In the meantime, I wanted to show some pictures from a trip I took last week, here in Missouri. I drove down to visit a friend near Cape Girardeau, and on the way back I took the scenic route and stopped first at Hawn State Park, then at St. Francois State Park. Most of the leaves were gone, but it was a bright clear day, cool but not cold, and the sunlight was beautiful. If I'd had more time I would have gone on a real hike, but just walking around near the creek and the river felt really good.
At Hawn I drove down, down, down into the picnic area, which is full of pine trees - shortleaf pine, Missouri's only native pine tree. Tall, and really moving in the breeze.
There is a little trail that cuts from the parking lot over to Pickle Creek. I started with that.
Not much color except for the pine trees, but I did find some.
This was the fuzziest moss EVER. So soft.
Walking upstream just a bit, I got to an open bank next to a larger pool. It was all fine white sand because the hills all around are made of sandstone, and the creek cuts through it.
Deer tracks! The sand is supposed to be almost white but my camera couldn't understand that.
The water was so clear! Sometimes I have seen fish in here - bigger than minnows - but none were around. (I like to toss teeny pebbles in, and they dart for it thinking it is food. Nobody took the bait this time.)
I wanted to follow the creek upstream but there was too much underbrush, so I went back out the way I came. I walked through the picnic area until I saw another trail cutting over, and followed that.
The hills are made of sandstone, and so are some of these rocks, but there are also big chunks of ancient granite. If you take the trail that continues upstream from the picnic area, there are huge slabs of granite that form a miniature shut-ins, where the stream is forced through a narrow channel because the rock is so hard that it doesn't erode. (I really need to go back and hike that trail sometime...)
I found another path back to the picnic area, and as I walked through the trees I noticed a bit of natural weaving from the last time the creek flooded.
This was about knee high, and three or four feet above the current water level.
The sunlight through the dried grass was just gorgeous.
I drove back up out of the picnic area, and turned in at the park headquarters. I was pretty sure there was an overlook near there, and there was a small parking area to one side that might be it. Sure enough! It was a very short, paved path through the pine trees.
Buckbrush! This bright magenta color is accurate - very distinctive.
There was a big patch of tall sumac bushes - taller than me! The leaves were gone, but the berries still had some color.
The towering pine trees were evenly interspersed with tiny oak saplings. Succession is in progress!
The trail had several interpretive signs along the way, describing the shortleaf pine forest, and the program of periodic burning at Hawn State Park that keeps the ground under the trees from getting too overgrown, and mimics natural processes. At the end, there were signs talking about the geology of the valley below, and the types of wildlife that live in the pine forest.
The platform at the end had signs and benches, but it wasn't exactly an overlook. It did offer a nice view into the distance, though, especially with the leaves gone.
I left the trail and went off to the side for a short distance to get a view in another direction.
When I got back, I found that several plants had propositioned me to carry their children.
Sticktights! These seeds are as good as velcro, covered with fuzzy "hooks".
I had to sit down on the bench and get them all off before I could get back into the car! Fortunately it was mostly just my lower legs, but even so it took about ten minutes!
Even my shoelaces. Even the fabric stitching on my shoes.
After that lovely interlude, I was ready to get on the road again! I drove west to Farmington and ate lunch there, then drove up highway 67, where there is a very brief warning before a sharp turn off the highway directly into St. Francois State Park! Once again I was driving down, down, down into a valley. I drove out toward the campground, through the tallgrass prairie and down to the river.
It's a small prairie, but lovely!
Golden.
I stopped at two different spots along the river.
There were just a few leaves left on this sycamore, glowing in the afternoon light.
Just a few leaves left anywhere - all glowing!
I found a steep but manageable path down to the river.
The gravel bar was a lot wider this time than it sometimes is - the river was fairly low.
It's not always this clear, either!
A lot of the leaves were from briars! We've always called this catbriar, but it looks similar to the greenbriar I found everywhere in Tennessee. Both have nasty thorns.
Looking down at the river from this second vantage point.
I finished driving around the loop and headed back out, stopping at the Coonville Creek picnic area.
There were a couple of osage oranges caught in the rocks of the creek. I was here one other time in the fall and there were so many it looked like a tennis match had gone wild there!
I could have followed the creek for a long way, but I was running late. Still glad I stopped here, though.
I'm glad I made it out to these parks when I did, because when I got up this morning it was raining AND snowing, and blowing, and chilly... If I do get back out here, it will be in winter. And then spring. And hopefully not in summer, if I get a job at another national park... although if I get a job with Ozark National Scenic Riverway I wouldn't be too far away!
Keep checking in, as I do plan to fill in that missing month and a half!
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