Mid-December Day at Graham Cave State Park

 I'm playing around with StoryMaps as a tool for pulling together information from our walks. I downloaded data file from AllTrails as .GPX file. Then, uploaded the file into StoryMaps and added photos to create this post from a walk last week.  

I'll appreciate your feedback or if you know of other software tools people can use to better integrate information. You can leave your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks!!

Walking at the Prairie Garden Trust

 
We enjoyed a lovely afternoon walking at the Prairie Garden Trust (PGT) just south of Fulton in Callaway County, MO.

The PGT offers an amazing area with multiple trails and paths that wind through a variety of settings. You can view ponds, lakes, prairie, or woods. We particularly enjoy dropping down to walk along Hillers Creek.

We walked 3.67 miles with 226 feet of elevation change and you can visit AllTrails for a map and related details for our walk.

Visit the PGT website for upcoming events, maps, and more information.

Hiking the Woodbine Trail at Babler Memorial State Park

After our National Take a Hike Day post two weeks ago, we made plans to drive to Dr. Edmund A. Babler Memorial State Park on Saturday, November 19th to participate in the scheduled ranger led walk. 

We enjoyed a lovely morning walk with the park naturalist and several others. The sun was out and the walk was very pleasant.  We feel especially fortunate that we were able to see several frost flowers.

We pulled together a brief slide show on YouTube, Babler Memorial State Park Nat'l Take A Hike Day.

You can also view our route on AllTrails at National Take A Hike Event. We walked just under two miles with elevation change of 210 feet on the Woodbine Trail. Babler State Park also offers a number of other trails and we plan to return for a night or two in the future for more trail walking.

Let us know you favorite trails if you are familiar with Babler State Park or the other parks in the area. You can leave a comment below. Thanks!

Hiking the Boundary Trail at Little Dixie Lake

In mid March we walked the entire Boundary Trail Loop around Little Dixie Lake. The Little Dixie Lake Conservation Area is located in western Callaway County and is maintained by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

We walked a total of 6.36 miles with 243 feet of elevation change. The trail runs through a variety of different terrains and wildlife habitats. There are several different trail heads, though most people seem to park in the dam area. The dam and two other trail heads provide pit toilets. There are also several areas with picnic tables. The trail is well marked.

There is also a Shoreline Trail that runs right along most of the lake shore. It provides access to the lake for those interested in fishing or can be a pleasant hike.

You can also see a map of our route on All Trails, Afternoon hike on Boundary Trail.

Afternoon Hike on the County House Trail

We hiked the County House Trail in Columbia, MO on a cool and windy March afternoon. We started from the Forum Trail Head on the MKT Trail. We walked 5.5 miles with 92 feet of elevation change.

The trail has a crushed rock surface until you pass the Twin Lakes Recreation Area where it is paved.

You can see a map of our route on AllTrails, Afternoon hike on County House Trail.

High Ridge Trail Loop at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park

We enjoyed a lovely morning walk on the High Ridge Trail at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park. We were fortunate to be on the trail before 10:00 am and the ground was still relatively firm. I'm sure later in the day that there were very muddy sections once the temperatures increased a bit.

 

Two days previously we walked a bit on this trail to reach the Terry Turner Memorial Bench before returning to the trail head via the connector trail. You can visit our blog post on this earlier walk.

You can see our route and other details of the walk at AllTrails, Morning hike on High Ridge Trail. The entire loop was 1.8 miles with 233 feet of elevation change.

Morning Hike on Devil's Ice Box Trail

We enjoyed a wonderful day hiking on a couple of trails at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park in early March.  We then hiked on a bit of the Bear Creek Trail in northern Columbia, MO later in the afternoon. I'll break out the three hikes into separate short blog posts.

Our first walk was a 40 minute along the Devil's Ice Box Trail for 0.74 miles.

The entire trail is routed on a boardwalk where you cross over the Rock Bridge and then up toward Devil's Ice Box. We were fortunate that the gate at the Ice Box was open allowing walkers to descend into the cave. There have been times when park staff closed off this access to protect bats or other life in the cave.

You can follow our route via AllTrails,  Morning hike on Devil's Ice Box Trail.

Leave a comment below if you know how many steps walkers have to ascend and descend on the trail. For some reason, we didn't think to count and plan to return again to find out.

Walking on the Stinson Creek Trail

We enjoyed a pleasant walk on the Stinson Creek Trail in Fulton, MO. We started at the Dog Park Trailhead and walked to the Wood Street Trailhead before returning to our starting point through downtown Fulton.

I split the walk into two segments on AllTrails. The first was 3.58 miles with elevation change of 108 feet and was entirely on the Stinson Creek Trail.

The second segment started with walking on sidewalks through downtown until we rejoined the Stinson Creek Trail and returned to the dog park. This portion was 2.19 miles with 85 feet of elevation change.

Presidents Day Walk in Fulton, MO

We enjoyed a lovely Presidents Day in Fulton on February 21, 2022 and we able to take a pleasant walk along 7th Street. Our route from downtown up to Martin Luther King Drive and back was 3.3 miles with 167 feet of elevation change. The route is nice since you walk up hill until you turn around and then it is mostly down hill.

Click below for the short YouTube video of our walk.

Walking the Trails at the Springfield, MO Conservation Nature Center

We made a quick overnight trip to Springfield, MO in mid-September 2021 and returned to the Springfield Conservation Nature Center to walk on their trails before returning home. 

You can view our path via AllTrials. We walked just over four miles with elevation change of 289 feet.

The Missouri Conservation Department offers a number of nature and education centers. We created a map of the centers listed on the conservation department's web site. You can click on an icon/marker and find more information on each center via Google Maps.

Walking Two Trails in Mexico, MO

 

We drove in Annie, our Roadtrek, to Mexico, MO for our Friday outing and completed trails in two city parks. The Lakeview Park Trail and the Green Estates Park Trail are pleasant paved loops of roughly one mile each. 

The trails and parks are well maintained. They are also popular destinations and easy to access with plenty of parking options. 

You can view our YouTube video via the link below.

January Outing to Jefferson City

We drove to Jefferson City for an end of the week winter outing that included walks on a portion of the Frog Hollow Nature Trail and the loop around McKay Park Lake. The temperature was 11 degrees when we started the first trail and was in the mid-20s in the afternoon.

 

You can review our route on AllTrails. 

We ordered takeout salads for lunch and ate them in Annie, our 1996 Roadtrek 210 Popular. The bright sun really warmed us up in the camper.

Then after lunch we drove to the Capitol and walked on the new Bicentennial Bridge to Deborah Cooper Park.

I'll close with a photo of Annie parked on the north side of our state capitol. There were plenty of parking spots and it was just a short few steps to reach the Bicentennial Bridge.

Camping at Roaring River State Park during the last week of 2021

 A bit of cooler air has settled over central Missoui as we finish off this first week of 2022. I find it hard to believe that we enjoyed three nights of wonderful camping just last week. We stayed at Roaring River State Park in the southwestern part of the state and it was perfect weather for hiking.

And Annie, our new to us 1996 Roadtrek, performed flawlessly in our second and farthest excursion to-date.  We didn't de-winterize for the trip and chose Roaring River as a destination because it is one of a handful of Missouri State Parks that have heated shower and bathroom facilities. 

We also enjoyed trying out several of our Christmas presents. Linda decided the rocking camp chair performed flawlessly and we cooked steaks on our new Solo stove.

Roaring River State Park is well known for its large natural spring and trout hatchery. It was also a site for CCC and WPA activity in the 1930s and many structures remain from that period. There is also a very nice lodge constructed in recent years that was unfortunately closed for the season when we visited. 

Most of our time was spent hiking and we walked on five of the park's seven trails. You can find brief descriptions of each trail along with trail maps that can be printed.

I am also including links below for a couple of our routes recorded on AllTrails.

Our route on the Devil's Kitchen Trail

Our route on the Springhouse Trail

Bear Creek Trail

We enjoyed lovely walks on the Bear Creek Trail in Columbia, MO this past weekend.

We drove over in our 1996 210 Popular and it served faithfully as our base for a snack break.

We first headed west from the Creasy Springs Trail Head to the Cosmo Park Trail Head before returning. It was a total of 3.3 miles with 194 feet elevation change.

The AllTrails recording follows, https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/bear-creek-trail-creasy-springs-to-cosmo-park-1fa6269.

After a short break, we then walked east toward the Garth Nature Area Trail Head. This stretch was 2.54 miles and 39 feet of elevation change.

The route includes an impressive elevated boardwalk and a nice loop around a wonderful wetlands. We saw several tree stumps that looked like beavers may've been active.

You can find the AllTrails recording from our walk at https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/bear-creek-trail-6562a2c--4.

You can also read more about the Bear Creek Trail on the City of Columa website.

Walk from Grindstone Creek Nature Area Trailhead

 We enjoyed a very pleasant walk this week starting from the Grindstone Creek Nature Area Trailhead in Columbia, MO.

You can learn more about the Grindstone Nature Area at https://www.como.gov/parks/grindstone-nature-area/. The Columbia, MO Convention & Visitors Bureau offers web pages with links to more information on various trails, https://www.visitcolumbiamo.com/section/parks-trails/. You can also find a map of our route on AllTrails, https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/afternoon-hike-c0d5868--205.

Short Walk on the Fern Ridge Trail

We finished off our first weekend of camping in our new to us 1996 Roadtrek with a lovely walk on the Fern Ridge Trail at Graham Cave State Park.

We drove from the campground down to the parking lot below Graham Cave. We enjoyed lunch after our walk and then returned home. You can view a short YouTube video, Sunday Walk on the Fern Ridge Trail.

You can also view our route on Alltrails, Fern Ridge Trail.