Missouri Department of Conservation Tick Advice
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MDC have published their latest advice on how to protect yourself from ticks and tick-borne illnesses.
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100 Missouri Miles Challenge. We’ve signed up, have you?
The 100 Missouri Miles challenge is to complete 100 miles of walking, running, biking, rolling, paddling or hiking on the trails of Missouri by the end of the year. You can register to take part
More >The bare essentials of staying safe in Black Bear country – link
Trip Report: Finding the Bluffs at Hercules Glades
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.
More >Backpacking in the Ozarks this weekend, we camped at the top of this bluff
We had a great three-day backpacking trip. We wanted to map and explore some trails we’ve not had time to hike before. Studying the maps, we found what we thought would be a fantastic place to camp for the night. It was. But where in the Ozarks is it?
More >Trip Report: Bell Mountain Wilderness – March 2012
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.
More >Doing the Dishes
Whether you’re backpacking or car camping there comes a time when you have to do the dishes. It seems like a simple thing, and it is, but there are a few things to consider.
More >Trip report: Backpacking in Hercules Glades – September 2012
Taking advantage of a long weekend, we took Lanie with us on a three day backpacking trip to Hercules Glades. Our plan was to map some of the western trails with the GPS, try to find the Spring we think Rock Spring Trail is named after, and show Lanie the falls.
More >Trip report: Memorial Day weekend backpacking at Hercules Glades Wilderness
Memorial Day weekend 2011. We took advantage of the long weekend to go backpacking at Hercules Glades Wilderness and spent three nights in the wilderness.
More >Photo gallery: Hercules Glades
Welcome to our gallery of photographs taken at Hercules Glades Wilderness. Click on a picture to see a larger version.
More >Photo gallery: Camping and backpacking in Scotland, 2011
Not one of our usual hiking destinations. In the summer of 2011 we took a trip to the UK to see relatives. A visit to Gary’s uncle living near Glasgow gave us an opportunity for some hiking, backpacking and car camping in Scotland. Very different from the Ozarks…
More >Trip report: Two days solo backpacking in Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area
With a couple of spare days I decided to fit in a quick solo backpacking trip. To save on gas I stayed close to Springfield, backpacking around Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. I found a second cemetery and an abandoned vehicle I didn’t know were there.
More >Trip report: Three days backpacking in the Piney Creek Wilderness – June 2012
School’s out for the summer, so there’s no school run to worry about. Lanie’s staying with her grandparents for a few days. The big kids are old enough to be left home alone. What better opportunity to get in a few days backpacking?
More >Do you need hiking poles?
When we first started hiking the question soon arose, “Do we need hiking poles?” (also known as trekking poles). We thought that they were pretentious accessories only used by the sort of people who like to buy every latest gadget and bit of gear to look the part. I just could not see the need for them.
More >Getting Everyone Onboard…Overcoming Obstacles
If you’re wanting to go camping and your significant other or children aren’t as enthusiastic as you are, perhaps there are some unspoken objections they have. Take a look at the list below and see how many of these you can address. I’ll bet you’ll find yourself surrounded with family if you can overcome these common obstacles.
More >Places to go: Piney Creek Wilderness
Right off the bat, the most unusual thing about this Wilderness area is that its boundaries circumscribe the entire drainage of Piney Creek. So you always start on a ridge and go down into the valley of the same creek system. There isn’t a lot of up and down all day hiking. Once you’re down in the valley it’s flat. Piney Creek opens into Table Rock Lake on the east, allowing access to and from the lake…
More >Trip report: Backpacking at Piney Creek Wilderness – April 2012
One of the more problematic aspects of an outdoor-loving lifestyle is that you have to either find someone to take your kids while you go play or you have to bring your kids with you. We finally have two kids old enough to leave at home. But our youngest is still a bit young so we’ve been working on getting her interested in the idea of going on backpacking trips with us
More >Leave No Trace: And that means Toilet Paper too!
You’re out for a hike and enjoying the wonderful splendor that nature has to offer. There are flowers blooming and birds singing and all is well with the world. Until you round a corner and see a pile of toilet paper.
More >Trip report: Backpacking the Berryman Trail – 2011
With the kids away for Spring Break with their father for a week we decided it was time for our next backpacking trip. The children had to be dropped off and picked up from St Louis, so that focused our attention on the Berryman Trail. Some people do this trail in a day, bikes do […]
More >Trip report: Backpacking the Devil’s Backbone Wilderness – February 2011
This was our second backpacking trip and we’d picked the Devil’s Backbone Wilderness as our destination. We were still learning – especially about finding a spot to camp and reducing the weight of our packs, we’ll always be learning something. The weather was rather dreary but we enjoyed ourselves.
More >Trip report: backpacking at Hercules Glades Wilderness – December 2010
Our first backpacking experience The kids were with their dad in Chicago. The forecast was for unseasonably warm temperatures. We had backpacking gear we’d not fully tried out yet. It had been nearly six weeks since our last camping trip. It was time. We were ready to go on our first backpacking trip!
More >Backpacking Trial Run – Weekend Camping at Berry Bend
This weekend we tried out our backpacking gear. Friday evening we took several kids to Kansas City for a church event. We needed to be on hand to collect them again Sunday afternoon, so we left Lanie in the capable hands of Ginger’s cousin, put Getzger in charge at home and once we’d dropped the […]
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