Tag Archives: Missouri Ozarks

“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 →

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 →

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 →

I was back in the Paddy Creek Wilderness this weekend, this time for the Backpacking 101 spring class.  Only 8 people that took the classes were able to participate in the trip.  Several others encountered last minute work-related issues.  With … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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.  … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →