October 2011 Bass' River Resort in Steelville, MO
The view from our cabin. A horse pasture, we had fog in the morning.
Liz in front of our cabin.
The Baseball world series was the same weekend. TX vs MO! Boy did we have fun with the friendly people of MO! Especially when they found out we are from TX, the Cardinals rival! At a restaurant one morning, a kind cards supporter presented us with this message in catsup on a napkin. (The cards won, BTW)
We start the hike!
Julie, the owner of the resort gave us a ride to the beginning of our adventure. She stopped, hopped out to help us with our gear and promptly locked her keys in her car. No problem, she just hiked through the woods to another resort owned by a relative.
About 11:00am. This is Cindy, ready to go! She already found a walking stick.
Okay, we can do this! All we need to do is look for these "OT" signs and follow them.
Cindy is a Science teacher, this we learned is moss! Really pretty!
Cindy and Liz. Look at the leaves!!!
We actually missed the peak color by a week or 2. It was still beautiful!
We'd hike and hike and suddenly come upon a clearing.
Is it just me? Or is this gorgeous?!!
We really didn't see very much wild life.
Here on the right middle is a lizard.
log
Who said we missed the color?!
Okay, see those hills in the distance? We hiked them!
Another surprise clearing. In fact I think we got 'lost' right after this. We were going the right way, but kept backtracking because we couldn't see any "OT" signs.
Liz and Cindy. We had backpacks with water, nutrition and emergency stuff we didn't use.
Liz and I used our hiking poles.
Another clearing. Or are we going in circles?
Cindy has 2 sticks now!
I think Cindy called this shelf fungi.
Cindy and Liz.
Cindy and Liz.
Caves!
A couple of caves were blocked off and had signs about bats with white nose disease.
I sat on a log to enjoy my pbj. Look who joined me!
(ps This is one of the few pictures of me!)
After lunch we had to remove our boots, peel off our socks and roll up our pants to cross the river. BTW without knowing for sure if we were going the right way, there was no "OT" sign in sight! It was only up to our knees, but the rocks were sharp and the water was oh so cold!!!
But we did it!
We got to where we were thrilled to see an "OT" sign!
We thought we were almost there, but no.
The batteries on our iPhones with GPS and communication with the world were running low and it started getting dark. (Which is why there are no more pictures of the hike.) We finally came to a road and got enough signal to call the campground and Julie came and rescued us. As it turned out, we made it to their driveway a mile from the camp. We did at least 12 miles. Took us 8 hours.
But, WE DID IT!!! WE HIKED THE OZARK TRAIL!!!
Next morning...
There was ice on the car!
We bundled up and headed to the Cortois River.
Pronounced Coort-a-way, Code-away, Court-a-way, cur-toy.
Cindy watches as the kayaks are put in the water.
Here we go! The second I started floating on my kayak, my entire body relaxed. It was wonderful!
Picture of my visor!
There I am! Self portrait!
Gosh it was pretty!
And the water was so clear!
Um, yeah, I kind of crashed the nose of my kayak into a bank.
Liz
Cindy
Cindy and Liz
We stopped for lunch of PBJs and potato chips, yum!
Getting ready to push off again.
Did I tell you how beautiful and peaceful it was?!
Pyro-Liz starts a fire!
Beautiful horses.
These are some of the canoes and busses.
Cindy, Liz and I enjoyed dinner.
We found a maroon tree for Cindy and a burnt orange one for Liz and me. Hook 'em!!
The town had painted canoes.
I like old fences.
I ordered the next to the last item. :)
It was!
