Cuba ,Zahorsky Woods,Onondaga Cave S.P MO

We had a very active day after a night storm in our area , the wind suddenly picked up and I was lucky to be able to pull down the awning in time before the trailer takes off or the awning gives in.

I woke at around 8AM and it was difficult to be believe that only few hours ago there was a storm passing by, the sky was blue and if not bracken the branches laying around I would think that it was all my imagination.

We took off to a “secret “ Natural Conservation , why secret? because even the people living next to the conservation could not point us to the place , so we did some driving around following directions I got from the net till we found the place called Zahorsky Woods located in Crawford County and encompassing 56 acres,in the northeast corner of the preserve is a steep dolomite bluff 100 feet above the Meramec river.

As we entered the 2Mile hike we meet 2 people cleaning the trail , they were very happy to see someone actually hiking in this “secret” woods.

  

After completing the loop and visiting the lookouts towards the river we continued to Cuba MO-called the Mural Capitol of Missouri-and they are beautiful.

 

As it was only 2PM we decided to visit Onondaga Cave State Park after we had our picnic in a small park in town.

The S.P is a beautiful one like all the S.Parks in Missouri we visited so far, it has a cave,C.G,trails ,picnic places and a spring.

As we visited few caves in the past we passed on this one and took a short hike along the river to the spring.

The reflections and the scenery were just fantastic.

  

       

On the way back we booked a “float” on the Meramec River for tomorrow,so if you do not hear from us it means we are still floating….

Steelville MO

From Dixon MO we drove the back roads to Steelville MO and used Candy Cane C.G that has only 20 sites some with full hook ups and some only with W/E,they also have a pool and new restrooms.

The price for P.A members on a P/T site with full hook ups was 13$ in he week days.

After a short rest we took off to the Information Center in Steelville and got some details on hikes,canoeing and floating in the area.

From there we drove to Maramec Spring Park just 12 Miles down the road.

The Park is an 1860 acres wild life refuge and park owned by the James Foundation and it is 5$ for a day use.

Maramec Springs is the 5th largest spring in the state of Missouri with an average daily flow of 96,000,000 gallons of water , the water bubbles up from more than 350 feet below the surface of the earth.

 

 

It is also one of 4 trout parks located in Missouri , the pools are full with different size of trout's before they are realised to the river.

 

The park also has a C.G,open pit quarry,shelters,picnic tables and an old iron factory.

 

It is very organized ,easy to hike/drive around and enjoy the beautiful shady ,green place.

We were lucky to take a shot of this colourful woodpecker sitting there posing for us.

    

On the way “home” we stopped next to an old cabin that was used by the settlers in the 18 century.

 

This was a great day and there was nothing better than to have a good meal with wine-LEHAIM…

                     

Cliffy Creek Bridge Trail MO

We just completed a 2.5 mile hike along Cliffy Creek,it is a very beautiful trail starting from the parking lot along the bluff crossing twice the creek loosing and gaining again 200 feet.

It is mostly in the shade and I would consider the level of difficulty to be moderate.

  

The Cliffy Creek Conservation area that includes also the Cliffy Creek Natural area are together 500 acres and one of the more dramatic features of Cliffy Creek Natural Area is a natural bridge with a span of about 40 feet that was created by a tributary of Cliffy Creek carving through Gasconaded dolomite.

 

 

Unfortunately at this time of the year the water was low but this allowed us to walk in the creek and wet our feet and even see some frogs that sounded like bulls….

                           

Coming back to the C.G our hosts suggested to have dinner together ,so we shared what ever we had , it was a great evening and a great stay all together in this place.

Dixon MO

Dixon Mo is a small town just of HWY 44 between Lebanon MO and Rolla MO.

The reason for pulling the trailer to Dixon is a 2.5 Mile hike in Clifty Natural Bridge which is recommended by some bloggers that have hiked this trail,if it is worth while or not we will find out tomorrow after we come back from the hike.

We found a C.G in the area with full hook ups and WiFi in the Passport America directory and called ahead and got a site reserved.

 

In the book and on the sign it says” Missouri Festival Park” with a remark in the book saying “Passport America prices will not be excepted during festival events”- well there are no festivals in the park anymore but the owners are a great couple and we had a fantastic evening with them,zipping wine and “correcting the world”.

The hosts gave us some sweet corn and a big Missouri cucumber and we promised to serve coffee in the morning, at 10 PM we went to bed feeling like we know this couple for years.

If you are looking for a quite nice place –THIS IS IT.

2nd Day Bennett Springs S.P MO

9 years ago we meet Paula while hiking in Grand Teton N.P Wyoming and since then we kept in touch although we live far away apart.

“One day when you are in the Kansas City area,give me a call “ she said, so now 9 years later we finally meet.

Paula came all the way from Kansas city to visit us in Bennett Springs S.P MO to spend the day with us,although there was a lot of catching up to do we felt like we meet just last year.

  

Bennett Springs is the MECCA for the fisherman,many come to fish using special gear allowing them to stand in the shallow water and fish, only 4 fish a day are allowed to be kept the rest have to be returned.

 

We hiked around the beautiful S.P (not to many hiking trails) to a view spot and along the river , visited the hatchery where fish from all size where held before being realised to the river after reaching the right size.

  

I mentioned in my previous post the good quality of the camp ground in this park,adding to it the great surroundings and the fishing possibilities sure makes Bennett Springs S.P a fantastic place to camp and visit.

All in all we had a very nice day with our friend Paula that took the trouble to come all the way to see us-thanks.

Bennett Springs S.P MO

The night before leaving towards Bennett Springs S.P we reserved a seats to see Oprey show  in Main Street Music Hall in Osage Beach.

The lady that took the reservations was very kind and gave us good seats with a reduced price …..as she said “ it is a C.G day today..” ,any how it was mostly country music with some humoristic short episodes-we enjoyed it very much.

   

As you all know getting a good spot on the 4th of July is not and easy task,people book sites sometimes a year in advance and so it is done in this popular park ,as we do not have a tough schedule we DID not reserve a site , so calling 4 days in advance to get one I could hear the operator laughing ,but said politely that if I get there early enough I could catch a “first come first served site”.

So here we are getting to the park early as 9AM on the 2nd of July and with a miserable expression on our face asking for a site with hook ups for the next 3 nights,,,,,he looks at his bookings with a pessimistic expression and says “ This park is booked a year in advance for the 4th of July but you are lucky we have some one that cancelled a site with full hook ups ,WiFi ,Pull through , do you want it?” “Well “ I said “ OK ,we will take it…” –That is called winning the lottery.

The sites as you can see just perfect,concrete,levelled,spacious and with full hook ups.

 

The river running in the park is used for fishing,canoeing and tubing.

That’s it for now –just wanted to tell you about the “miracle”, think positive it always helps, when you see an ambulance –do not say “some one is hurt”   say “some one gave birth”…….