area, Cuiver River SP, Lincoln County, Missouri

December provides some of the best opportunities to get out and hike in Missouri.  I got a chance to take advantage of some of this fine weather on Christmas eve.  It was a little cool, but if you have the right gear, and dress in layers, winter can be one of the best times of the year to get out and hit the trail.

I hiked a modified version of the South loop trail (the Big Sugar Creek trail cuts right through it, and provides a nice half point).  The trails at Cuiver River SP see a lot of equestrian use, so there were parts a of the trail that were a little muddy and chopped up.  However, due to the fact that the ground was frozen, I was able to hike right over most of this.  I was anticipating seeing some wildlife, on this hike I saw quite a few active woodpeckers and tufted titmouse birds.  Other than that, it was fairly calm on the wildlife side.  This wildlife area is incredibly peaceful.  The hike had some hills to negotiate.  I hiked this trail probably about 4 years ago or so, so it was great to get back out and check it out again.  You can backpack camp on this trail (which I have done a couple of times).  If you are just getting starting in backpack camping, this would be a great starter trail, due to the fact that you are fairly close to civilization and can get back to the trail head quickly.

There are a few pictures in the video of the old house (all that remains is the foundation ,and old lake, and a bunch of debris in the old basement.  I am thinking this house got destroyed probably in the 50's (based on the looks of the old refrigerator and toys that were in the debris). It is located where the red blaze meets the blue blaze very close to Big Sugar Creek.  You cannot see it from the trail, so if you want to check it out, you need to hike in through some sticker bushes and other botanical riff-raff to find it.
I look forward to coming back and hiking deeper into this forest.  I have spent the night in this area with backpacks, and look forward to maybe doing an overnight in the spring.

Hike ON!

Mike

Hiking Big Sugar Creek Wildlife Area, Cuiver River SP, Lincoln County, MO.

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Missouri State Parks films from the early 1960's- check these out!

These are quite a slice of americana.  I found them on Youtube and just had to share.  Not only to you get a chance to see how the parks were in the early 60's....but you get a chance to see how people were as well.  I found these to be really interesting, and quite funny at times.  In one of these films, they were suggesting to use the park cabins as part of a honeymoon package.  I can go with that, no problem, but the way it was portrayed had me rolling on the floor- be looking for it!





In part 3, a lot of the springs and parks that they are referencing are now a part of the National Park Service along the Current River.




There is a part of part 4 where you can see the Buzzards Roost Outlook at Mark Twain State Park....before the lake (with a view of just the Salt River)

I just had to share these.  Big fan of Missouri State Parks!

Hike ON!

Mike

Katy Trail, St. Charles County, Missouri, July 31st, 2011: Nice 12.5 mile cycle trip on the St. Charles portion of the Katy Trail

I normally post stories about hiking, however, I occasionally like to add biking to this site as well.  It was so hot that day, I am glad to have got on all 12.5 miles.  This is such a nice bike trail, what a real asset we have in Missouri with this trail.  It has been quite a while since I had gotten up on my bike- It felt good to get some miles in.  I also wanted to try my GoPro camera out with the bike mount...check out the video, I really like how it turned out!

~Mike

Cycling the Katy Trail, St. Charles Missouri

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Cycling the Katy Trail in St. Charles Missouri

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