Outdoor Adventures in the Ozarks

    This morning we head out not really with the intention of hiking, but on more of a search mission.   On b oth the USFS and USGS quad maps a long trail called ‘Deer Tower Trail’ is shown but I haven’t found anything about this trail.    Also,  we have heard about the fantastic area along Home Valley Bluffs including mysterious Latin inscriptions carved into a large rock, so we're looking for possible parking spots and access to the bluffs.      First, south towards the little town of Deer, now I’m assuming ‘Deer Tower Trail’ is named for the long-gone  Deer fire lookout tower that was located about a mile north of town up on the peak just off Wayton Road.   We turn north on Wayton  Road and  about a mile from Highway 16 on the left is a little campground with three entrances, we pull in to check it out,   I believe this is Deer Tower Campground shown on maps.   It might have been a nice campground once with 8-...

     Most folks who go hiking in the Ozarks, know old roads make good hiking routes, many established trails follow these old roads.   The thing that seems strange to me, why do ‘map makers’ choose not to show old roads in wilderness areas?   The roads didn’t just disappear when the wilderness designation was approved by congress, and since they do make for some great hiking, why remove them from the maps?   Today I’m going hiking assuming that an old road exists between Clabber Creek and Cedar Creek along the Buffalo River at the edge of the Lower Buffalo Wilderness, hopefully I’m right, otherwise this will be a long day. Clabber Creek at Crossing      Down at the bottom of Rush Road past the canoe launch area, I drive the road as far as I can.   Going through some deep mud holes along the way I park at ‘Rush parking area 4’ on a leveled hill above the confluence of Clabber Creek at the Buffalo River.   From here in the par...

       This morning we have to go into town and pick up some last-minute   items for Thanksgiving dinner, and since it looks like a nice day, we decide to make a day of it by going hiking.  We haven’t seen much rain lately, so we cross off waterfalls from the possibilities list and after a little discussion decide on Buzzard’s Roost way down south.  It is quite a drive,  but we got an early start,  and the scenery is nice, so the drive goes by pretty quick. easy hiking      Buzzard’s Roost is a 'Special Interest Area', but you would never know it from the lack of any signs, without doing a little research we would have never found it.  Just past a little white house we turn left off Maupin Flat Road on an old road which now is an ATV trail, I pull off the road up a low bank and park, with the white house still in site through the trees.  There are a couple more pull off parking spots nearby but not very many, room f...

       This morning we decide to make a quick trip up to Drury Mincy Conservation Area just across the border in Missouri then hike along one of the many ridgelines.  Later this afternoon a big storm is supposed to move in, so we're looking for somewhere close to home.  We drive up gravel Mincy Road all the way to the end at a locked gate and park on the north side of the road where there's room for 4-5 vehicles.  For more on the Drury Mincy CA see: ( 112 Bear Mountain Loop) and ( 111 Bee Creek and Cornell Rd.) roadside boulders      Past the gate we head south still on the road I’m going to call ‘Mincy Ridge Road’ since this isn’t a trail but an actual road though it doesn’t appear to be an ‘old road’.  Immediately we pass the tightly spaced rounded boulders I saw on my hike here last winter and  continue south up the hill.  This is easy hiking on the nice wide clean road, with some gentle hills to go up and down....

     Today while not supposed to be hot, won’t be cold either, so a good day to go hiking.   We decide to try Bench Trail on the north side of Ponca Wilderness, mainly because Kat wants a trail with little elevation gain and very little bushwhacking.   Bench Trail is on a bench along the south facing mountain slope, so the trail should be relatively flat , and it is an official trail of the BNR so there shouldn’t be much bushwhacking.   I’ve been curious about Bench Trail for years, today I’ll finally get to see it for myself. Sherman Mountain through the utility clearing      With two vehicles you could hike the entire Bench Trail pretty easily on a day-hike, going west to east is best with a lot less elevation gain than going the other way.   Today our plan is to check out the east portion of the trail to somewhere around Cecil Hollow then turn around and head back, but if we have any  extra energy,   we may climb u...

     Kat was online a week back and ‘put us on the list for a ranger led tour of historic Boxley Mill.  Part of the 50 th anniversary celebration for Buffalo National River, the park service has opened the mill for guided tours, every weekend in October.  O ur group starts out a little after 10:00 led by tour guide Kevin Middleton a retired Park Ranger.  Beginning at the gate on an old road that we learn is the actual old highway that went through Boxley Valley before the new paved highway was built in the late 1970’s, we walk back to the mill. Boxley Mill at the start of the tour      The mill was built by Robert Villines in 1869 just as people started returning to the valley after the Civil War, construction took almost a year.  The Villines Gristmill opened in 1870, the structure we see today is mostly original, other than the siding and roofing.  The mill operated for eighty years by three generations of Villines.  First ...