Ozark Trail Berryman Lollipop June 19-21 2020

Over the last month I have walked almost 100 miles in short 5-10 mile segments most days around my house. Either at Indian Camp Creek or Lost Valley, with just a few others thrown in, all really within 10 miles of my house. 
I decided to extend it over 100 miles in a month I would get out and do something a bit more "hiking" related and do a couple days on the Ozark Trail, specifically from Bass Resort to around the Berryman Trail and back. A lollipop loop of about 40 miles. 
Normally this is a bit of a straight forward loop. You need to put in some long days, but you have lots of daylight now, so you just have to walk to make it around and back in 2.5 days. 

The map above is a layout of the weekend. I parked at Bass Resort which is on the Ozark Trail and started south from there, on Friday afternoon, intending to return on Sunday around noon. 
The only reliable water this time of year is at the campgrounds or a spring. 

Day 1
I arrived about 10:30 am and registered and parked my car at Bass River Resort, this is a very well know floating resort, one of the big three in this area that rents boats for families to float the rivers in the area. They will transport you on old school buses to the starting points up river for as much as 20 miles to float back to the resort. It is also a very large RV and camping spot. This area is the sweet spot for three of the four large recreational rivers in Missouri; the Courtois (code-a-way), the Huzzah and the Meramec. The fourth being the Current River is just slightly further south from here.
It was hot, but I had two liters of water for my 12 mile day the plan was to walk to Harmon Spring (10 miles), fill up with water and then walk on a mile or so on the western loop and find a place to camp. 

leaving Bass River Resort 

Walking along the road, through the Resort, to get to the woods

Lots of Spring flowers out in the hot and humid weather

Lunch spot after a couple of hours on the trail 

 Some of this trail doesn't see much use

Arriving at Brazil Creek 

The day had been hotter and more humid than predicted, actually not unusual for Missouri in June so instead of staying on the west side of the loop, when I reached Harmon Spring I decided to go on the east side as Brazil Creek Campsite is directly on a river and I knew it would have water. Brazil creek added about 2 miles extra to my day and I ended up doing just over 14 miles.
When I reached Brazil Creek I ran into another hiker (Bill) who had started at Berryman and come around the western side to Brazil, so his day was about 16 miles. 
We shared the only campsite at Brazil with a picnic table and after setting up my hammock and having a bit of dinner, it was too hot to eat much, I was asleep by 8:30 pm.  

Day 2
I was awake at first light about 5:30 but didn't get out of camp until about 6:30 am. This was going to be a long day and as I started out I had in the back of my mind that there might not be enough water for me to make the almost 20 miles I needed to do today to reach Beecher Spring on the other side of the loop. Today was much muggier than yesterday even early. Bill took off just before me but I would eventually pass him and not see him again. 

 short road walk out of Brazil Creek to get back on trail

Bright but warm morning

Crossing the trail with me 

The eastern side of the trail has had a few re-routes and has added about two miles to its length but overall it is very easy to walk as it is graded for bikes and I did see about half dozen on bikes during the day.

There was no water on the East side between Brazil and Berryman, usually you can count on at least one or two of the small streams to be holding some water, but nothing this time. This meant my two liters was really not enough. I finished my last drink as I was arriving at Berryman after almost 11 miles in the morning. I had a peach with me for some extra liquid but I was done in. 
This side had been about 2.5 miles longer than I remembered it. That turned out to not be as big a deal as no water at Berryman. The water pump was not working and without knowing if any of the creeks had water until I reached Beecher Spring, in another 9 miles, I had to decide if I should chance going forward or hitch a ride back to Bass Resort  
Several cars were parked here for the bikers that use the loop on weekends and I bummed a ride from (Mike) who was going past Bass Resort on his way back to St Louis. 
In the end,  I might have sat there for awhile, felt better and given it a go, but I do notice the older I get the less well I do in the very high humidity of the summer months. It was about 90F both days.
I am glad I got in the 25+ miles and ended the month with well over 100 miles walked.

My only regret is I was not out on the trail for Sunday June 21st, which would have been "hike naked" day. However with the number of ticks in the Missouri woods that would not have been a very smart idea! 
Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there.