Show Me Missouri

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It may have been cold at night, but my camping trip to the Lead Belt was worth the frostbite. The Ozarks are a beautiful part of the nation. I can't believe how the land transforms so quickly once you get out of St. Louis. Granted, I live in the flattest part of the flattest state ever so any sort of elevation gets a rise out of me, but these mountains were truly a sight to see. Not to mention I believe I picked the best time to go to the Ozarks - the fall foliage colors were so vibrant and diverse; it was phenomenal.

We camped at St. Joe's State Park, which in itself was an experience. St. Joe's apparently is the ORV camp capital of the new world. Now, I'm in no way opposed to off-roading vehicles—I personally love taking an ATV/four wheeler/ORV/whatever you want to call it on spins around the farm; I think a quieter camping experience is the only thing that I could say I would change about the trip due to the rowdy sport and its contingent. Not that I don't also like overhearing my neighbor's dozens of stories, the majority of which surround the common theme of someone defecating. 😊

Camping was quiet fun though. Sure, we had our problems of not being able to get the fire started the first night thanks to wet wood, and it was colder than I could have ever imagined at night for the most part, and I pretty much was going on no sleep, and we had to sleep on pretty much compacted gravel (though we did have a tent, thank God!)... but it was seriously an enjoyable time. The best part about camping is getting to see the stars so much clearer. Had it been warmer, I would have liked to have just slept outside under them all night, but no luck there. I did brave the cold as much as I could and was rewarded in that I could clearly see not only Cassiopeia, Cephalus, and Cygnus, but Ursa Minor (which you usually can't see since it's so small and clouded by light pollution) and the Teapot as well. Given time and a few more blankets, I probably could have seen more. Another time, perhaps.

Saturday morning, after solving some more fire problems, we were able to obtain a Missouri map (yay maps!) and head over to Taum Sauk Mountain. The drive there was beautiful—nothing but a twenty mile drive through the mountains and Arcadia Valley. We would have camped there, but the park no longer offered reservable campsites. Since there only twelve sites total that was fairly risky (though, in hindsight, we could have easily just hiked along the trail and set up camp there). We first got to the park and went to the lookout tower to see the surrounding area from above. It was all right. I probably would have enjoyed it more had I felt safer on the structure. I just imagine that while I'm on the tower one of the flimsy slats of wood breaking through while I or someone else is on it, or the thin metal frame crumpling or toppling over, or misplacing my foot on one of the stairs and falling through to the ground. Not that I'm paranoid at all, I still made the climb.

After the lookout tower, we went into the actual park. There we were able to observe some of the surrounding St. Francois Mountains including Proffit Mountain, Bell Mountain, Pilot Knob Mountain, and Lead Hill Mountain among others. These mountains are on the brim of the Ozark Plateau and are some of the oldest mountains in North America (the mountains are nearly twice as old as the Appalachians and twenty times as old as the Rockies). The area is also pretty unique in that the St. Francois mountains were formed by true volcanic activity, unlike the other mountains in the area. The area is alseo the only area in the Midwest to never have been submerged; during the Paleozoic Era, the region existed as an island archipelago. And yes, I am a land nerd.

So, I was ready for some rugged mountainside hiking. Thus, we made our way to the Ozark Trail. Actually it was the Mina Sauk Falls Trail loop in conjunction with the Ozark Trail, but to who's counting? The trail started off kind of lame; it was a paved sidewalk through the start of the trail. I felt like I was walking on the concrete version of the yellow brick road it was so unnnatural. I actually wondered if the whole trail was like that, especially since the Thursday before I left my Natural Resources class discussed recreation and how some parks are made to to be too handicap accessible and as a result lose some of their natural appeal. Would the trip to Mina Sauk Falls prove to be just a man-made sidewalk convenient to see nature? Luckily no. After about 1,000 yards or so, the sidewalk ended and the post directing hikers to the different trails appeared stating Mina Sauk Falls: 1.3 miles. It also came with a warning to bring appropriate supplies and to take caution due to the trail's rugged nature.

At first, "rugged nature" seemed like a joke. There was barely a rock in the soil, much less exposed tree roots. And when there were finally more rocks along the path, it seemed as though they could have been placed by the park service to create a more rugged environment. You could say it was faux-natural. It was still beautiful though. We continued along and reached a new part of the trail: the glades! Glades are basically cleared parts of the forrest that can not sustain the growth of trees or large shrubs (think Everglades... aka the treeless wetlands). The best part of the glades was the fact that it allowed us to see the surrounding mountain range clearly. It was awesome, just looking at the silhouettes. I'm absolutely in love with the contours of far away mountain ranges. It makes me feel so small. And I love being able to see for miles and miles without anything interrupting the view. I can't even begin to fathom how far I could actually see. I was very impressed.

It was kind of cool to see the different terrains of the mountains... we went from just your regular old walking among the trees to the glades (which were definitely warmer thanks to the lack of shade) to the actual rugged trail the Ozark people were talking about. Once we started along the trail again after stopping in the glades for a bit, you could definitely see more of the exposed rock as we got to a bigger slope on the mountainside. After a bit of actual mountain hiking, we got to our destination: Mina Sauk Falls. It took a bit longer than had expected. The starting post had said to allocate two to three hours of time for the trip to Mina Sauk. I laughed when I read this, though I shouldn't have. What I forgot was the allocation of time to just sit and listen and look at the waterfall. I could have sat there for days on end.

Mina Sauk wasn't exactly an impressive waterfall in the traditional sense. It wasn't Yosemite Falls, it wasn't a cascade from Hawai'i you put on your screensaver, and it sure as hell wasn't Niagra Falls; it was instead the tallest free falling waterfall in Missouri at 132 feet, peaceful, and still gorgeous. The top part of the falls was a set of miniature waterfalls, each falling a few inches into a basin puddle before trickling down the next rock to the next basin. It reminded me of the waterfalls people put in their offices with the stones and the recycled water. After the final pool of water, the stream plummeted over the side of the rocks 132 feet and continued on its way, occassionally forming pools and trickling down the mountainside. I'm not exactly how far down it went; had we been more prepared we could have done more serious climbing. Instead, we were able to climb around the rocks surrounding the falls a good amount (that allowed us to get back up to the top). It was real fun. There was this crazy dog that must have been half mountain goat it was such a ridiculous climber. After taking some pictures of the view from below, I spent some serious time just sitting next to the water. It was incredibly clear. And incredibly cold. When the water flowed into the pool below, you could still see just right down to the very bottom. I especially loved when the light shone through the water giving it that lovely water reflection light. It was also awesome how the water was so clear and reflective you could stare down into it and see colors in the water, just like looking it in a mirror. Ahh wonderful. See the pictures below and onthe next page for illustrations.

I was glad we got there when we did - we had about an hour with only a limited amount of people there. By time we were getting ready to head out, crowds were beginning to form and that definitely took some of the splendor out of the site. So after just sitting on the mountainside and looking at the view for a while, we headed back to St. Joe's - due to hunger and just general tiredness, we decided to skip seeing Devil's Tollgate (not to mention the fact we couldn't find the trail we had to be on). It was such a fun day. Taum Sauk Mountain State Park gets an A in my book. I'd definitely go back!

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