Ozark Trail, Missouri
For those who prefers to walk and do some physical exercise while enjoying the nature’s beauty, this Ozark Trail is definitely for you. The trail spread for 350 miles of backwoods country through the biologically diverse Ozarks.
Try to visit during fall, the beauty of different colors of leaves will amaze you. There are different kind of activities you can do here. Starts from hiking, swimming, or just enjoying the beautiful falls or dolomite rocks from 400 millions years ago.
The Ozark Trail is divided into 13 sections of about 20 to 30 miles in length, each taking its name from a natural feature, except for the Karkaghne, a mythical creature in forest folklore.
“For swimming opportunities, hike the Karkaghne section. For spring wildflowers, the Current River section. For a nice day
hike, try the loop trail at Taum Sauk Mountain State Park. In the winter, hike the Blair Creek section whose glades hold heat-retaining rocks.
For the best river bluff overlook, hike the Eleven Point section where eagles soar up and down the valley.
The popular Taum Sauk section incorporates Missouri’s highest point, Taum Sauk Mountain and the state’s highest falls, Minasauk Falls.
Six miles of the Taum Sauk trail running through Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park is temporarily closed due to a reservoir breach. But the rest of the 33-mile section is open. On a recent trip to Taum Sauk, a hiker spotted a dozen species of wildflowers, ferns and lichen; two turtles; a pair of snakes in a pool below the falls; several deer, and a friendly Eastern collared lizard sunning himself on a glade in the ancient St. Francois Mountains.” (source: associated press, cnn)
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