Elevation gain: 270'
Elevation range: 759' - 566'
Significance: natural limestone bridge, birds, varied trees
Trailhead parking: exit I-44 at MO28 through Dixon, continue on MO511 to free parking area
https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/places/clifty-creek
Clifty Creek Nature Area was my primary reason for staying the night in nearby Rolla. I like geologic formations while out hiking. This is also a popular birding area, so I expected this trail to be busier than the Lane Springs Recreation Area I had hiked in earlier in the day.
Getting to this area from Rolla took 45 minutes, as single lane MO28 winds through several small towns. I followed directions via GoogleMaps and got right to the trailhead. One other car was already parked at the site. I bundled up as if still in Rolla and hiked this pretty trail clockwise.
If just seeing the natural bridge had been my goal, hiking this trail counterclockwise would have been easier. Hiking this clockwise means you start out high, then dip down to the creek, cross the creek, then go up again before descending a second time to reach the natural bridge. The hills are gentler here than in Lane Springs, but the trail no less treacherous to follow on wet leaves that cover much of the trail. The loop trail is not blazed, but enough people hike this trail to make following foot steps easy. I was able to cross the creek both times safely by using boulders spread out across the creek for hikers. Water was less than a foot deep.
What a pretty area this is! While the trees were naked and I was hiking in a monochromatic landscape of mostly browns interspersed with some dark greens, I can see the beauty of this place and why it deserves protection. Hiking this loop clockwise isn't as popular as the other way around, as I lost the trail at the second hilltop. The natural bridge showed up on my GPS tracker, so I just bushwhacked toward it. I wasn't far off the trail, as I discovered that the trail is just slightly north of the hilltop and then descends straight down to the bridge with no switchbacking.
The natural bridge lies at the intersection of Clifty Creek and Little Clifty Creek. The trail requires you to cross back over the wider creek and then continue back up the hill, but stopping here to admire the icicles, frozen leaves and the general geology of the bridge was my goal. How was this bridge made? Did Little Clifty Creek once push up against the rock, and constant hydraulic pressure slowly cut into the rock, forming the bridge? Snags farther down the creek indicate recent flooding along the main creek, making it easy to cross back over and finish off the loop trail.
The entire hike took me 1:20 hours. It was just past 1pm when I got back to the Honda, and now the parking area was even more packed than when I started. Perhaps the warmer afternoon temperature is the reason, but perhaps the short, scenic loop is well-known to the locals and locals understand their own terrain.
This is a trail I would love to do again in the summer, just to experience the green hillsides and hear the many birds. I saw a few winter birds like flickers and chickadees, but I also want to see what kind of flowers grow here. Missouri and the rest of the Midwest is a haven for ticks and fleas, so coming back here with Zeke in the summer will require me to be proactive with fighting those damn ticks, as well as the many visitors that flock to the Ozarks, making hiking the Ozarks a rather loud, crowded experience.
I had now done the hiking I had planned to do. I continued my drive southwest on I-44, passing Springfield and not stopping for gas or food until I reached I-49 east of Joplin, MO. It was starting to drizzle, and I discovered at the Taco Bell where I had my meal that Winterstorm Fisher was blasting through the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma City. I knew then that my only way around the snow was to continue south to Fayetteville, Arkansas. What an excuse to stop there for the night and hike a trail there! Bring it on, Fisher!
No comments:
Post a Comment