I went cutting wood with Tom yesterday; he’d found a place about 25-30 miles South of Springfield on Highway 65 where there were several trees that had been brought down in the ice storm two or three years ago. Despite the terrain being difficult and the wood hard to get and split into logs, we did quite well, with the truck full to the point that the springs were flat, and the trailer Tom’s friend ‘Hooker’ brought along was two thirds full of large logs we couldn’t or didn’t have the energy to split. On the way back I noticed a state park which looked like a good place to visit.
At home I did some investigating and found we had some details in our hiking guides. This (Sunday) afternoon, waiting for the bus with the Youth Group kids (and Katie) to arrive I was chatting to Mike, who it transpired, had visited the Park the previous week, and that convinced me we should give it a try.
It took a bit to persuade Ginger to give up a Sunday afternoon nap for a hike, but I succeeded and off Ginger, Lanie and I went.
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area is 18 miles south of Springfield, so it’s nice and close, and has what the guides call ‘primitive’ camping facilities. It looked good to me. All of them were near the creek and had cleared areas and a fixed fireplace. Knowing the going would be wet, I decided to stick with sandals and hope there was no poison ivy or such to walk through.
We found the creek very quickly, and despite the recent rain it was very clear, and there were clear signs that the banks had overflowed. We discovered later that the two bridges over the creek had been washed away in September.
The trails are color coded, and quite well marked, though the recent rains had brought down most of the leaves so the paths themselves were covered in places. We found one place to cross the creek where the river ran over bare rock. But the bank opposite was quite steep so we went on to the place where the bridge should have been and crossed there. No problem for me in sandals, but as Ginger had to take her hiking boots off, she had problems with the very sharp stones in her bare feet.
Where we should have forded the creek
After crossing the Creek the trail went up into the hills rising about 2-300 feet, and we had a long walk along the hillsides, occaisionally having to make way for people on horseback.
When we finally got to the creek again, back at the parking lot, we discovered that there should have been a bridge there too, but that had been washed away as well. The creek bed was stony again, so I went ahead and got Ginger’s sandals from the van. Of course that meant I crossed the creek four times, while one lucky couple got a horse ride across.
The hike proved a bit long for Lanie, but Ginger and I enjoyed it. I think we’ll be going back as there are still plenty of trails to explore.
