Not the typical camping and hiking trip of Average Girl’s Adventures, but lots of outdoors stuff was seen on this trip that I’d like to highlight. I can’t claim any of the planning for the trip either, which was all thanks to my oldest brother who masterminded all of these great sights. This will be a long one, folks! Five days of travel included below!
Ozarks Trip
Missouri & Arkansas, USA
I’m loosely titling this post the Ozarks Trip because that ultimately was our destination, but we did stop and see a great many things along the way. Our trip started off with the long drive from southwest Wisconsin to Johnson’s Shut-In State Park located about two hours southwest of St Louis, MO.
Along the drive we stopped at Elephant Rocks State Park, which is also in Missouri about 20 minutes away from Johnson’s Shut-Ins. This park is actually pretty small, but is a great pit stop along the drive and offers a great photo opportunity as there are some HUGE rocks. Even though it was raining, we got out and walked around for at least 45 min. There is a hiking trail around one section that is paved, if scrambling on rocks isn’t ideal. In nicer weather this would be a good place to stop and eat a picnic lunch and stretch your legs as there were plenty of picnic tables around.
From there we drove the last miles to Johnson’s, it was later in the day at this point, so we just went directly to our cabin at the park. Yes, *gasp*, we stayed in a cabin instead of a tent! Given all the moving around we were going to be doing, it didn’t make sense to set up and tear down a campsite each night. This was my first time staying in a cabin at a state park before and Johnson’s offers six of them. While they aren’t the most secluded option, there were a nice and convenient option.
The next morning before moving on we walked part of the Shut-Ins trail in the park, which gives view to the namesake features in the park plus the East Fork of the Black River that runs through the park. The trail is a 2.3 mile loop, part of which is a gentle boardwalk, the other part is a more rugged climb. We opted only to walk the boardwalk because all the rain the area had been receiving had made things soggy and the river was raging. The boardwalk only took about 30 min there and back from the parking area and then we were on our way to the next destination!
Along the drive we stopped at Mammoth Spring State Park, which was another small park, but a great mid-drive stop. It is right along the border of Missouri and Arkansas and is located in the middle of the aptly named town Mammoth Spring. It was a nice sunny afternoon and it was a good place to stop, eat lunch, and walk around the spring fed lake in the park.
The total drive was about six hours to get to Mt. Nebo State Park, which is ~1 hour 20 min northwest of Little Rock, AR. This park was our home-base for two days and boy was it ever nice to stay there. We stayed in another camper cabin, but a rustic CCC camp cabin that was quite spacious, and did I mention the park is on top of a mountain? We’re not talking Alaska mountains, but I’m from the midwest, we’ll take what we can get when it comes to elevation.
The next morning we decided to head down to Hot Springs National Park, which was only ~1 hour 30 min south. We debated going to another park in the area, but opted for Hot Springs instead because it was maybe going to rain again and there are plenty of indoor and outdoor sights at Hot Springs. The town of Hot Springs is quite the tourist trap and was much busier than we prefer, but since the springs are in the middle of town we had to check them out. The National Park Service does a good job of providing signage and free attractions in town, so you don’t end up spending all of your money.
After checking out the town, we decided to go on a hike before heading back to Mt. Nebo. I believe we hiked the Goat Rock Trail, which is a 1 mile loop almost near the top of North Mountain. There is a short connecting trail via Gulpha Gorge Trail. It was a short hike with a few ups and downs, but nothing too strenuous, which was appreciated after we had been walking on sidewalks all day.
On the drive back to the cabin we stopped in Ouachita National Forest at the South Fourche picnic area, which separates Hot Springs and the Mt Nebo area. This was another nice picnic area that provided an opportunity for us to stretch our legs, use the facilities, and check out another body of water – this time the South Fourche River.
After a short stop we drove the remaining miles to Mt. Nebo, we had a few hours of daylight left so we walked some of the Rim trails in the park that circle the top of the mountain. We were making dinner at the cabin that night, so we drove to the sunset overlook and watched the sunset before making our dinner and relaxing on our last night in the beautiful cabin.
The next day started the drive home, we had one more cabin to stay at, but we’re headed northwards. Our first stop along the way was at the Lost Valley trail in the Buffalo National River in Arkansas about two hours north of Mt. Nebo. The trail is 2.3 miles long and is a fairly easy hike with lots of scenic views like rock formations, streams, waterfalls, and a cave. This trail was pretty busy and you could tell it was a popular hike with the locals from the area.
We then continued our drive to Ha Ha Tonka State Park in Missouri, which was ~ three hours north. We walked around this park for the remainder of the afternoon, checking out the “castle” in the park and natural bridge formations. This seemed like a great park to spend the weekend as it connected to Lake of the Ozarks for water options and there were also plenty of hiking and other attractions to keep you busy.
I can’t even say where the cabin was that we stayed that night, but all I remember was it was a long back road drive to those cabins and we just crashed there for the night. The next day was the rest of the drive home, which was ~seven hours from Ha Ha Tonka. We were all happy to get out of the car that night after the long drive!
Until next time!
More pictures I just had to include…
average girl's adventures 
Now I can really see what I missed. So glad we are going to go again this year.
Mom
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Nice write up sis! Thanks for the shout out 🙂 Can’t wait for Ozarks pt.2!!!
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