You may not know this about me, but I’m also an avid hiker. One of my goals is to hike the Ozark Trail – a 340-mile through trail system connecting Missouri and Arkansas – in its entirety. The Courtois Section of the Ozark Trail runs along the same sections of Courtois Creek that I floated this summer.

Trail, photo by MilliGFunk Photography

Because I’ve hiked that section of the Ozark Trail from Onondaga to Highway 8, it’s fun to float down the Courtois. Each time the trail comes near enough the creek to become visible I recall that same spot in a hike along the Ozark Trail. The most notable memory so far was of crossing the Courtois on a very cold day in early March 2010. You can read that story here.

Specific memories aside, floating along the Courtois this Labor Day reminded me that with cooler weather right around the corner, it’s time to start hiking again. I’ve hiked approximately 50 of the Ozark Trail’s 340 miles, so I need to plan for the remaining mileage over the coming months.

Come back to A Small Town Girl’s Guide or visit the River Hills Traveler blog for future posts on floating, hiking and all other things outdoors in Small Town Missouri.

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More Small Town Girl writing on the Ozark Trail, please visit my Ozark Trail page.

Crossing the Courtois

Two weeks ago I set out to hike the Ozark Trail from Onondaga Cave State Park to the Narrows Trail Head. This section of the Courtois (pronounced code-a-way) Section of the Ozark Trail is considered mile 0-7.6, and fair warning: it involves a “creek” crossing that’s more like a river expedition. For the full story, you should pick up the April issue of River Hills Traveler, but the short story is this: The Courtois Creek is not just a creek – it’s a large creek. It’s a creek that, on a map, looks roughly the same width as the Meremac River.

I can imagine that crossing the Courtois in the heat of Missouri summer would have felt great…refreshing…awesome. Crossing the creek in early March on a 40-degree day was chilly…bitter…freezing. The first five miles or so of the hike – from Onondaga Cave State Park to the Courtois Creek – wasn’t bad. The highest elevation was approximately 900 feet, and much of the trail was wide and gravel-covered. There were some fun rock formations and cliffs, and even a few small springs and caves. There’s a beautiful pine glade several miles into the hike that would make a lovely picnic spot, but beware that in the late summer months, there are also spiders as big as your head. *** I estimate that I’ve now hiked somewhere around 45 miles of the Ozark Trail’s 350 total miles. Fore more posts about my Ozark Trail adventures, see my Ozark Trail page. For longer, print stories on my Ozark Trail expeditions, pick up the February or April issues of River Hills Traveler.

I grew up in the country, which means I grew up around guns. My brother and I played with BB guns, and later with his first .22. Ten years of life outside of rural southeast Missouri has made my gun-totin’ skills a wee bit rusty, but today I had a chance to brush up.

@StLCardsGuy asked me if I was going to shoot at a range or go to the country. “We go into the back yard,” I told him. (I’m a country girl. We don’t need no stinkin’ shootin’ range.)

The New Yorker in me was reacquainted with the rural Missourian as my dad and I trecked to the back of the property with a makeshift target and a handful of guns.

We were both suprised at how well I shot with the .32, especially considering that I’d never before shot a pistol. I hit near bullseye on several shots from 30 feet back. This is the gun I’ll carry hiking. Watch out, Big Foot, you’re not dragging this girl back to your cave…

We also shot a 20-gauge shotgun my dad has had since he was fourteen years old, a Taurus 9mm, and a 22 rifle.

The New Yorker in me wasn’t totally comfortable with guns before this outing, but I had fun shooting. It relieved some stress, and it was cool hanging out with my dad for a few hours.

NYC =0; MO=1

The “guide” from Bass’ River Resort, where I was camping, dropped me off at a trailhead that was supposed to lead me 7.5-8 miles through the woods back to the resort.

Unfortunately, the trail description in my OT guidebook for the first few miles of the hike matched the landscape around me, so I thought all was well with the world. Among the geographic features of this section of trail were caves and 30-50 foot cliff faces.

Several hours and a gazillion spiders later, I realized I was lost. The trail ended at a wide gravel logging road, which I walked approximately two miles down before finding a road sign and realizing that I was easily 5-6 miles from where I started my hike, and another 7-8 from the camp ground.

Unprepared for hiking an extra 7-8 miles that day, I had no choice but to turn around and hike back to my starting trail head in hopes that Bass’ River would be doing a float trip pick up that afternoon along the river near my trail head.

So there I was, looping back down the same trail after hours in the woods, waving my stick in the air to swat away the ginormous Missouri spiders making their webs across my trail. My trail, darn it. I conquered that trail (even if it wasn’t the trail I meant to conquer). In fact, I conquered it so hard that I hiked it TWICE that day. Take that, y’all. Smalltowngirl Hiker Extraordinaire.

When I got back near the trailhead, I saw this cave (again), and couldn’t resist going off the trail to take a look inside (for all the spelunkering readers out there, I didn’t go far inside, and I didn’t disturb anything in or around the cave).

So here I am, thrilled to have found my way back to my trail head, and amused (for reasons only one reader will really understand) at the one-armed, self-portrait cave pic. Nothing makes you appreciate finding your way home more than getting really, really lost along the way.

Home Sweet Home, photo by and of smalltowngirl

Although I’d like to write an entire blog on the section of trail that I hiked, for now I’d like to show you some of the arachinids who were hanging out on their webs across my trail.

Itsy Bitsy Spider, photo by smalltowngirl

I don’t know what I was thinking hiking in August, but my hike was hot, humid, and spider-infested.

A few hundred feet into the trail, the spiderwebs started to become problematic. Over and over again, I felt their sticky threads wrap around my arms, legs, or face, and found myself swatting at the air like a maniac, trying to get the webs off of my skin.

I picked up a long, thin stick, which I carried like a sword in front of my body, trying to knock spiderwebs down.  Along I plodded, slicing my stick-sword through the air, a full-blown war waged between myself and these eight-legged creepy crawlers.

This gigantic spider, with a body well larger than my thumb, was intimidating. I didn’t want to make him mad at me, so I left his web intact and asked him to please not bother me as I deftly snuck beneath his web.

Big spider, photo by smalltowngirl

Spiders were everywhere. To say I saw hundreds of them is not an exaggeration. I saw red ones, black ones and gray ones; big ones little ones and itsy bitsy ones.

For good measure, I took a few shots of some daddy long legs, hanging upside down in a cave.  Daddy long legs are arachnids, although they aren’t techinically spiders. I thought this last shot rounded out my spider photo collection nicely.

long legs, photo by smalltowngirl

Madison County Cemetery, photo by smalltowngirl

I wanted to brush up on my own Memorial Day knowledge, so I did a little research online. This story from CNN gives a concise overview of the history of Memorial Day. Take a look. 

Among other things I learned reading was that the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery was identified as a St. Louis, Missouri-born pilot. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier now lays empty, and the soldier is buried somewhere in St. Louis. I learn something new about my hometown and my home state all of the time.

Madison County Cemetery, photo by smalltowngirl

My parents and I visited the cemeteries today where my paternal grandparents and maternal grandmother are buried. One of the cemeteries we visited was in Madison County, Missouri, an area hit especially hard by the May 8th storms. 

We drove through Fredericktown, a town that I spent a good deal of my childhood in, and I was taken aback at the damage remaining even now, more than two weeks after the storm. More on that later.

Memorial Day Cemetery, Madison County, MO, photo by smalltowngirl

For now, I’m thankful to be back in this small town, where I was able to go with my family to honor my grandfather, a WWII veteran, and my grandmothers. I’m thankful that my brother, my grandfather, and so many more like them who have made careers of service. I’m not very patriotic by nature, but I realize that without our military, this would be a very different country to call home.