Location – 5/5 We visited Sam A. Baker State Park for Memorial Day weekend, our first car camping of the season. The state park is located in Patterson, MO off Highway 67. The drive was straight forward and very easy. Campground – 3/5 We camped on the largest camping holiday weekend of the year, so it may have been a bit more crowded than usual, but the entire campground was packed! This included very drunken, Continue Reading
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Garden of the Gods in Shawnee National Forest
Location – 5/5 Garden of the Gods is about an hour away from I57 interstate and was a very simple drive. There was a dedicated overnight backpackers parking area, though during busy times the day hikers take up spots. The official trail is 6.4 miles and seemed to be pretty accurate. Campground – 5/5 Most of the campsites were right on the trail, except the one we stayed at. It was about 30-40 feet off Continue Reading
Whispering Pines Trail at Hawn State Park
Location – 5/5 Hawn State Park was suggested to us over and over so we decided to check it out. The Whispering Pines Trail consists of 10 campsites which requires a permit to stay overnight, and they go quickly, so be sure to sign up early. The AllTrails mileage is off based on the route I created (5.8 mi. in from trailhead to campsite 10, 1.5 mi. out) compared to reality (7.6 mi. in, 2 Continue Reading
Panther Den Wilderness
Location – 5/5 This site was close to a friend’s house, and his introduction to backpacking, so something close is always nice. Panther Den Wilderness official trail is only around 2-3 miles so we custom made a new route to be in the 10 mile range. The AllTrails mileage and elevation is off (5.44 mi. in, 3.95 mi. out, 1181 ft. elevation) compared to my watch (6.5 mi. in, 4.8 mi. out, 1339 ft. elevation). Continue Reading
Bell Mountain Wilderness and Trail
Location – 4/5 This was our very first overnight backpacking trip ever. We didn’t know what to expect or what we were doing at all but we decided to suck it up and give it a shot. We decided our first foray into backpacking would be just a short ~5 mile each way out and back. Getting to the trailhead was not bad, but just a few long and winding roads. Parking was fine when Continue Reading
McCully Heritage Project
Location – 4/5 The lack of pictures and reviews on Hipcamp made it difficult to choose the best of the 4 available sites, but the reviews were good and the pictures looked promising so we decide to stay here and picked a site at random. We finally arrived and were greeted by the host, who was very nice, and she instructed us that our SUV should barely (luckily) make the dip in the road coming Continue Reading
Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park
Location – 4/5 Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park is a park on the East Fork Black River in Reynolds County, Missouri. The park flooded in 2005, caused by a pump storage plant reservoir failing, and the park was rebuilt and reopened in 2006 through 2010, including a new campground. We visited in July 2020 and it was hot. We’d definitely recommend trying to go when it’s a little cooler as the swimming area is a car ride away. The drive Continue Reading