Hiking/Canoeing/Camping

This last weekend The Boy and I went down to SE MO.  We went to hike the Ozark Trail and canoe the Courtois River.  The plan was to check-in Friday evening and camp. Then on Saturday morning get up, drive to the trail head, leave the truck and hit the trail.  We'd hike back to camp, and then in the morning get in the canoe and float back down to the trail head.  It was supposed to be about 12 miles of hiking, and 12 miles of floating over two days.

I'm not exactly a Spartan when it comes to camping. It's getting better, though. I only had one Rubbermade tub this time.

It rained on the way down, and rained a little once we arrived, which was a bummer.  But I was mostly disappointed with where I'd booked us.  The Ozark Trail swings right by the Bass River Resort, and that is a good place to put in your canoe.  However, upon arrival I discovered this wasn't a campground, this was a party camp. I believe everyone under the age of 29 from Rolla and St. Louis was there with us this weekend, and they each carried 24 cans of beer.  I stayed on the "quiet" side of the camp, so we only had to listen to karaoke until 11 PM.

 The rain cleared up and Saturday morning we started hiking. The Ozark Trail is wonderful, at least the section we were on. At one point you're hiking with the river on one side and bluffs on the other. There were too many caves to count or take pictures of (What is this? The Cave State?). We found some impressive rock formations and some nice views of the forest.  We even saw wildlife.

 

Twelve miles may have been a little ambitious for a nine year old boy, so at mile seven we decided to take a short cut.  At this point on the trail, we had five more miles to go. But we were only one mile from the camp if we walked straight toward it.  That didn't work out so well, and I don't recommend it.  I had Camp programmed into my eTrex, and I was fairly certain it was leading us in the right direction, but it is almost impossible to walk in a straight line through the forest of SE MO.

In the end, I'm not certain we saved any time, but I am certain I ruined my wife's camera.  We already had one river crossing, which we waded across no problems.  Our "short cut" forced us to do another, so I began wading. I had my cell in my left hand, ready to hold it out of the water. Unfortunately, the river got deep and I plunged in up to my chin. My first thought was, "don't drown," and then, "swim for the other side."  The thought, "Your wife's camera is in you backpack" didn't cross my mind until I crawled upon the bank of the other side. Yes, the camera got soaked, and at last check still doesn't work.

My son willingly jumped in the river. He never passes up on opportunity to swim. We finally made our way to camp. I'll post some more pics below, but they were all taken before that last river crossing, needless to say.

Once back at camp, we sat around for a couple of minutes and decided to get in the canoe and get to the truck that evening. We started hiking at about 9:30 AM. We got to camp around 3:30 PM after hiking/swimming approximately eight miles. We got in the canoe around 4 PM, and I think we were getting in the truck about 7 PM. It was supposed to be 12 miles of floating, but my eTrex said 10 miles, downstream. A very good day (except for the camera). I am proud of The Boy for doing it.

Sunday morning, once The Boy finally woke up, we had breakfast, broke camp, and headed down to Taum Sauk Mountain, the highest point in Missouri. At about 1,776 feet above sea level (depending on which reference you look at), we both stood on the top of Missouri. It was very gratifying.  Very close by you can find Mina Sauk Falls. Not to be missed! Impressive! You should see it! Unfortunately, I can't show you.  My wife's camera was drowned, and my cell phone battery was so run down it wouldn't let me take pics.  Do a Google image search and you see what I'm talking about.

At that point, we were done.

Here are some other pics of us on the trail:

Luckily we brought enough sunshine to drink.