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Michael R - The Compulsive Hiker
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Author Archives: Michael R
Irish Wilderness
St Patrick’s weekend found me visiting the Irish Wilderness for the third time. It was essentially a repeat of the second trip with a different group and different weather. It was the first backpacking trip for the GoLite Jam 70, … Continue reading
Kaintuck Hollow Trail
The Kaintuck Hollow Trail is actually a system of trails in the Mill Creek Recreation area southwest of Rolla MO. It was the site of my first backpacking trip almost two years ago, and where I spent this past weekend … Continue reading
MTNF – Cedar Creek District
There is a 15000 acre piece of the Mark Twain National Forest southeast of Columbia MO that features the Pine Ridge and Dry Fork Recreation Areas (with decent-looking campgrounds), 22-mile Cedar Creek trail, 5-mile Smith Creek loop, and about 5 miles … Continue reading
Shawnee Mission Park trail work
Work on the “red” trail at Shawnee Mission Park has resumed and for the first time in a long time, my schedule permitted me to participate. There’s one final piece about a mile long to build and it’s mostly going … Continue reading
A Wintry Irish Wilderness
The winter storm on Christmas left a lot of snow over northern and central Arkansas and vetoed my original plan for a 5-day New Year’s weekend trip in the Ouachita Mountains. One of several “Plan B” trips was the Irish … Continue reading
Shores Lake & White Rock Loop
The Shores Lake & White Rock trail is a bit east of Ft Smith AR and connects Shores Lake and White Rock Mountain in a 13-mile loop. The northern part of the loop is shared with the Ozark Highlands Trail. … Continue reading
Meramec State Park – Wilderness Loop
On the agenda for Saturday was the Wilderness Trail at Meramec State Park – a 9-mile loop. This trail has 8 sites where backpackers can camp – rather unusual among Missouri State Parks. The camps were a fair distance off … Continue reading
Berryman Trail
I was able to turn Thanksgiving into a 4-day solo road trip this year so I planned to backpack a trail that’s been on my list for a while: the Berryman Trail between Steelville and Potosi. It’s a 24-mile loop … Continue reading
Ozark Highlands Trail – Big Piney to Fairview (Hurricane Creek Wilderness)
I got back to Arkansas – this time to hike section 6 of the Ozark Highlands Trail with 5 others on a local Sierra Club outing. Our 4-day journey started at the Big Piney trail head (mile 105.5) and went … Continue reading
Up, up, and away…
Went for a balloon ride this evening with a friend, courtesy of Becky Petrehn with Balloon AD-Ventures. We took off from the Jo Co Executive airport at 151st & Pflumm. Once aloft there was very little breeze so we moved … Continue reading
The Compulsive Hiker 