Why is the river roaring at Roaring River State Park?

We are enjoying our camping spot at the Corp of Engineer Eagle Rock campground on Table Rock Lake. But we had also considered staying at the campground at Roaring River State Park. Just 9 miles away, we made the trip to check out this nearby state park, and try to determine "why is this river roaring?' We were also hoping to kayak down that roaring river. But we found these evenly-spaced stony baffles, that make the chilly water roar as it passes through. We think they are in place for trout habitat, but we also recognize they will make it impossible for us to kayak today.

We found out that this is the most-visited park in the state system. We're already a fan of Missouri state parks because they don't charge any fees for people to visit for the day. We have found that there's not many states like that any more. This is another park whose stone structures were built by the CCC in the 1930s. This old lodge has been recently remodeled inside and is used for overnight guests, but the sturdy outside walls are still solid.

That stone construction also includes the walls that are holding back the source of the roaring river. The water is roaring through the three flood gates this morning.

As we walk further into the state park, we can read the signs that indicate we are getting closer to this roaring source. It's inside this tranquil cave that is protected by tall rock walls . . .

and a guard rail that won't let us walk any further.

We have arrived at the Roaring River spring that provides 20.4 million gallons of water daily. That sounds like a big number, but it's only the 20th largest spring in the state of Missouri. The handrail is in place because the water source here is very deep--so deep that they don't know its depth. We read a magazine article that described the diving attempts going on now to try to get to the bottom of this spring. So far, they know it is deeper than 472 feet.

That spring also provides the cold water needed for the fish hatchery. We visited the raceways where the young trout are grown for the sport fishing that is so popular in this state park.

The hatchery includes two round pools full of parent fish. These rainbow trout will spawn in February, when each female will produce around 900 eggs. Unlike salmon, they don't die after spawning. So rangers will press the eggs out of the females and the milt out of the males. They will artificially fertilize and hatch the eggs with approximately 90 percent success rate. That's a little better than the ten percent rate found in a natural setting.

The showy pink sides on the rainbow trout were easy to see on these large parent fish.

This is our second fish hatchery this week, and it is a fun place to visit and feed the fish. The extra water around here also means that the flowers and shrubs are well-watered. This flowering tree was just covered with pink flowers!

Besides a deep spring and a fish hatchery, this state park also has hiking trails. We hiked the Deer Leap Trail, with its stairs that brought us to a viewing point high above the hatchery raceways and the spring pool.

We also hiked the Devil's Kitchen Trail, which featured several caves that required an extra hike uphill to explore.

They have gotten lots of rain this spring, and everything is crazy green.

We learned a new term from the informational signs along this trail--"chert." Chert are the chipped rocks we are seeing today, as they make an excellent trail stone. Chert are made of a fine-grained sedimentary rock that flakes easily into smaller stones.

Mark walked a while like this and then said, "I'd give you the chert right off of my back." You got to love hiking with a guy with an interesting sense of humor!

We were almost finished with this two-mile hike when we finally got to the trail's name sake. This is the entrance into the rock formation known as Devil's Kitchen.

Some of the walls have collapsed, so we could say that the devil's kitchen has been remodeled over time.

Our last hike was on the Pibern Trail. We can tell that we're not in our usual hiking shape, as we were really struggling with the elevation gain on each of these hikes.

Again we were treated to rock formations and lots of green. We have wandered into more of God's wonders today!

Denisa took a picture of her favorite flower on the trail . . .

and our only wildlife sighting--this very slow snail making his way across the muddy chert.

After more than five miles of hiking today, we treated our feet to a dip in the very cold water of the Roaring River. That spring water comes out of the ground cold, and we couldn't stand to leave our toes in the water very long.

That cold water keeps the trout happy, and that is what keeps the trout fishermen happy as well. We saw close to a hundred people of all ages fishing here today, and we saw thousands of trout at the hatchery. So when we visited the state park lodge, we decided to order the baked rainbow trout. 

It feels like this day has come full circle. We've seen trout of all sizes, including one on our dinner plate. And we found out why the river is roaring at Roaring River State Park.