Four days hiking the Berryman Trail, Missouri, December 2024

This was my last backpacking trip of 2024. I got nowhere near my goal of hiking 240 miles in 2024, but spending four days hiking the twenty-seven-mile Berryman Trail near Potosi, Missouri, got me a bit closer. However, the trip didn’t start quite as smoothly as I anticipated.

I’ve hiked the Berryman Trail twice — in 2011 (clockwise) and 2020 (counterclockwise). When I hiked it in 2020, the trail had been substantially rerouted and extended to its current length of twenty-seven-odd miles. In 2011, it was 24 miles. On my last visit, it was in excellent condition, well-graded, blazed, and easy to follow. That made a nice change from the Whites Creek Trail in Irish Wilderness!

The trail runs through short-leaf pine and oak forests and generally follows the contour lines into and around the hollows. You’ll enjoy this trail if you like the Ozark’s crinkly bits with deep hollows. The Berryman Trail is not in a designated wilderness and is open for hikers, equestrians, and cyclists. Motor vehicles are not allowed on the trail but can be encountered at the trail’s many forest road crossings.

The trail is divided into east and west segments. When I last hiked it, water was available on the West Segment at the spring at the abandoned Beecher Campground, Harmon Spring and Trailhead, Little Brazil Creek, and Brazil Creek. The East Segment has a reputation for being dry — I’ve seen caches of water at the point where the trail crosses Floyd Tower Road. However, I have found a low-output spring on the trail a mile or two south of Floyd Tower Road.

Camped at sunset. The colors were glorious. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

Despite a minor health issue on Day One, in four days, I hiked a total of 28.7 miles and climbed 1,995 ft. I very much enjoyed the hike, though I would have preferred the trail to have been a bit less populated and definitely could have done without the 20-vehicle ATV/Side-by-side convoy that seemed to follow me wherever I went. But everyone else is just as entitled to be out enjoying the forest as I am, so I cannot complain.

Weather Forecast

Weather from windy.com

Gear

Basically, I took the same gear I had on my recent Irish Wilderness hike: my summer quilts and tarp, backed up by winter clothing, just in case it turned chilly. This time, I remembered to pack my Pop-Tarts, and I had a nice thick book to keep me occupied through the long, dark evenings.

I swapped out my LED light string for my LED camp light. It’s much quicker to set up and put away, and I wanted to see if I missed the light string.

You can read a complete write-up of my trip on my personal blog.

Below are my GPS Tracks and daily hike stats, plus my post-trip thoughts on what worked and what I learned.

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

What worked & Lessons learned

  • My summer quilts were fine in the temperatures I encountered.
  • My clothing was fine, though once again, I took and didn’t wear my spare base layer top and spare pair of undies.
  • I love my Fancee Feest alcohol stove1, and as usual it worked impeccably. I took my wood stove and didn’t use it. It may be better to leave it behind when it’s cold and damp.
  • My summer tarp kept everything dry through several hours of gusty rain.
  • My decision to carry on was the correct one. We’ll never know if my contingency plans would have worked.
  • On the past couple of trips, I’ve been carrying an extra half-liter water bottle just for my electrolytes. It fits comfortably in the side pocket of my pack along with my one-liter plain water Platty.
  • The LED camp light is a better option for winter camping than the LED light string.
  • I found a better way to attach my Hunter orange vest to my pack. The key element was a small bulldog clip that held the collar in place on top of my pack.
  • I shall double the number of meds I take with me. I don’t want to have to consider bailing on a trip because I’m low on meds ever again.
  • Make absolutely sure any changes in my medication regime have fully bedded in before going out for several days.
  • In future I should use the tools on my GPS to work out distances rather than guessing. Failing that I’ll have to carry a compact pair of navigational dividers (I have a huge pair I used to use when sailing).

All in all, for a last-minute trip, it turned out much better than I would have thought at the end of Day One. I like the Berryman Trail and may need to hike it more often.

Notes: 1 It looks like the Fancee Feest stove is no longer available. The website has been down for over a month now. I found a message from the owner posted in June 2024 saying he had plenty of stoves in stock, but there’s now no way to get them. That’s a shame, but at least I have three on hand!

What do you think?

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