June 3 was National Trails Day and I chose to spend it this year doing some work with the Ozark Trail Association.  I’ve been a member of the OTA for 5-6 years but this was my first event with them so it was way overdue.

We were based at Current River State Park, between Salem and Eminence MO but the work was being done on the nearby Round Spring Loop.  Because of the hot & humid weather expected it was decided to work just half a day but that got cut even shorter by rain.  The 23 of us got only 500-750′ of trail mostly-done.  Rain has apparently been a common theme this year for the OTA.

There was plenty of time for sight-seeing and there are a lot of sights to see in that area.  I visited Missouri’s newest State Park, Echo Bluff and Alley Springs (where the mill was closed while being dried-out after flooding).

Current River State Park was pretty interesting.  It was originally a 1500+-acre corporate resort for the Alton Box Board Co.  Construction began in the late 1930’s and it was used until 1996, then became a State Park in 2007.  It is currently a day-use area only but a couple organizations like the OTA are permitted to use the lodge for overnight stays.