Finding unexpected gems among these winding Ozark roads

We left Branson heading east, something that we have never done before (as we're usually heading west back towards Oklahoma). We soon found out that this route is filled with more of those winding Ozark Mountain highways. It takes a long time to get anywhere when your speed limit is 25 miles per hour through continuous curves. We went even slower in our big motor home towing a pickup.

We got rain more than once while we were staying in Branson, and we saw more evidence of the flooding here in southern Missouri. This river-side park's buildings had only their roofs showing above the flood water.

Have we mentioned that the roads were twisty and narrow? With the outside white line on the edge of the asphalt, there isn't any margin for error going around those curves and meeting other vehicles. This was when Denisa decided it was time to wash the breakfast dishes that we had left in the sink this morning. She wasn't doing any good watching this road, and if she stood with a wide stance she didn't fall over even once while washing dishes.

The bridges were equally narrow, and we met the only other RV on this road while crossing a river. You would have to be crazy to take an RV on highway 160 across the southern section of Missouri!

So we weren't surprised when we were the only RV checking in at a deserted Rocky Top Campground. The owner was delightful, and she gave us some good advice for a tour of the area. She had a map, and highlighted stops for us. So we got the motor home settle into its spot and took off in the pickup. Our first stop on our map was at Caney Mountain Conservation Area. We pulled off the narrow highway onto an even narrower dirt road to find an old homestead.

We were greeted by a woodchuck that paused for a picture before scampering back under that old house. It's nice to have a little nature to welcome us to the conservation area!

Without any advice, or any phone signal, we blindly headed up the gravel road ahead.

We forded more than a dozen water crossings, but the road surface was always good in our eight-mile loop around the park.

The only other wildlife sighting was this critter, scampering through the tall grass. One of us thinks that it is just a common raccoon, and the other is hoping for something more unusual. What do you think?

The loop outlined for us includes several unexpected treasures among these winding Ozark mountain roads. Some of the gems included grist mills that were powered by the water coming out of fresh water springs. Our next stop on the map was the Zanoni Mill. Now on private property, we got a picture from a distance.

Further down the road, our next unexpected gem was the favorite of the day--Hodgson Water Mill!

While Mark took a fancy picture of Denisa and the mill with the spring water blurred, Denisa opted for a simpler picture of Mark in front of the mill. 

We read later that this is the most photographed mill in Missouri, and we certainly see why.

We were the only ones there today, but we tried our best to keep the number of photos up for this mill. It's situated along a curvy little road in the backwoods of Missouri, and it was certainly a fun gem to find.

Our campground owner also told us that the Hodgson Mill Company is still alive and well, and they use a likeness of this mill in their logo.

We discovered on-line that they make everything from buckwheat pancake mix to oat bran cereal to rye flour to . . 

Mark discovered that the wheel can still turn at this old mill.

He also discovered a cave opening behind the mill, and of course he had to explore.

It was dark and drippy inside, and the ceiling was beginning to form stalactites. Denisa was content to stay outside and take her photos.

Our next stop was across the one-lane "Patrick's Bridge." No problem with meeting traffic on this bridge, as we saw almost no one on this little-known drive in the back country.

We parked the pickup, and went in search of Althea Spring. We are discovering why Missouri is known for its caves and its springs. We found the little trail that took us to the spring, with its turquoise blue pool.

From the looks of that tranquil pool, it's hard to recognize how much water is pouring out of Althea springs. But when we walked just a few more yards down the trail, we found a man-made waterfall that once housed a generator wheel. This spring puts out enough water to provide electricity to the family that once lived here.

The rivers that are fed by these cold clear springs are just as cold and clear. White River would make a nice kayak trip if we were staying longer.

Our last stop on our 50-mile winding loop was the "Old Dawt Mill." Closer to a highway, this one has been refurbished into a restaurant. They also have an old house converted into a bed and breakfast, and a river float trip. Only the bravest paddlers would be floating these cold waters this early, so it was quiet at Dawt Mill this evening.

We had planned to stay longer in this area, but the rainy forecast has hurried our itinerary. But we enjoyed our trip of finding unexpected gems among these winding Ozark roads.

We found a treasure at Treasure Lake Resort in Branson

We're staying at Treasure Lake Resort in Branson, and we're excited that our stay is free. This resort offers three nights of free camping in exchange for you going on a tour of their park and its amenities. They sell memberships, which are a little like time shares. We actually enjoyed our tour, especially because it was given by a friend we had met earlier this year in south Texas. Jaimie told us all about the 18-hole miniature golf course, the disc golf course, the indoor and outdoor pools. . . This is a very nice park, and we had a good time taking advantage of most of their amenities.

They also have new pickle ball courts, so we met Jaimie and several others to play at 6:30 a.m. the first morning. It looks like Denisa needs new tennis shoes, as she had a blow-out during those early-morning games.

The park is lovely, with benches scattered along this mile-long trail that connects the four phases of campgrounds together. It has over 500 camp sites nestled in the trees, and we were impressed with how well maintained everything was. They have a resident that does tree carvings, and we enjoyed her artwork throughout the park. 

Treasure Lake has a nice club house with an indoor pool, a movie theater, and a store. It also has a grill, and we enjoyed their daily special not once--but twice. But Denisa's favorite part was the live music and dancing on both Friday and Saturday evenings--and it was free! The price of the membership and the yearly fees are affordable, and we would have been interested if we weren't still intent on moving around the country for now. 

But for now we are content to spend only three nights in Branson. That means we had to pack in the fun in a hurry. We did the obligatory shopping at the outlet mall, and we went to one of the shows. We followed Jaimie's suggestion and bought "two-for-one" tickets at the purple ticket office. That got us two tickets for the Texas Tenors show at the Great Shanghai Theatre.

This group made it to the quarter-finals on America's Got Talent TV show in 2009. That launched their career, and they made a second appearance on the "America's Got Talent: The Champions" show later. We found that most of the people in this Branson audience were repeat customers, as both the groups sitting on either side of us had lost count of the number of times they had come to see their concerts. In fact, one woman in the audience got a special dance with a tenor because this was her 300th concert! We're glad that we finally got to see our first concert, and we enjoyed their trained tenor voices and harmonies!

After a whirlwind of activities in and out of the park, we finished our stay with Mark playing an early morning pickle ball match before we went to church on Sunday morning. Then we headed out of Branson on Sunday afternoon. But we felt like we had found a treasure here in Treasure Lake Resort!

Table Rock Lake from the Branson side

We enjoyed our stay at Eagle Rock Campground on Table Rock Lake, but we have to say that we had to drive some terribly winding and hilly roads to make that possible. Our drive to depart this area was just as bad, as we wound up and over the Ozark mountains of southwest Missouri. Table Rock Lake is also a long and winding lake, and we would cross it a second time in our drive today.

Our destination today is Branson, Missouri, where we visited the Corp of Engineer Visitor Center beside the dam that was built in 1958 to form Table Rock Lake. 

A map of this long and winding lake is inlaid in the floor of the visitor center. On the map, Mark is standing at Eagle Rock (where we camped last night), and Denisa is taking the picture from the dam where we are standing now. There are many miles of snake-like shoreline between the two.

We are camped on the north side of Branson, and Table Rock State Park is on the south side. So it was an 6-mile drive to visit the state park situated on the lake.

We wanted to bike the lake trail that winds along the lake. We were glad for the trees and shade, as high temperatures were in the 80s this day.

We got a glimpse of the lake occasionally, and the water is getting warm enough for some swimmers and skiers now.

The trails winds right past the Branson Belle paddle boat's dock. Visitors can book a two-hour cruise that includes a meal and entertainment and views of Table Rock Lake.

We rode our bikes the entire 2.5 miles on the paved trail that ends at the state park's boat marina. We would have put our kayak on the lake, but it was a little windy today.

Instead, we are checking out the other free facilities along the lake. This is the Dewey Short Corp of Engineer Visitor Center, where we learned how and why the dam was built. The White River had a bad habit of flooding, damaging the property and towns along its course. This dam can control the height of the water in the river, protecting that property and controlling erosion. We also practiced controlling erosion in this "augmented reality sandbox" at the visitor center. We could move the sand around, and watch as the flow of the river changed. This was an eagle scout project several years ago, and we can testify that playing in the sand is fun.

Usually, water is only released at the bottom of the tall dam, and that forms Lake Taneycomo. Because the water at the bottom of the deep Table Rock Lake stays cold, this makes Lake Taneycomo the right temperature for trout. So we are visiting our third fish hatchery this week at the Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery today.

The cold water coming out the bottom of the dam also turns turbines that produce electricity. But today we got a rare shot of water coming over the top of the dam. Because of the large amount of rain in the area, they are releasing water out of Table Rock Lake over the top to prevent further flooding. We have already seen that Table Rock Lake's water was high and was flooding the picnic area at our last campground.

So the waters of Lake Taneycomo are also swollen with the extra water. This lake feels more like a river, and we had hoped to do some kayaking here. But the swift current and the swollen boundaries made us decide to see this lake from the shore.

The fishermen love this stretch of Lake Taneycomo that is restocked with trout on a regular basis from the Shepherd of the Hills hatchery just upstream. This is also where the trout we saw loaded a few days ago at Neosho's hatchery were headed. 

They stock both brown and rainbow trout, and we got to see both in the glass observation tanks at the visitor's center. We learned that the brown trout (on the top) has bigger spots, and few spots on the tail. The rainbow trout (on the bottom) will have a colored side, with spots all the way to the tip of its more-forked tail.

Fishermen come from all over to try to catch the big ones out of this lake. In fact, the world record brown trout was caught here in 1998. It is mounted at the visitor center, to display its record-breaking size--25.35 pounds and 39 inches. The fisherman was lucky to bring him in on a two-pound test line.

Other displays at the visitor's center show the turtles and salamanders and snakes common to this area. This two-headed snake was an interesting sight.

So we can end the blog with a prettier sight, Denisa also took pictures of the butterfly gardens at the visitor center. This unusual iris was blooming outside as we finished our tour of Table Rock Lake--from the Branson side.

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.