Winter Hike This Weekend in SE Missouri

Weather forecast heading into this weekend looked like no rain, but it drizzled from about 11:30am to 2:30pm Saturday on our hike at Hawn to backcountry campsite #2. I've hiked both the north & south loops before, years ago, and forgot how pretty this place is. I definitely recommend hiking the Pickle Creek section to begin the North Loop.

Campsite #2 wasn't very attractive, with pink tape roping off areas that need to recover. The small stream wasn't nearly as pretty as Pickle Creek and the filtered water didn't taste well. If I had it to do over again I would make a dry camp near the crest of the first high point encountered on the North Loop, which is a much more attractive setting and has a nice view.

The next day we decided to visit nearby Pickle Springs Natural Area, but we turned around on the sunny warm Sunday when we saw the lot was full and there was a long line of cars parked along the side of the road. I've been there before and really didn't want to deal with crowds.

We drove to the north trailhead of the Bell Mountain Wilderness and hiked the 3.5 miles to the open glades where we set up camp with views to the east. The trail from the north is very easy and mostly level, just a walk through the woods. A little more than halfway we heard a really strange racket which we concluded had to be a pond full of frogs nearby. Sounded almost like geese, and were not Spring peepers. Didn't see much wildlife at all, the best of which were a couple big flocks of large migrating birds very high overhead in constantly shifting V-patterns. We could hear them and the sun glinting off their wings made them look silver. They didn't sound like geese; Sandhill Cranes perhaps.

Bell Mountain is a nice place to camp and hang out, taking in the view and watching the sunrise. The next day (Monday) we hiked back to the car at the north trailhead and made one more stop before heading home. Elephant Rocks is a very popular little state park with kids climbing over and between the giant rounded boulders. We didn't mind a bit of a crowd in this setting and had fun ourselves. I had been there before, but this was my hiking buddy's first trip to SE Missouri.

All in all a very nice trip and a good way to spend a 3 day weekend in February that felt like April. A big plus was the ticks weren't out yet. Well worth the 5.5 hour drive each way from Chicagoland.

As I recall from my first visit to SE MO about 15 years ago it was pretty nice.