Waterloo - Current River 2011

On Sunday, Al, Katie, Fran, Stephanie, Rena and I spent the day hiking some trails at Mastodon State Park in Missouri.

Unusual trees in the forest.

On Monday, Al, Dave, Rena, and I hiked a trail named after Lewis and Clark located near the Katie Bike trail west of St Louis. The trail overlooks the Missouri River.

Rena managed to surmount this obstacle.

The benches along the trail seemed to have been constructed for very tall people.

We were too early for fall colors but some of the leaves were quite nice.

In the small town of Defiance nearby, a bike shop had an interesting flower arrangement outside.

Defiance had some historic structures along Main Street.

As I photographed this old truck, the owner offered to sell it to me.

Our final stop in Defiance was at the local bar.

On the way home, we visited relatives Eileen and Lee Carlson on the outskirts of St Louis.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, some of us drove to Southern Missouri to do a canoe trip. We visited three of the famous hot springs in the area. This one is Round Springs.

The second one was Big Springs, one of the three largest springs in America. The average outflow is 286 million gallons per day.

Dissolved limestone gives the spring its beautiful colors.

In our rented cabin at Eminence, Missouri, Allan is working on the evenings Bar-B-Q.

The following day 7 of us (Al, Katie, Dave, Stephanie, Justin, Rena, and I) rented canoes and kayaks from Eminence Canoes, Cottages, and Camp, the same place we spent the night.

Rena shows good form in the kayak.

Dave looks comfortable on his first trip ever in a canoe.

It looks like a race.

Al and Katie liked the double kayak.

The scenery was nice along the river.

After canoeing, we visited the third spring. Alley Spring is famous for the this beautiful old mill.