The Ozark Trail Association is proud to announce the 2nd annual Taum-A-Hawk Hiking Race, a one-day event open to the public, to take place on Saturday, June 9th, 2018 along thirteen miles of the Ozark Trail Taum Sauk Section from Taum Sauk Mountain State Park to Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park located in Iron County, Missouri. […]]]>The Ozark Trail Association is proud to announce the 2nd annual Taum-A-Hawk Hiking Race, a one-day event open to the public, to take place on Saturday, June 9th, 2018 along thirteen miles of the Ozark Trail Taum Sauk Section from Taum Sauk Mountain State Park to Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park located in Iron County, Missouri.
Traversing through the most scenic and rugged areas of the entire state, mixed-gender teams of two, up to seventy-five teams in total, will hike a time-trial formatted race beginning in the morning at the summit of Taum Sauk Mountain, the highest point in Missouri, then heading down, alongside Mina Sauk Falls and west into the Taum Sauk Creek Valley, past the Devil’s Tollgate rock formation, and then back up across Proffit and Wildcat Mountains before finishing near beautiful Johnson’s Shut-ins State Park. The Taum-A-Hawk 2018 is patterned after team dynamic-based adventure races which require mixed gender teams for fairness.
The Ozark Trail Association Taum-A-Hawk 2018 is a one-day hiking race open to the public, not a trail running race. Participants must be over the age of sixteen in co-ed teams consisting of two people where classic hiking items will be required of each participant like a backpack, trail map, appropriate footwear, a minimum amount of carried water (1L), and other safety items like battery-powered flashlight/headlamp.
For more information on race requirements, rules, details on location, and where to officially sign your team up, please visit www.ozarktrail.com or contact Abi Jackson at [email protected].
]]>
The Ozark Trail Association has an upcoming event that hiking enthusiasts may want to join. The association has recently announced its inaugural Taum-A-Hawk Hiking Race set for June 10, 2017. A one-day event open to the public, hikers will traverse the 13 miles of the Ozark Trail from Taum Sauk Mountain State Park to Johnson’s […]]]>The Ozark Trail Association has an upcoming event that hiking enthusiasts may want to join. The association has recently announced its inaugural Taum-A-Hawk Hiking Race set for June 10, 2017.
A one-day event open to the public, hikers will traverse the 13 miles of the Ozark Trail from Taum Sauk Mountain State Park to Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park located in Iron County, Missouri. Journeying across some of the most scenic and rugged areas of the state, mixed-gender teams of two (with up to 50 teams total) will hike a time-trial-formatted race beginning at the summit of Taum Sauk Mountain, the highest point in the state.
The hikers will follow the trail’s descent alongside Mina Sauk Falls, down into Taum Sauk Creek Valley, past the Devil’s Tollgate rock formation, heading west across Wildcat and Proffit mountains and ending at Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park’s parking area.
“This is a rather rugged hike and not recommended for beginners or people who do not regularly engage in physical activity,” said the chief operations officer of the Ozark Trail Association. “An active, fit person who is not an experienced hiker could probably handle it just fine, but this will be physically demanding. This is one of the most rugged and most popular sections of the Ozark Trail.”
The 13-mile hike can take as long as 10 hours or more and will start at 7 a.m.
For more information on race requirements, rules, details on the location and where to register your team visit: The Ozark Trail Association’s registration page, or contact Abi Jackson at [email protected].
]]>
Forty years ago this week, state and federal officials in Missouri issued a dry document to announce a grand ambition. In a 43-page proposal dated February 7, 1977, they stated their aim to blaze a footpath through the Ozarks, the rugged highlands that roll across southern Missouri. It wouldn’t be easy. The native flora, fauna, […]]]>Forty years ago this week, state and federal officials in Missouri issued a dry document to announce a grand ambition.
In a 43-page proposal dated February 7, 1977, they stated their aim to blaze a footpath through the Ozarks, the rugged highlands that roll across southern Missouri. It wouldn’t be easy. The native flora, fauna, terrain and certain human occupants made that area, for hiking purposes, hostile territory.
The planners envisioned an “Ozark Trail” that could start near St. Louis and snake its way south over the region’s hills and hollers toward Arkansas, using as much public land as possible. An eastern spur would swing across Johnson Shut-Ins and Missouri’s highest point, Taum Sauk Mountain.
The state felt pressure to deliver such a corridor. In places like St. Louis, hiking was booming. Folks now enjoyed the requisite free time (thanks to labor reforms) and mobility (thanks to automobiles and interstates) to wheel out to the countryside, tramp around and breathe the forest air.
But the Ozark Trail remains unfinished today. It’s not that demand for hiking trails has flagged. According to the DNR’s most recent citizen survey, “trails are the most popular type of outdoor recreation facility in Missouri and the one that residents most want to see increased.”
No, the Ozark Trail isn’t finished, and perhaps never will be, because the last third is the most daunting: The trail must somehow traverse seven gaps of mostly private property — a combined 162 miles through eight different counties — and in a region that has historically cast a suspicious eye toward government, outsiders and recreation projects.
]]>
Warnock’s guide offers hiking advice, detailed trail descriptions, GPS coordinates, driving directions and topographical maps.
A “recommended hikes” list at the beginning of the guide offers tips on the best hikes for various needs, such as for hikers traveling with children or dogs, interested in history, or looking for springs and cascades.
“When I recommend trails I usually look at what (the hiker is) wanting – do they have kids, do they want a long trip, are they looking for scenic value – and I usually suggest a part of a trail,” Warnock said. “I worry that people will go out and do too much at one time and be discouraged. It’s always better to start out easy.”
As its title promises, the book features 43 trails in the Ozark Mountains area.
Warnock and several other area residents began cleaning up the Alma trail in 2012, and markers and benches have since been added to the scenic hike. Warnock also started a hiking blog in 2012 in an effort to encourage hikers to visit the Lake Alma Trail. His book is a natural takeoff from that.
]]>
Nixon was at Ameren headquarters in St. Louis to announce details of plans to develop the former Rock Island rail line from Windsor, in western Missouri, to Beaufort, about 60 miles southwest of St. Louis. Ameren purchased the rail line in 1999. It has not been used for railroad purposes for more than two decades.
“This new trail will bolster Missouri’s position as [one of] the nation’s premier hiking and biking destination[s] — and strengthen local economies all along its path,” Nixon said.
Ameren Missouri President Michael Moehn said the utility company has been working for years to clear the path of vegetation and taking other measures necessary before transferring the former rail line to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources by 2017.
Use of old rail lines for trails has become increasingly popular since development of Missouri’s Katy Trail State Park nearly three decades ago.
Earlier this month, a 47.5-mile stretch was added to the Katy Trail, expanding it to Pleasant Hill, near Kansas City. The extension means the Katy Trail that starts in St. Charles County, near St. Louis, is nearly 290 miles long.
]]>
The 2,106-acre area — the first large forested tract purchased by the Missouri Department of Conservation in Southwest Missouri — has more than 17 miles of trails for hikers, horseback riders, mountain bikers and hunters. All-terrain vehicles are forbidden.
There are seven designated primitive camping areas, all alongside open wildlife food plots, with a few accessible from Route K. Some have hitching rails to accommodate groups of horseback riders, the most avid trekkers of Huckleberry.
This is hiking, horseback riding or mountain biking just for the sake of it with no scenic destination, no majestic overlook or a waterfall spilling over magnificent bluffs.
]]>
“It’s kind of a unique area,” said Jake Willard, department resource forester and area manager. “The trails go way back in and it’s fairly remote.”
Hikers should be aware that the terrain is challenging and rugged in places. They will encounter steep hills. Often loose rock is underfoot on the trails. The rewards are pretty scenery and relative solitude in the woods. Wildlife can be spotted such as deer and armadillos. A variety of birds can be seen in the area.
About 46 acres of glades, open areas with unique plant communities associated with limestone rock, have been restored. A woodland ecosystem is one with open areas between trees with native plants and shrubs.
Granny’s Acres is in a general area of Missouri where historically America’s eastern woodlands met the prairies and intermingled.
]]>
Many Missouri business owners are preparing for the state to finish conversion of the former Rock Island Railway into a hiking and biking trail. “The trail would stretch about 200 miles in Missouri, from Pleasant Hill, a town half an hour southeast of Kansas City, to Beaufort in the south-central part of the state. It […]]]>Many Missouri business owners are preparing for the state to finish conversion of the former Rock Island Railway into a hiking and biking trail. “The trail would stretch about 200 miles in Missouri, from Pleasant Hill, a town half an hour southeast of Kansas City, to Beaufort in the south-central part of the state. It also might loop with the Katy Trail, creating 400 miles of the longest rail-converted trail system in the country.”
A year ago, the trail’s future was uncertain, but the Surface Transportation Board approved the transfer of the Rock Island corridor from Ameren Corp. to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in February. Now the greatest challenge is raising funds to build the trail as quickly as possible, said Greg Harris, executive director of Missouri Rock Island Trail Inc., a non-profit coalition of trail supporters.
The Rock Island project has invited comparisons to the Katy Trail, but the two trails are unique. The Katy Trail follows the Missouri River across the state and passes by larger cities such as Columbia.
In contrast, the Rock Island trail is more rural with varied terrain and long tunnels and bridges, including a mile-long bridge 100 feet above the Gasconade River. The Rock Island route also travels through the middle of small towns, which is not as common along the Katy.
]]>
If converted, the Missouri Rock Island Trail would stretch from Windsor in the western part of the state to the Franklin County town of Beaufort in the east while twice crossing the 236-mile Katy Trail, which is also a state park.
The proposed plan would not do away with the railway itself. Instead, it calls for the corridor to be “railbanked,” a legal term that means that it is made available for public use but allows for the reactivation of rail service by keeping the existing tracks intact.
“Without interim trail use, there’s no future potential for rail service,” said Bill Bryan, director of Missouri state parks.
Concerns, however, include increased vehicle and pedestrian traffic, access to land for livestock, and biosecurity, said Leslie Holloway, director of regulatory affairs at the Missouri Farm Bureau. Another point of contention was whether the economic benefits would outweigh the cost of the trail.
]]>
The waste lies beneath a structure that resembles an enormous ancient burial tomb. There’s even a platform at the top of the 7-story-high mound where visitors can take in the view.
The American government refers to the area as the Weldon Spring site, but it’s also known as the Nuclear Waste Adventure Trail and Museum. The largest explosives factory in the United States once stood in its place. By 1956, the property was occupied by 44 buildings that refined uranium for nuclear bombs. The plant was abandoned in the 1960s and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed up 20 years later to conduct the clean-up.
The EPA found 1.48 million cubic yards of toxic waste, including radiologically and chemically contaminated structural materials, sludge, and soils. Environmental contaminants included uranium, radium, TNT and heavy metals. Instead of hauling it all away, the U.S. government decided to entomb the contaminated waste right there.
The area surrounding the containment bowl is also popular with cyclists and hikers, and it’s not unusual to see local residents walking their dogs in the area.
]]>