ABOUT THE PARK:
Taum Sauk Mountain State Park - Missouri Department of Natural Resources
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 37.572476, -90.727649
TRAIL MAP:
Taum Sauk Mountain State Park Trail Map - Missouri Department of Natural Resources
HIKE DISTANCE:
Taum Sauk Mountain State Park - 5.6 miles
Elephant Rocks State Park - 1.9 miles (14 miles from Taum Sauk)
Pickle Springs Natural Area - 2.1 miles (27 miles from Elephant Rocks)
THE HIKE:
Just after getting off the interstate on the way to the hike, I heard an awful noise coming from my car.
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| My car had been to the dealer in NJ just the week before for a valve spring replacement recall where the engine splash shield would have been removed to perform this repair. Turns out there were clips missing. Somebody did not put it back properly and it came loose and fell down on my way to this hike. I had no choice but to keep driving with the plastic dragging under the car. I was in rural Missouri with no auto repair shops in sight. More on this later. |
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| An overlook at the park entrance. |
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| Starting on the Mina Sauk Falls Trail. |
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| The trail starts out as a concrete path. |
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| At the end, a short side trail to the left to ... |
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| ... the highest elevation in Missouri. |
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| Continuing on to Mina Sauk Falls. |
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| The path starts out as gravel but will become more rugged. |
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| Wildflowers everywhere. |
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| We went left to the top of the falls first before going down on the Ozark Trail to the Devil's Toll Gate. |
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| Top of the falls. |
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| Back to the Ozark Trail and going down ... |
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| ... and down. |
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| Looking up the "falls" that were a mere trickle. I had thought with all the rain there would be more to the falls but no, it was not to be. |
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| Continuing on, the trail remains rocky for a bit before smoothing back out. |
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| Brodie honed in on something off to the right. I heard snorting and was able to see two feral hogs frantically running in circles. I had to make noise and they eventually took off. I heard from people who hike there often that they never see feral hogs and lucky us, we actually got to see them. My pictures did not turn out but they were a little smaller than Brodie and all black. |
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| Devil's Toll Gate |
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| We had hiked on a little farther so this is the Devil's Toll Gate coming back. |
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| Coming up on the bottom of the falls where it becomes rocky again. |
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| Mina Sauk Falls |
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| Now turning right to complete the loop. |
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| View from the top of Mina Sauk Falls. |
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| Those people over on the rocks, we crossed paths later in the hike and I asked them if they were localish, which they were. I told them about my car problem and asked if they knew of an auto repair nearby. Turns out one of the men was an auto mechanic, They came up with a bungee cord and were able to secure the engine splash shield for me back at the parking lot. They would not accept money from me. Words cannot express how grateful I was. What luck to have run into them. |
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| But for now,continuing on the loop. |
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| Coming back up on the concrete walkway where I met up with those people who ended up patching up my car for me. |
The rest of the Subaru Saga: The car made it back to St. Louis, I called a local Subaru dealer right away and they agreed to squeeze me in the next day. They happened to have the part so I spent my last morning of vacation sitting at a Subaru dealership getting a $250 repair that the NJ dealership will be hearing about when I get back home.
