Buford Mountain and Elephant Rocks

This morning Hans and I drove northwest to Buford Mountain Conservation Area with a couple of friends from school, Ashish and Claudette.  Buford Mountain is a lesser-known recreation area that features a 10-mile loop trail that quickly ascends its namesake to reach a summit at 1740 feet, only 32 feet shy of the highest point in the state.  After that, the trail follows a mild rolling ridgeline.

It was a cool clear day when we began our hike.  Aside from the rough and rocky terrain for the first mile the trail was fairly mild and scattered with violets, sorrel, and phlox.  Occasionally we came across silken tent caterpilliar communities.

We opted for a shorter hike today and stopped for lunch at the exposed rocky glade of Bald Knob.  There was a geocache in the area, so Ashish did the honor by guiding us to the cache with our GPS.  After signing the log book and exploring the cache's contents we made our way back down the ridge and to the car, for a total of 7-miles worth of hike.

Since we were in the area, we stopped at Elephant Rocks State Park.  I had been told by countless locals to check it out.  After all the hype, however, we expected, as Claudette put it, "an epic fail".  We were pleasantly surprised.

The parking lot was packed and we could see why:  The Elephant Rocks themselves are giant boulders of pink granite perched atop a stone hill and resemble a line of circus elephants.  Producs of erosion, the rocks and hills are surrounded and composed of many narrow crevices and paths that offer a natural playground.  Hans and Ashish were the only ones brave enough to leap the four to six-foot gaps between crevices leading to the top.  After taking a couple of pictures we made our way back to the parking lot by squeezing through narrow alleys and sliding down the smooth rocks.

The drive back to Cape Girardeau was more scenic than the one out:  We avoided the interstate for a more direct route through small towns and farmland.  Some of the lakes and streams were positively gorgeous.  Sometimes we found ourselves following the remains of an old stone farm wall.  We passed many signs that pointed to other state parks and trails.  If Hans and I go hiking or camping any time in the near future we will definitely give the Arcadia Valley a second thought.

*Thanks, Claudette, for a couple of these pictures!