25.1 Miles in a Day- Berryman Loop Trail

I know, I know, before I get this started there are lots of people that can do far more miles in a day than 25. I have even done a 32 mile day but that was more than a decade ago. Some of the very fit and "young" people I follow on the interwebs routinely due 30 to 50 miles per day, day in, day out. I am always very impressed. Well that is not going to be me anymore. However two old guys and one younger one decided that we would try to go our own version of a big day this weekend. We had previously planned to do 26 miles on the Ozark Trail the weekend before but for various reasons, we all cancelled at the last minute. This weekend fell in place and we decided to give it a shot. The Berryman trail as you my know from previous posts in a very well marked, well maintained trail used by mostly bikes and some horses in central Missouri, near Potosi, Missouri (about 2 hours south of my house)
We knew it would most likely take us from sun up to sun down so we decided to meet and hit the trail at 7 am. In fact we started on the trail at 6:58 am

This was the only time we would see the sun today. It rose just as we started the trail with a temperature of 15F (-9.5C) but quickly clouded over and remained the same all day. In fact the light changed very little from 7 am to 5 pm. 

 The big day starts

Berryman is a 25 mile loop. we decided to do it counterclockwise as the East loop in rougher of the two sides

 Did I mention it was cold?  Cory (left), Joe (right)

We totally lucked out with the frost flowers this morning. There literally dozens and dozens of Frost Flowers that had sprung up everywhere along the trail and they were huge!

the trail in Missouri in the winter is pretty much just a brown tunnel, not a lot of changing scenery, but we were really glad to be walking. We only saw one person on a mountain bike all day. We had the woods to ourselves!

The west side of the Berryman loop in the official Ozark Trail, the East side is considered the OT spur trail

at exactly noon (5 hours of walking) we made it to the half way point

 Time for some lunch- Joe was smart and brought his small stove and had hot soup for lunch, while Cory and I just had cold sandwiches. (Joe below)

We had planned on taking an hour from lunch, but it was so cold that sitting around was just not very comfortable. It got to be a high of 32F (0C) but with even the smallest breeze it was very chilly. So we spent about 15-20 minutes and then got back walking again

Cory (above)

Besides the Frost Flowers there was an abundance of fungus along the trail.

 pretty and various colors growing on the downed logs

On the west loop the stock pond is the only water until Beecher Spring

with 5 miles left to go, we reached Beecher Spring. It has always been reliable and was running today as well.

We took a few minutes to look at the campsite. One of the trees we have hung our hammocks on many times was now down. Could be beetles made it weak and then a strong wind finally knocked it over. 

The old stump that looks like a deranged rabbit was still there, looking more weathered and deranged than every!

A look at my new 35 liter pack from Pa'lante Packs. This is the Simple Pack.

 More ice on the trail as we move to within a few miles of the end

 Made it- .2 miles from the end and light is fading. We walked into the parking lot at exactly 5 pm.
5 hours for the first 12.5 miles and 5 hours for the last 12.5 hours. Pretty good pace for coming off the couch to attempt a big day.

After a celebration beer at the trail head, we headed into Potosi to Boos Market, now called West Side Grille, for a very large hamburger and fries as well as another beer before the two hour drive home.
I can tell you getting out of the car after two hours of driving and then getting out of bed this morning was no easy feet. I made sure to take plenty of Vitamin I before bed as I had three hockey games to officiate today.

Cory and Joe both had personal bests for their highest mileage days on the trail. It was really a fun time on the trail.

Day Hike St Joe State Park Nov 26, '16

My work travel schedule has just been ridiculous and having done Thanksgiving dinner a week early when all the family was available I was feeling both under the weather and also not really knowing what to do this Holiday weekend. Fortunately Corey was participating the in "Opt Out" tradition of not participating in Black Friday shopping and getting out instead to the woods.
He invited me to join him for a hike in St.Joe State Park. I have actually never been to St.Joe State Park, so I was happy to join  him on the Pine Ridge Trail at 13.5 miles loop.

The loop is primarily an equestrian trail so it was muddy and torn up in spots, but a new trail to try none the less 

I arrived at 8 am. Corey had spent the night in the park in his hammock as he had hiked a trail in the St. Francios State Park about 15 miles away the day before. The temperature when I arrived was 25 degrees (-4 C)

The trail having been made for horses was a bit of a boulevard in spots

It crossed a few small creeks 

It had one big down then up. 

 The trail didn't have any views and in the end it was just a good walk in the woods. 13.5 miles in a little under 5 hours. it remained foggy and cool for most of the day until the very end. But this again the sun always shines on Guiness and a great way to celebrate the end of a morning of hiking.

 Afterward it was just 4 miles from the park to Spokes Pub and Grille in Farmington, Missouri for giant burgers and a few craft beers to reward ourselves for a good mornings walk 

Thanks Cory for inviting me along

RV Weekend Meramec State Park Nov 11-13 '16

Late season camping is often times the best with very little crowds and the parks all to ourselves. Our friends the Brant's have recently upgraded their pop up camper to a rather luxurious RV that they can all use quite comfortably. They were nice enough to invite us along to a weekend at Meramec State Park for a weekend of relaxing and sight seeing in the park.
My parents were in town for the Thanksgiving Holiday and have expressed a desire to come out in our RV and is turned out Core'y mother and step-dad were also coming so it seemed like the perfect set up for the weekend.

Late in the season the animals that live in the park are less afraid to make an appearance and we had many deer coming and going during the weekend.

It was also the start of the deer hunting season in Missouri and I think they know they are safe in the Park, as there is no hunting in the State Parks

We arrived on Saturday afternoon and got eveything set up and just relaxed and chatted

This was the weekend before the "Super" moon so we watched it rise each evening getting closer and closer toward full.

 The evening sunsets were bright with many colors

The fires were always very warm and conversation continued into the evening.
Corey brought enough firewood to keep us going the whole weekend

the whole weekend had great weather and each sunrise was exceptional 

Out campsites were right next to the Meramec River. flowing well and looked pretty in the early sunlight, but much to cold to swim!

Missouri is known as the cave state and we have thousands. the limestone along the rivers make for excellent cave formations and there are several that you can explore in the park. 

Missouri's Black Bear population continues to rise (good thing) but this means bear encounters might become more frequent and everyone should be more Bear Aware in the campgrounds.  A feed bear is a dead bear!

Corey and his family were kind enough to cook big meals for everyone Friday and Saturday night. both meals were fantastic, but with any kind of food smells comes the "tiny bears" the real thieves of the campgrounds- the Racoon and Possums. This guy was bold and obviously used to where he could find food.

While their was some activity, this weekend revolved around just relaxing and for Corey and I comparing various craft beers. 

 My parents coming from Florida for the Holidays are not used to change in temperature, and while it was a delightful weekend, they were freezing, but we had enough to keep them nice and warm.

As I mentioned the campground was pretty empty, but I was surprised at how many tenting campers there were in the park. 

 By the time we left on Sunday we were some of the last people in the Park.

Special thanks to the Brant's that made this a wonderfully relaxing weekend.