Video. Part way through a recent Hercules Glades five-and-a-half-mile hike back to the trailhead, I decided to make a rough video of the remainder of my hike for my family in the UK. I’ve never done this before and may not bother again, but here are the final three-and-a-half hours of my hike, compressed into 14 minutes.
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Back at the beginning of 2018 the majority of the trails at Hercules Glades were renamed. The more I think about it, the more I am coming to the conclusion that it wasn’t a good idea. There are lots of maps, videos, and references online that use the original names. Sooner or later some confusion is bound to arise.
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We took advantage of some days with reasonable weather in January and went hiking in Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Busiek is just 20-minutes from Springfield, so for us, it’s a great place for a quick day hike.
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A warm break in the weather sent us scurrying out to get some miles on the trail, this time we opted for Busiek’s Orange Trail.
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My new everyday carry knife / multi tool. It weighs less than my Milwaukee Fastback or Swiss Navy knife. It has a carabiner and pocket clip – which was a must-have for me. The tools include pliers, side cutters, screwdriver (Phillips and flat bits) and, of course, a bottle opener. The only tools I miss […]
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We decided to fit in a quick hike at Busiek this weekend. We were originally planning on going backpacking at Hercules Glades, but life (this time in the form of pet-sitting for friends) threw a spanner into that plan. Not wanting to miss the opportunity to test some of the new backpacking gear we’ve bought, […]
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I’d have a whole lot of pack horses by now. This time last year (2015) we thought we were getting back into our hiking / backpacking stride, and we lost it. After about three hikes we stopped. Lots of work came in and we both spent most of the year tied to our desks and […]
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We’re still working on getting back in condition. Today, we wanted to increase the distance and elevation climbed while, not getting too wet and muddy, and not driving too far. We settled on hiking the complete Silver Trail at Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area.
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We wanted a fairly quick and dry hike. Ginger didn’t want a repeat of Saturday’s wet and muddy trail.
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I have a confession. We stopped hiking in 2013, it wasn’t deliberate. First we missed our ‘annual’ Spring Break backpacking trip, then we both got tied up with work. I abandoned my semi-retired state, and getting out just faded away. No backpacking, almost no hiking, kayaking or fishing. It all stopped. We made an attempt […]
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Want to take part in the 100 Missouri Miles challenge? Here are some tips on how to get started.
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June 1 will see the launch of “100 Missouri Miles”, a new initiative encouraging Missourians to complete 100 miles of physical activity by the end of the year
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We love campsites with spectacular views, who doesn’t? We hoped we’d managed to find a fantastic camping spot on top of a set of 260 ft. high bluffs overlooking Beaver Creek, in Hercules Glades Wilderness, we just needed to get there and check it out.
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Sunday we hiked part of the Busiek Silver Trail. Wednesday we decided to go back and do the complete trail.
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Despite some recent warm temperatures the trail this weekend still had ice on it in places, and the melt water was icy. So I was left wondering why my feet weren’t feeling cold, despite being barefoot, wet and muddy.
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Commitments for the kids, work projects, and voluntary work have all conspired to keep us from hiking, camping and backpacking for the past couple of months. This afternoon we made the effort to leave our desks behind and hike what we call the ‘Hill Loop’ of the Busiek Silver Trail – 2.58 miles and 574 ft of Elevation.
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The trails of the Ozarks are very rugged, fairly remote and access for any rescue party will be difficult. Our worst case scenario is that one of us will suffer a fall and become incapacitated.
If the worst happens we assume that there will be no cell phone service, and that any rescue attempt will likely take a day or more. So even on a short day hike our emergency kit is designed to enable us to survive overnight in the wilderness.
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The Glassberg Family Conservation Area in Jefferson County has been formally opened. The conservation area is located south of the I-44 near Eureka and St. Louis.
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We desperately wanted to get away backpacking for a few days. However, sometimes life just doesn’t roll the way you want it to and you have to make space for other things.
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Can a simple piece of one ounce gear invoke actual love? Yes. I admit it. I love my Platypus SoftBottle!
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We’ve not been getting out enough of late so we grabbed a chance on Saturday to see some fall color and hike the Pees Hollow Trail at Hercules Glades Wilderness.
The Pees Hollow Trail runs north from the Hercules Tower Trailhead off of Highway 125.
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Piney Creek Wilderness is one of our favorites.
Located in Barry County Missouri, the Pineview (Tower) Trailhead is 5.5 miles west of Cape Fair on Highway 76 off Farm road 2150, and around 4.5 miles on Highway 76 from Highway 39. See Getting To Piney Creek.
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Bell Mountain Wilderness is in Iron County Missouri, around 30 miles south of Potosi. Bell mountain is an 11 or so mile loop depending on the trail head you start from. Bell Mountain is 1702 ft. and offers superb views to the east and of the 600 ft. drop into the very steep valley of Shut-in Creek.
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Eager to find a new sort of ground to cover, we turned our attention to the St. Francois Mountain area for our Spring Break trip. The St. Francois Mountains are an ancient granite mountain range that stands, literally, as an island in the limestone and dolomite former sea beds that are the Ozarks Plateau.
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