Outdoor Adventures in the Ozarks

     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....