Coy Bald Loop, Hercules Glades Wilderness, Mark Twain NF, Missouri

Distance: 6.7 miles (10.6 km)
Elevation: 880 - 1220 feet (268 - 372 m)
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Time of Year: Any time but October is the best!

View across the ridges from Coy Bald

Described by many as the greatest natural area in Missouri, Hercules Glades Wilderness in the Mark Twain National Forest certainly does provide for scenic beauty, ecological diversity, and interesting variety. At 12,200 acres, this wilderness is the 2nd largest in Missouri. It is located at the northern edges of the Ozarks and provides some interesting mixes of ecosystems due to its limestone/dolomite glades and balds. You can access this wilderness by taking MO-76 east out of Forsyth, MO, turning right onto US Hwy 160 and then turning left on Crosstimbers Road and following it to the end.

The trail begins in a forest of white oak and eastern red cedar. There are hickory, sassafras, and sugar maples mixed in, with plentiful poison ivy in the understory. When the trail branches shortly after entering the wilderness fence, bear left.

Within 1/2 mile, you descend down to Long Creek and to the beautiful limestone bluffs that rise on the far side. Along the sides of the cliffs, sugar maples add a brilliant hue of red. The waters are clear and cool and a great place to splash around on a hot day. Much of the creek bottom is a flat pavement of dolomite, covered with lots of small snails and fish darting all around the pools.

Some lichens are drapped from the eastern red cedar branches above the cliffs

After enjoying your time at the cliffs, you go upstream a little way until you find the trail crossing the creek. The trail will now climb gradually and head into the oak/hickory/cedar forest for about 1 mile. When you encounter an unsigned trail intersection, bear right. The trail coming in from the left is coming down from Pilot Knob, which is the highest point in the wilderness.

This route will then head approximately 1 mile slight downhill to the southeast before arriving at another trail intersection. A sign will say "Tower" to the left. That is the other trailhead access to the wilderness on the eastern end approximately 3 miles away. Turn right instead and soon you will at the creek again. Here, the creek is a flat limestone pavement. It is almost like some built a road down the middle of this hollow. It is lined with sycamores and maples and the pavement it broken up in sections to make little waterfalls and cascades. There was no water flowing at the time we were there. Just turn right and follow the creekbed less than a quarter-mile to the falls. If water is still flowing, the trail parallels the creek on the far side.

A break in the limestone pavement of Long Creek

Then you arrive at the waterfall. It is a notch dug into the layers of dolomite and an excellent place to eat lunch. It is fun to hope around on the slabs of rocks and explore the area.

In this region, these kinds of river features are called "shut-ins"

After you have enjoyed your time here, it is time for the final 4 miles back to the trailhead. Here you will backtrack up the creek a few hundred yards and look for the trail heading up slope to the southwest. The trail will climb to the ridgetop. As you approach the ridgeline, the vegetation will change over from the oak/hickory forest to an open grassy area full of large eastern red cedar. These are the "glades" that gives Hercules Glades its name.

Historically, these areas would have been larger and more open, providing excellent views, but fire suppression and the planting of these eastern red cedars by farmers as wind breaks has allowed for this invasion. These trees are not cedars, but actually junipers and they are a native species. But, they are far more common, even weedy, than they were historically. As you go from glade to glade, with tantalizing glimpses, but no real views across the landscape, it can get frustrating. But, fear not, as you approach the top of Coy Bald, those views will be there!

Coy Bald view across the wilderness, with Long Creek Hollow in the middle

These glades are formed because the soils are so shallow here with a solid limestone pavement below, that only arid adapted plants can grow here. The grasses are those typical of the tallgrass prairie and there are even some plants common to the southwest, including prickly pear cactus.

A nice view of the landscape

The trail will go in and out of openings for the next half mile or so.

As you look to the north, you can see the edge of the Ozarks and the flatter plains of Missori beyond

Eventually the trail reenters the oak/hickory stands with really beautiful stands of white oak. White oak is a fire adapted species that can survive in droughty soils. You can often find it in sandy soils up north, but it excels here in these limestone soils as well.

The trail will go in and out of forest and glade for the last 1.5 miles before returning back to the trailhead. This really was an enjoyable hike and if you are ever in Southern Missouri, you should check it out.

PS- If you don't really want to do the hike and/or the weather doesn't allow, there is an alternative for you. It is called the Glade Top Trail and it is a Forest Service Scenic-Byway that runs through the area. This 23-mile dirt road that runs from Bradleyville to Ava allows people to drive through the glades on the nearby ridgetops with excellent views as well!

Scenic Overlook Loop, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Kansas

Distance: Approximately 8 mile loop (12.9 km)
Elevation: 1,200-1,495 feet (368 - 456 m)
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Time of Year: Year Round

Located in the Flint Hills of Kansas, is the 10,800 acre Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. It is owned by The Nature Conservancy, but operated by the National Park Service as the only national park unit dedicated to preserving and protecting the tallgrass prairies that once spanned some 240 million acres of the Great Plains. At over 10,000 acres, it is large enough that from the center of it, it looks vast and almost unending, much like it did before the homesteaders plowed the plains.

It was best described at Homestead National Monument in Nebraska that "once the homesteads were tiny islands in a sea of prairie, but now the prairies themselves are tiny islands in a sea of farmland". But, the Flint Hills retain the most extensive tracts of intact and semi-intact prairies left. The reason is that the Flint Hills are made of limestone and the soils here are very thin. Thus, homesteaders were unable to plow the prairies under. Instead, grazing cattle was the only option. While cows do not graze exactly the way bison do, they were a partial substitute for the loss of bison and less disruptive to the ecosystem than farming.

They released 14 bison in the preserve last year.
The first time in 130 years bison have grazed this prairie

The loop trail begins at the Visitor Center located in the old barn. There you can pick up a map of the trails. You will be following the "blue trail" on the map that takes you to the "scenic overlook". It labels it 6.4 miles roundtrip, but that is if you go out and back. If you jump onto the yellow trail from there to make a loop, it ends up somewhere around 8 miles. If it is May-July, I recommend using insect repellent to protect against ticks and chiggers. But, when we went in October, it is just fine because despite the hot days, the bugs were gone by then.

Limestone gravel road is the first part of the route

The trail follows a dirt road that is used by the NPS us that takes people on the tour to see the buffalo. At the fork immediately past the horse corral, stay right. It slowly climbs the hill to a ridgeline with excellent views of the landscape. You will cross a cattle guard, at which time you have entered the buffalo area called Windmill Pasture. If you encounter them, keep you distance of at least 300 feet. If they are on the road, then take off across the grass to go around them.

When you get to the first intersection labeled #2 on the post, bear right. The route follows the ridgeline and then goes up to a hilltop crest for the most spectacular view across the landscape. At the "scenic overlook", there is a large turnaround spot for the bus. At this stage, you have hiked 3.2 miles. From here, you can really image how the prairie stretched out for hundreds of miles in all directions.

Leaving the hilltop and walking on the "grassy road"

From this hilltop, the route turns into a grassy and definitely less used 2-wheel track that is covered in short grasses. There are some dusty sections that appear to probably be pretty muddy in the wet season. If that is the case, you may choose to return on the drier limestone road you walked on back. But, if conditions allow, continue to follow the grassy road to the east. The route will soon veer north and then come to an intersection labeled #17 on a brick on the ground.

Stay right and follow that as it takes you southeast toward the highway and fenceline. Along the fenceline there are a lot of trees. But, since they do not graze this area with either bison or cattle, the grass is noticeably taller. Also, the soils are a bit deeper down in the drainage bottom. You will cross another gate and marker labeled #16 and then head off toward the old school house and farmhouse woodlot on the distant hill. Upon reaching the one room school house, you can check that out and then follow the nature trail back to the visitor center via a bridge over the wooded creek bottom (watch for poison ivy on the trail here)

Solitude on the prairie