- Joined
- Mar 11, 2011
- Messages
- 26,018
As most of you know, the wife and I's 5th anniversary was this past Saturday, and we rented a cabin near Lesterville, Missouri, as there are many parks in the area. Friday, we went to the highest spot in Missouri, Taum Sauk Mountain. At 1,772 feet, it isn't the Rockies, but it is beautiful there none the less. Had a great time, and it was a good learning experience for me. Will post thoughts after the photos:
Mina Sauk Falls, the destination. Also the highest falls in Missouri, at 132 feet. Notice the sign says to allow yourself 3 hours. It took us 4, but we stopped to rest periodically, stayed at the falls for some time, ate, etc, so not too bad:
The first time to use the MAP 3500. More on that later. Notice that the "trail" is concrete....
That quickly turned into this. Mud, ice, rocks, all covered in leaves. Had to be very careful:
Sometimes like this:
Smoke break. The MAP 3500, and the 14:
14 in the ice:
Ice on many parts of the trail:
My goofy butt overlooking the hills. By the way, I fit in with all the locals the way I dressed, haha:
Part of the rocky trail:
Stopped for some fuel:
Some views:
The trail on the ledge. Really had to watch your step around here:
The falls. Hard to see from the top:
So, we walked down this. Hard to see the grade, but it was a bitch:
Damn, I gotta walk back up this. Camera doesn't do depth/height justice. The leaves covered so much, every step had to count:
These are cascading falls, so kind of hard to make out:
14:
My wife in red sitting on the rock. Gives more of an idea of scope:
More random shots:
Back on top:
The trail back up top pretty much follows the stream, so there were many opportunities for water shots:
Stopped for a bite to eat:
Another smaller waterfall:
Lots of walking up on the rocky path:
Back to the top:
We had a great time. I'll post more photos of the other places later.
Here are some thoughts, and some of the things I learned;
1. Make sure to have a good hiking boot, sized right, made specifically for hiking. I wear 6" Wolverines, and they're good boots, but not made for hiking. You need a boot with great ankle support, fitted right. The bottom of my feet were a bit swollen by the time we finished the hike. Spare no expense when it comes to your feet. It'll be worth it.
2. Make sure you are in good enough shape to do the given task. I sometimes forget I'm nearly 50, and don't get much exercise. At 275 lbs, with a 40 lb pack, it wasn't easy. Harder than I thought it would be, especially climbing down steep, rocky angles, and back up again. My hip joints were giving the me the most problems. It did get better after hiking the next few days though.
3. Make sure to know your pack. This was the first time I used my MAP 3500 pack. I really liked it, and think it worked out well. I didn't need the 40lbs I had in it, but I like testing stuff out, so I went with it. Something I didn't take into consideration, was the balance, especially when it came to climbing up and down steep angles. Going down, having to watch every damn step, with all the rocks/boulders in the path, sometimes stepping over, sometimes on the rocks, it was easy for the packs weight to want to make you go forward. I had to counter this action, by maintaining balance. Same thing going up. I would sometimes have to jump to a certain spot, to maintain a foothold, and if I didn't land right, the pack naturally wanted to pull me backwards. This was a valuable lesson for me. Believe me, carrying 315lbs up a rocky, steep incline, was no easy task. I won't lie, I was tired and winded. Also, I used the hip belt, as I wanted to try it out. I liked it. Sometimes, I would get a bit of shoulder fatigue. One of the ways I countered this, was to loosen the shoulder straps, carrying most of the weight on my hips, walking uphill, and tightening the straps back up walking downhill. Maybe this makes more sense to experienced backpackers. This worked well for me.
4. Make sure to know where the sun is. I'm talking about how much daylight is left. I knew by the sign, to allow 3 hours. It took us 4. We started at 12:30, returning at 4:30. Not much time left daylight wise. Even though I was fully prepared, with water, fire, shelter, etc, and could have made a night of it, it would have been no fun walking those rocky, icy trails with a flashlight. Took us long enough with the light.
I'll post more thoughts if I think of any more.
Mina Sauk Falls, the destination. Also the highest falls in Missouri, at 132 feet. Notice the sign says to allow yourself 3 hours. It took us 4, but we stopped to rest periodically, stayed at the falls for some time, ate, etc, so not too bad:
The first time to use the MAP 3500. More on that later. Notice that the "trail" is concrete....
That quickly turned into this. Mud, ice, rocks, all covered in leaves. Had to be very careful:
Sometimes like this:
Smoke break. The MAP 3500, and the 14:
14 in the ice:
Ice on many parts of the trail:
My goofy butt overlooking the hills. By the way, I fit in with all the locals the way I dressed, haha:
Part of the rocky trail:
Stopped for some fuel:
Some views:
The trail on the ledge. Really had to watch your step around here:
The falls. Hard to see from the top:
So, we walked down this. Hard to see the grade, but it was a bitch:
Damn, I gotta walk back up this. Camera doesn't do depth/height justice. The leaves covered so much, every step had to count:
These are cascading falls, so kind of hard to make out:
14:
My wife in red sitting on the rock. Gives more of an idea of scope:
More random shots:
Back on top:
The trail back up top pretty much follows the stream, so there were many opportunities for water shots:
Stopped for a bite to eat:
Another smaller waterfall:
Lots of walking up on the rocky path:
Back to the top:
We had a great time. I'll post more photos of the other places later.
Here are some thoughts, and some of the things I learned;
1. Make sure to have a good hiking boot, sized right, made specifically for hiking. I wear 6" Wolverines, and they're good boots, but not made for hiking. You need a boot with great ankle support, fitted right. The bottom of my feet were a bit swollen by the time we finished the hike. Spare no expense when it comes to your feet. It'll be worth it.
2. Make sure you are in good enough shape to do the given task. I sometimes forget I'm nearly 50, and don't get much exercise. At 275 lbs, with a 40 lb pack, it wasn't easy. Harder than I thought it would be, especially climbing down steep, rocky angles, and back up again. My hip joints were giving the me the most problems. It did get better after hiking the next few days though.
3. Make sure to know your pack. This was the first time I used my MAP 3500 pack. I really liked it, and think it worked out well. I didn't need the 40lbs I had in it, but I like testing stuff out, so I went with it. Something I didn't take into consideration, was the balance, especially when it came to climbing up and down steep angles. Going down, having to watch every damn step, with all the rocks/boulders in the path, sometimes stepping over, sometimes on the rocks, it was easy for the packs weight to want to make you go forward. I had to counter this action, by maintaining balance. Same thing going up. I would sometimes have to jump to a certain spot, to maintain a foothold, and if I didn't land right, the pack naturally wanted to pull me backwards. This was a valuable lesson for me. Believe me, carrying 315lbs up a rocky, steep incline, was no easy task. I won't lie, I was tired and winded. Also, I used the hip belt, as I wanted to try it out. I liked it. Sometimes, I would get a bit of shoulder fatigue. One of the ways I countered this, was to loosen the shoulder straps, carrying most of the weight on my hips, walking uphill, and tightening the straps back up walking downhill. Maybe this makes more sense to experienced backpackers. This worked well for me.
4. Make sure to know where the sun is. I'm talking about how much daylight is left. I knew by the sign, to allow 3 hours. It took us 4. We started at 12:30, returning at 4:30. Not much time left daylight wise. Even though I was fully prepared, with water, fire, shelter, etc, and could have made a night of it, it would have been no fun walking those rocky, icy trails with a flashlight. Took us long enough with the light.
I'll post more thoughts if I think of any more.
Last edited:
