Stockton Lake - Exploring a Trio of Missouri Lakes

We were itching to spend more time in our new Rockwood Geo Pro, so we cleared ten days on our calendar and planned a longer trailer trip. With our senior national park pass, we get half-price camping in Corp of Engineer parks. During the off-season, those campgrounds are already discounted, so we are averaging $5 per night for camping fees. This is going to be a very inexpensive vacation with some beautiful views!

We are way behind in blogging about our travels, so you should know that this trip started October 21, 2024. That's the time of year when reservations are no longer needed at Corp of Engineer campgrounds. Sites are available on a first-come-first-served basis, and arriving in the middle of the week will get you the best site in the campground with views of Lake Stockton out your window and no neighbors to share it with. We were blessed with temperatures in the 70s. The trees around us were filled with squirrels, and we watched as a hawk swooped down to snatch one very near us. We also watched eagles flying over the lake. We liked Stockton Lake!

If this sounds too good to be true, just know that our first long trip wasn't without a few hiccups. One of the reasons for the cheaper rates during the off-season was that water had been turned off at most campgrounds. Knowing that, we had researched and found that water was available at the Stockton Fire Department in town. By inserting a quarter in the machine, we could get 50 gallons of water from the fire station. We pulled into the spot beside the fire house and found the water hose. In our research we never saw anything that warned us that the water would blast out of a three-inch hose with no good way to get it into our one-inch water tank opening. But we tried anyway. In the picture below, you will see that Mark was drenched, trying to hold that water hose as it sprayed everywhere but into our water tank. It's a good thing it was a warm October, because both of us were wet by the time we gave up. We put in three quarters, using three different strategies, but only got a few gallons into the tank. We were wearing the rest of the water. We're guessing that the Stockton firemen have a hidden camera somewhere, and they were all chuckling at our watery escapades.

The next day we drove from the corp of engineer park to the Stockton Lake State Park. We like it that Missouri doesn't charge any day-use fees to visit their state parks. They are one of the few states that still has free admission. We decided to hike the Lakeview Trail and loop back on the Umbru Ridge Trail.

The loop was 9.5 miles long with only one lake view. The rest of the time we were in the trees. But we weren't alone in the trees. We saw two dozen armadillos, and heard another dozen in the woods beside the trail. We also saw three deer, a group of turkeys, and a snake.

The box turtle crossing the trail was happy to stop and pose for a close-up. With no water views, it was a rather boring trail. So we were glad to be entertained by some animal encounters. We stopped to eat our picnic lunch in the middle of this long trail.

We were also entertained by some geo-caching. We found several hidden along our trail. To the untrained eye, this might just look like any snarl of trees along any old trail. But if you look in the very center of the picture, you will see an old ammunition box filled with geo-caching treasures and a slip of paper to sign to prove that you found it.

Another geocache was hidden beside a fallen log. It's a small cache you can see in the lower right hand corner of the picture below.

Before we left the state park, we drove to check out their campgrounds. We were thrilled to see that their water spigots were still operational inside the park. So we filled every little bottle and jug we had with us. We understood how precious water was since we didn't have any for this first stop!

The second day we had beautiful blue skies, but winds that were 10-12 miles per hour. So we rowed our kayak to a part of Stockton Lake with high rock walls that protected us from the wind. If you look closely at that rock wall behind Mark, you will see some animals have made their homes there. Can you guess what animal it was?

Did you guess squirrel? We saw the movement among the rocks, and we realized that squirrels were darting along the seams in the rocks that connected their homes. Normally we see them flying around tree branches, but those same sure-footed skills were good among the rocks as well.

This old rock quarry was recommended as a good place to kayak by Denisa's cousin. It was also nice that it was ringed by leaves that were showing off their fall colors.

We were entertained by the little birds that were skittering along the rocky shore line . . . 

as well as the big birds standing like statues among the rocks.

We loved the combination of blue skies, rock walls, and changing fall foliage. We have wandered into more of God's wonders at Stockton Lake. Mark dropped Denisa off on the rocky shore and paddled out to take a picture from the water. 

From her spot on that rocky ledge, Denisa could take a picture of Mark paddling solo in the quarry.

It was another wonder that he returned to pick her up. It was a third wonder that he didn't complain when we had almost paddled home and Denisa realized that she had left her life jacket on that rocky ledge. Yes, we had to row all the way back, make the tricky landing, and retrieve the life jacket. It's the pits getting old and forgetful!

On our kayaking loop, we paddled up into the cove that housed our campground. It's always fun to find our RV from a view on the water. The campgrounds are pretty empty during this week in October.

On our drives in the Lake Stockton area, we saw some of our favorite signs. We love sharing the road with the horse-and-carriage Amish citizens.

It's a good day when you can see beautiful fall trees and a carriage on the same road.

We stopped when we saw a tent beside the road with a handwritten sign proclaiming "Fresh Pumpkin Day." We found out that pumpkin day was actually yesterday, so all the leftover goodies were half-price now. The baker kept retrieving things from the cooler to tempt us. We love buying at Amish bakeries, and we love a good deal even more. We bought a fresh pumpkin cake roll, pumpkin crunch, pumpkin bars, chocolate chip cookies, apple crunch, fresh apples, and zucchini. Our total was $20! We should have turned around and went home right then, but we were actually heading to the tiny intersection called Donnegan, Missouri, just one more mile down the road. We went to the Ozark Country Kitchen, where we found half-price on monster cookies and carrot cake. And who could resist Mark's favorite pecan sticky buns and apple butter? And Denisa loves banana cake bars. Further down the road we found an Amish discount grocery where we always stock up on the granola bars we eat when we are hiking. 

We came home with a shameful load of Amish goodies! Most of this would usually go in the freezer, to be nibbled out on a more leisurely pace. But it's too much for our tiny trailer freezer. So what should we do? Denisa set out to invite everyone in this campground to an Amish dessert tasting party. We invited all our neighbors and the ranger for a 3:30 Amish happy hour. We had a good time, but we didn't even make a dent in this stash of goodies!

After consuming way too many calories, we needed some more exercise. So we headed out on a bike ride.

The sun was low in the sky, lighting up the rock walls that surround the quarry where we were kayaking earlier.

This bike loop is called the Crab Tree/Quarry Loop. We would highly recommend this combination of lake views and shaded fall foliage paths. It was almost dark by the time we finished our loop.

That bike ride was so much fun that we decided to do it again the next morning. The quarry was lit up by the morning sun this time. 

The sumac bushes were showing off their bright red leaves as we headed back to our camp site. We have enjoyed our time at Stockton Lake--the first of a trio of Missouri lakes we explored this trip.