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By
Andy Ostmeyer, Metro Editor
Looking for a place to go hiking?
No problem.
The Ozarks is home to thousands of miles of trail, ranging from
as little as two-tenths of a mile to two weeks or more for the
more adventurous. And one day, this region could be home to one
of the longest trails in the country.
Looking for a reason to go?
Again, no problems.
How about wildflowers? Forested vistas? Quiet glades and spring
pools? Or how about historic cabins that are now hidden under
canopies of green?
Some suggestions:
ROARING RIVER STATE PARK
This beautiful park near Cassville is known for its trout fishing,
but it also offers more than ten miles of hiking, ranging from
the two-tenths of a mile Deer Leap Trail overlooking the hatchery
to the 3.5 mile Fire Tower Trail.
Cool Stuff: The Fire Tower Trail wanders into the Roaring River
Hills Wild Area, providing some of the best old-growth remnants
in the Ozarks. Here is a place to discover how the Ozarks looked
before settlers cut down much of oak and other timber.
Webwalk: Missouri Department of Natural Resources at
www.mostateparks.com.
DEVIL’S DEN STATE PARK
The park south of Fayetteville, Ark., offers everything from a
quarter-mile hike with numerous identified plants and trees to
an overnighter on the 14.5 mile Butterfield Loop with primitive
campsites. The 1.5 self-guided Devil’s Den Trail offers
a cave (bring a flashlight), springs, waterfalls in season and
some spectacular vistas.
Worth the Effort: Devil’s Icebox, along the Devil’s
Den Trail. A series of fractures and caves along the trail provide
places to cool off should the boiler that fries the Ozarks in
summertime kick on.
Webwalk: Arkansas State Parks at www.arkansasstateparks.com
PRAIRIE STATE PARK
North of Joplin, near Liberal, the park offers a glimpse of the
tallgrass prairie that once covered much of the state. There are
more than ten miles of interconnected trails that offer some spectacular
wildflower viewing.
Worth the Effort: Under a summer sun, the prairie can
be a superheated experience, but where else can you hike with
bison? Just check with the visitor’s center before heading
out and obey their rules for keeping safe.
Webwalk: Missouri Department of Natural Resources at
www.mostateparks.com.
MARK TWAIN NATIONAL FOREST
The 1.5-million acres of federal land scattered across southern
Missouri offer nearly 750 miles of hiking trail. Volunteers are
hard at work, meanwhile, building the Ozark Trail through Missouri,
and one day it will eventually connect to the Ozarks Highland
Trail (see below) offering one of the best long trails in the
country. A hiker will be able to walk from St. Louis to Fort Smith,
Ark., when the work is done.
Worth the effort: Piney Creek Wilderness, near Shell
Knob. This area of 8,089 acres offers 13 miles of trail leading
to a creek of the same name that drains into Table Rock Lake.
Oak and hickory dominate the ridges and the area is home to everything
from armadillos to rattlesnakes.
Webwalk: Mark Twain National Forest can be found at www.fs.fed.us/r9/marktwain
OZARK NATIONAL FOREST
This 1.2 million-acre forest in northern Arkansas offers 300 miles
of trail, including the 165-mile Ozark Highlands Trail, rated
by Backpacker magazine as one of the top long trails in the country.
Closer to Joplin is the 7.5-mile ( or 15 roundtrip) Lake Wedington
Trail between Fayetteville and Siloam Springs.
Worth the effort: The hike to Hawksbill Crag in the Upper
Buffalo Wilderness south of Harrison. This 3-mile roundtrip winds
its way out to a rock bluff jutting out over the headwaters of
the Buffalo River, offering one of the most scenic and famous
views in the Ozarks.
Webwalk: Ozark-St. Francis National Forest can be found
at www.fs.fed.us/oonf/ozark
Some other websites worth
checking include:
www.HikeArkansas.com.
for information on Arkansas hiking trails.
This includes a link to the Ozark Highlands Trail Association.
www.ozarktrail.com,
for information on the Ozark Trail through Missouri.
Missouri Department of Conservation at www.conservation.state.mo.us.
The department has many conservation areas throughout the state,
and many of those offer hiking trails.
Devil’s
real estate offers heavenly hike
Being outdoors is about as green as you can get......locator
map
You don’t need to be a masochist to be an Ozarks hiker,
but it helps.
Consider the downside: Lung-busting climbs up steep ridgetops.
Toe-breaking rocks and roots. Poison ivy. Ticks. Chiggers. Mosquitoes.
Incinerator-heat in summer.
And this year, add a hard hat to your hiking gear. With the 2007
ice storms, limbs are likely to keep falling from trees for a
long time.
It’s easy to see why the devil’s name was put on so
much of this rugged real estate, from Devil’s Icebox at
Devil’s Den State Park in Arkansas to the Devil’s
Kitchen trails at Roaring River and Ha Ha Tonka state parks in
Missouri.
Don’t get discouraged, though. There’s an upside to
all this agony.
Those same steep ridges afford landscape-sweeping vistas. Those
rocks are evidence of some of the most dramatic and bizarre geology
in the country, a karstian drama of springs, disappearing streams,
caves and sinkholes. Those roots lead upward to autumnal color
no artist can replicate. Amid all that poison ivy there’s
a wealth of beauty in the spiderwort and other wildflowers blooming
nearby.
Hiking trails range from the level loop at George Washington Carver
National Monument, near Diamond, which is serene, almost contemplative,
laced as it is in part with the spiritual insights of the man
best known for his earthy work, to the nearly 700-mile trail under
construction from St. Louis to Fort Smith, Ark.
Herewith is a sample of some of what this
area of the country offers:
NEAR: The
Frisco Greenway trail links Joplin and Webb
City. Its 3.5 miles follow an old railroad bed, and while it is
in the middle of a metro area, at times you wouldn’t know
it. Near Turkey Creek, look for deer and wild turkey and watch
for smallmouth from the bridge over Turkey Creek.
FAR:
Ha Ha Tonka State Park
near Camdenton has it all. This is a five-star hiking experience.
Short trails take visitors to the ruins of the park’s “castle”
and to overlooks of Ha Ha Tonka Spring and Lake of the Ozarks.
The spring is one of the largest in the Ozarks. A long boardwalk
connects the castle to the half-mile Colosseum Trail, which includes
one of Missouri’s natural wonders -- a large natural bridge.
By far, the coolest hike is the three-quarter mile loop to the
“island” in the middle of the spring.
NEAR: The three-mile Ozark
Chinquapin Trail at Big Sugar Creek State Park
in McDonald County doesn’t have the drama of some other
trails, but look for beauty in the details. A fall hike a couple
of years ago led to Sweet Everlasting, a member of the aster family.
Rub your hands through this plant and notice its smell: Sweet
Everlasting smells more like pancake syrup than pancake syrup.
FAR: Devil’s
Den Trail at Devil’s Den State Park
south of Fayetteville, Ark., is another has-it-all site. Where
else can you wander to a scenic overlook just minutes after wandering
out of a cave? (Bring a good flashlight.) The trail then follows
a fracture in the sandstone that leads to Devil’s Icebox,
which is a great place to cool off on a summer day. There are
springs and waterfalls and the trail ends with a hike along scenic
Lee Creek. And all this in 1.5 miles. It’s almost too much.
NEAR: If you’re a trout fisherman, it is
easy to overlook the rest of Roaring
River State Park near Cassville. Don’t.
There’s the three-quarter- mile River Trail, running along
Roaring River itself. Park staff offer wildflower hikes there
each year. There’s also the 1.5-mile
Devil’s Kitchen Trail,
with rock formations that were allegedly used by Civil War guerrillas
as hideouts. The 3.5-mile Fire Tower Trail may be the best place
to get away from the crowds, but not the poison ivy, so be careful.
The trail is inside the Roaring River Hills Wild Area, which affords
a glimpse of what the Ozarks looked like before timber men and
others arrived to build America’s railroads with the region’s
oak forests.
BONUS: The forests are justly famous for their
fall color, but in the spring, many area prairies are awash in
Indian paintbrush and other brilliant wildflowers. At Prairie
State Park, near Liberal, the 1.5-mile Gayfeather
Trail offers a premier prairie experience. It
also connects with other trails, and if you listen carefully in
the fall, you can hear some of the park’s bull elk bugling.
But don’t turn your back on the free-roaming bison herd.
Be sure to stop by the visitor center for advice on hiking with
the herd. Now where else in the area can you do
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