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Michael R - The Compulsive Hiker
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Taum Sauk Mountain State Park
Saturday morning I headed for Taum Sauk Mountain State Park. Besides being the highest point in Missouri, it’s also home to the tallest waterfall and deepest valley in the state so I expected some great scenery.
Crane Lake Recreation Area
Crane Lake Recreation Area was next on the itinerary. It’s a 100 acre man-made lake circumscribed by a 5 mile trail that is one of the few National Recreation Trails in the state.
Rock Pile Mountain Wilderness
My adventures started with a day hike at Rock Pile Mountain Wilderness, the smallest of Missouri’s wilderness areas and probably the least-visited. The trail begins on Little Grass Mountain and proceeds south to the top of Rock Pile Mountain. The … Continue reading
A tour of the St Francois Mountains
I’m heading off for a 10 day tour of the St Francois Mountains of SE Missouri. I’ve been in the area only once before, at Bell Mountain, and there are so many other places nearby that have been on my … Continue reading
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Tagged Adventure, Hiking, Missouri Ozarks, Trail Work, Travel
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Piney Creek Wilderness
“A Complete Guide to Hiking and Backpacking in Missouri” describes the Piney Creek Wilderness as “a terrain of tortured roughness” and “Hiking Missouri” gives its Lookout Tower Trail the highest difficulty rating (5 boots!) so I was immediately smitten, of … Continue reading
North Sylamore Creek Trail
For some time, the local Sierra Club group has done an annual trip to the Blanchard Springs Recreation Area in north central Arkansas. The main attraction for me has been the 23-mile North Sylamore Creek Trail. During my first visit … Continue reading
Devil’s Den State Park & Butterfield Trail
I spent the weekend at or near Devil’s Den State Park in Arkansas with a group from the Adventure Club. The main objective was to backpack the 15-mile Butterfield Trail (which is mostly next door in the Ozark National Forest) … Continue reading
Brushy Creek Trail
The Brushy Creek Trail is a 13-17 mile loop through a small part of the Roger Pryor Pioneer Backcountry, a part of the Pioneer Forest – the largest chunk of private property in Missouri at about 160,000 acres. The trail … Continue reading
Orienteering Lake Jacomo
I participated in a PTOC event at Lake Jacomo – my first “Score O”. The difference with this type of event is that the controls have values from 10 to 60 points and the goal is to get as many … Continue reading
Irish Wilderness
The Irish Wilderness – sounds like the perfect place to spend St Patrick’s Day weekend doesn’t it? It’s an annual outing tradition for the local Sierra Club and this year there was a group of 7 participating. We did a … Continue reading
The Compulsive Hiker 