The Compulsive Hiker

Devil’s Backbone Wilderness covers almost 7000 acres of south-central Missouri and was the destination of the latest Sierra Club backpacking trip.  8 of us arrived at the McGarr Ridge trail head in 3 separate batches and proceeded southwest about 3 miles to Float Camp, a nice area along the North Fork of the White River that has probably been used by many people floating the river over the years.

McGarr Ridge trail head

Saturday's breakfast next to the river

Our camp. My tent is the second on the left.

When I went to bed Friday night there was already a little frost on the tent.  Saturday morning it was 20 degrees inside my tent with a thick coat of frost on both sides of the fly.  This was my first experience with winter (sub-freezing) camping and the most unpleasant parts were the getting in and out of bed when so exposed to the cold, and getting up in the middle of the night to pee.  On the plus side, you don’t have to deal with ticks and mosquitoes.  I felt a bit of cold on my back so if I was going to be out in even colder temperatures I’d want a second mattress.

I had heard of, but never seen in person, a frost flower.  They’re formed under specific conditions and things were apparently just right as they were numerous on both mornings.

Frost Flower

Saturday we day-hiked south-east down Collins Ridge, then north on Devils Backbone, then west along Crooked Creek with a little detour to see McGarr Spring (which was an itty-bitty trickle).

Collins Ridge trail

Approaching Devil's Backbone itself - a narrow ridge and a great place for Saturday's lunch.

A little cave along the Crooked Creek trail. Concerns about large angry mammals prevented me from getting closer.

Losing the daylight

Sunday we had breakfast, packed-up and headed back to the McGarr trail head to start for home.  We stopped in Mountain Grove for lunch at The Hay Loft and then hit the road again.

This may turn out to have been my last backpacking trip for the year but I’d say it was a pretty good year – 12 multi-day trips in 6 states including 5 of Missouri’s 8 Wilderness areas and even a tiny bit of the Appalachian Trail plus at least 76 day hikes around KC.  And this was just my first year of backpacking and first full year of hiking.

Next year I’ll be turning it up a notch – perhaps a week in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, probably at least one service trip to work on trails a bit farther from home, and whatever else I can fit-in.  Shorter trips to the Ouachitas and Buffalo River for sure.

Next, and even further north was the Painted Rock Conservation Area with a 1.6 mile loop that features views from atop a 140 bluff above the Osage River.  There is apparently evidence of habitation going back 9000 years, including a more recent burial cairn and some very old animal paintings on the bluffs (not visible from the trail).

Looking north (downriver)

Looking south along Osage Bend

This place has some primitive camp sites and is only 7 miles from US-63 so I’ve had the idea of using it as an overnight stop on excursions to SE Missouri.  I could leave KC Thursday evening and sleep here instead of leaving Friday morning, for example.  I’m always looking for ways to squeeze a little more trail time into the trips.

By about 12:30 I was headed north to Jefferson City and then west on US-50 with a stop in Sedalia for lunch at Kehde’s Barbeque.

I headed north to the Clifty Creek Conservation Area but the rain caught-up with me anyway just as I was pulling into the parking lot.  The trail here is a very scenic 2.5 mile loop featuring a natural bridge and some nice bluffs above the creek.

The "front" of the natural bridge...

... and the "back"

There’s not enough trail here to justify a drive from Kansas City but if I’m in the area with time available, I’ll certainly be stopping here again.

I was feeling ready for a solo backpacking trip and the opportunity arrived this weekend in Paddy Creek Wilderness, a 7000 acre area south of Ft Leonard Wood.  It was officially a KC Adventure Club trip but nobody else signed-up.  I headed down early Friday to the Roby Lake trail head and was on the trail by 11:40, intending to hike the whole Big Piney trail counter-clockwise – taking the south trail east and then the north trail to the west – and spending a couple nights out there, probably near miles 5.5 and 15.5.

About .5 miles after the north/south split I came to an unexpected turn and creek crossing.  Hmmm.  I went a bit further and it became clear that I was on the north trail instead of the south.  I debated continuing that way but decided that since I had told people I was going counter-clockwise I better stick to it.  I back-tracked all the way to the north/south split when I saw that the south trail was hidden behind a tree and the sign was a bit misleading.  That cost me about 1.5 hours but the early start meant I still made it, as expected, to about mile 5.5 before stopping for the evening.

I’d gotten accustomed to spending evenings sitting around the fire and talking so this was a bit strange.  I read for a bit but then decided to call it a night and was probably in the sack before 7:00 PM.  It was a fairly windy night with a low of about 45.

Saturday morning it was still windy and now rather cloudy and the National Weather Service broadcast from my new Motorola MR350R FRS/GMRS radio indicated the chance of rain for Saturday night and Sunday had increased to “likely”.  I started trying to get used to the idea of a cold wet night in the tent.

Shortly after starting-out I met the only other person I would see on the trail that weekend – Joel – and he was also from the KC area.  Small world.  He started a day earlier than me and was going clockwise.

I got to mile 15.5 and still had a couple hours of daylight left.  I was pretty fatigued but the remaining terrain was relatively flat and rain was looking pretty certain so I went ahead and hiked-out.  I covered 11.5 miles that day and 18.5 for both so that is a new personal best for one and two days with a full (40-43 lb) pack.  I didn’t go in with that intention but it felt kinda good to keep pushing and try to see where the limit is.

I headed north to I-44, then east and found a hotel just north of Ft Leonard Wood.  After a shower and a ribeye steak at Miller’s Grill I settled in for a couple hours of vegetating in front of the TV.  I greatly missed my DVR and the ability to skip through all the damn commercials!!  I think it was Discovery Channel that had the story of two guys hiking the Amazon River from its source in the Andes all the way east across Brazil to the Atlantic.  It took them 2.5 years and made my hike that day seem pretty darn insignificant.

My original plan for Sunday called for heading north to hike the short trails at Clifty Creek and Painted Rock Conservation Areas if I could leave Paddy Creek by noon.  I now had even more time available and had brought my copy of Hiking Missouri and quickly found the Stone Mill Spring Trail just a few miles south east so figured I’d add that to the list.

It did rain off and on all night with the system following right along I-44.  Sunday morning there was a break but more rain on the way and I had to decide: go to Stone Mill Spring and probably be rained-on all morning, or skip it to head north and possibly beat the rain.

Saturday morning sunrise

Little Paddy Creek, near its confluence with Big Paddy Creek

Atop the bluff above Big Paddy Creek

A little waterfall near mile 15.5 - the only water source in the western area

I had an interesting weekend in the Bell Mountain Wilderness in the St. Francois Mountains of southeast Missouri on a Sierra Club beginner’s backpacking trip.  This time I was part of the crew – the sweep for one of the two groups.

The St. Francois Mountains are apparently one of the oldest exposed geological formations in North America – almost 4 times older than the Appalachians.  Much of the rock we saw – including house-size boulders – was granite instead of the usual dolomite or limestone.  It’s thought that this area would have been an island in the ancient sea.  The glades featured oak trees stunted by the harsh conditions.

It’s a 5.5 hour drive and with a stops for fuel, lunch, restrooms, etc it took even longer.  Here we’re getting ready at the east trail head, with the sun sinking fast.

We hiked in about 4 miles to the 1702 foot peak and it got dark along the way.  Many people seem eager to do a night hike but I always suspected that it would not be interesting and I can now report that I was correct.  You can’t see the scenery so what’s the point?  This was also my first time setting up camp in the dark and it was no big deal if you have a headlamp (as I also suspected).  Almost as soon as I got the tent up I noticed dew forming on the outside and knew it was going to be a damp night.

The next morning there was a lot of fog between the hills, almost blocking the sun:

Here’s Fearless Leader looking at maps on what is probably his most favorite rock in Missouri……because of the vista it offers on a sunny day:After breakfast and a crash course in map reading and navigation, we headed off for a day hike where there are no trails – down the steep side of the mountain…

…and arrived 700 feet lower at Shut-Ins Creek where we refilled water bottles.

Then we crossed the creek and the real fun began – a climb 500 feet up Lindsey Mountain.  Most of this was rocks up to about 2 feet in diameter that were covered with leaves so you never really knew what you were stepping on.  Very challenging!

We stopped in a glade on a ridge about 150 feet below the summit of Lindsey and had lunch.  From here we could look back at Bell Mountain, try to see our tents on top,  and think about what was coming after lunch.

Yeah, after lunch we headed back down through the boulders…

…across the creek, and back up the side of Bell Mountain via a different route.

Near the top, things got really interesting when we needed to climb back up through the ledge.

We ended-up on the other side of camp, about 100 yards from where we started, with a great sunny view.Barely visible here in the center of the horizon is the new upper reservoir of the Taum Sauk pumped storage plant on Proffit Mountain.  The old reservoir failed in 2005 and wiped-out part of Johnson’s Shut-Ins:

Sunday morning we headed back to the east trail head and saw the scenery we missed Friday night.

We had temperatures of 41 degrees Saturday morning and I was very comfortable in my new 35 degree sleeping bag – even without night clothes of any sort – so I’m feeling more confident that it will work for the majority of my trips.  I had several new experiences, met new people, was able to help some of the first-time backpackers, and took another step on the path of becoming an outings leader for the Sierra Club so it was a pretty good weekend!