Sunday 5-1 Hiking, Walking & New Park

Roaring River State Park

Happy May. Today was another beautiful day of sunshine, it was a little cooler than yesterday, 71 degrees and there was a lite breeze. 

We started the day by having pancakes for breakfast. Then we got the Minnie ready to go. Today we moved on to Roaring River State Park. It was only 40 miles away. Once the Minnie was ready Larry filled the water tank because at Roaring River Park there's no water at the sites. We were on the road by 9:30 am.

The road we took was a two lane highway that went through small towns. The highway twisted and turned. Roaring River State Park has three campgrounds ( 1, 2 & 3). We're in 2. We arrived at the park about 10:30 and our site was occupied. We knew this could happen considering check-out isn't until 2:00 and check-in was 3:00. This wasn't a problem we just parked at the office.

Roaring River State Park is an old CCC park. The CCC & WPA built the trails, fish hatchery, lodges, cabins, day area and camping areas. They worked in the park for 11 years. The lodges and cabins have been rebuilt and updated. It's a gorgeous park with a lot of trees.

There are quite a few hiking trails and a couple of them were not far from the office. We got ready to go for a hike. I put a couple of bottles of water in my pouch and Larry got the hiking poles. We were ready to go. The Pibern trail was about 1/4 mile from where we parked. It is 2.2 miles round trip. The CCC developed this trail in the 1930s. It went up the side of a hill, through a forest and a creek ran by the trail. We crossed the creek a couple of times. As we hiked we saw pretty scenery and rock formations. Larry warned me that a wood step was loose, I stepped over it and when I put my foot down I slipped and fell. I didn't fall hard but I hit my elbow on an edge of a rock so it's a little bruised. Once we were down the hill we walked through the campground back to the Minnie. 

A beautiful rock formation

The day area was just across the road from the office, we decided to go check it out. It was gorgeous and busy. The Roaring River runs through the area, people were fly fishing, picnicking, walking around and just having fun. Missouri doesn't have a day use fee in their parks but at Roaring River if you're fishing you have to pay $4 per person and have a fishing license. You can catch four trout. The fishermen had their passes on their hats.

Fishing in the Roaring River

The Roaring River Fish Hatchery is located at the top of the river area. The hatchery was constructed in 1910 and is one of the oldest fish hatcheries in the state. The hatchery has 40 raceways, a building where the eggs are incubated and large pools of water with trout in them. There was pathways through out the facility to see the trout. You can feed the trout for a quarter. The hatchery releases trout into the river everyday. The spring that begins Roaring River produces an average of 20.4 million gallons of water per day. There was a small waterfall there.

Fishing by the fish hatchery

 

Fish hatchery from the Deer Leap Trail

CCC Lodge

Under ground spring where the Roaring River begins

We hiked Deer Leap Trail, a short loop trail. From the trailhead we hiked up the mountainside. Once on top of the hill we had a great view of the fish hatchery. In the 19th century a gristmill operated where the fish hatchery is now located. We took a boardwalk back to the hatchery. We walked by some of the cabins and saw the beautiful CCC Lodge.

After doing the Deer Leap trail we walked over to the Devil's Kitchen Trail. It is a 2.4 mile loop. There were 9 Points of Interests to look for while you hiked: 1) The Bench, where the dolomite and limestone contact with each other, 2) Shelter Cave, 3) Lignite Cave, 4) Dry Chert Woodland, 5) Chert Outcrops, 6) Ridge Top, 7) Pine Woodland, 8) Trailside Spring Cave and 9) Devil's Kitchen, where two joints in the rock bluff joint together to form a rock formation. The trail took us up the hill and down the hill. It was very nice hike through the woods and rock formations. The points of interest were very well marked. 

Shelter Cave

Trailside Spring Cave

By the time we got back to the Minnie we had hiked/walked 5 miles. We had a super time.

We got in the Minnie and went to our site. It was available this time. Larry was surprised we didn't have any AT&T coverage because we have been using our hotspot most of the trip. We are thankful that Verizon had coverage because our cell phone has Verizon. We are using the phone as a hotspot. Then we had lunch. 

After lunch I played my computer games. I did the Daily Challenges of the Solitaire and Mahjong before I went to bed last night. I did the Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 40 minutes and 16 seconds to complete, which put me in 20th place in my group.

After doing my games I went on a half hour walk around the campground to find the trailhead of Eagle's Nest Trail. This is the next trail we'll hike. During my walk I saw a beautiful woodpecker.

Woodpecker

For dinner Larry barbecued pork sausage patties. After dinner we went for a walk. We walked across the road to the day use area. The day use area has a great CCC statue. It was donated in 2013 to celebrate the CCC 80th anniversary. Over many years we have seen this same statue used in only a few other parks. Then we walked around the picnic area. When we got back to our campground I continued walking for 45 minutes to get my steps. Today I did 27,211 steps, which put me in 7th place in my groups for the week with 183,248 steps.

CCC Worker statue

CCC Picnic Pavilion

For the rest of the evening we relaxed with a book. We're glad we did some hiking today because tomorrow it's suppose to rain.