Wednesday, we decided to take our lunch break from office work at Clifty Creek Natural Area Trail. Just under ten miles away from our seasonal home of Missouri Festival & RV Park, we thought it would be a great way to get out and enjoy the chilly, sunshiny day.
The trail is about a 2.3 mile loop that boasts a 40 foot natural bridge. We packed up the wiener dogs, camera gear, and snacks then we were off. Near the beginning of the trail there was a fork in the road with a sign…north trail 1.4 miles and south trail .9 miles to the natural bridge. Since the trail is a loop, we decided to take the north trail so after seeing the bridge, we’d be following the short side of the trail.
The trail is wonderful, with moderate terrain. We enjoyed the 1.4 miles up, down, and around the hills in the woods. We recently had several inches of snow that was all melted now, which made crossing the creeks a little more challenging. It was quite the site to see us hopping from rock to rock with the wiener dogs. Needless to say, the little dogs ended up taking a dip in the frigid water. At least they were tethered with their leash so we could fish them out quickly.
We made it to the natural bridge. It was certainly worth the hike. Icicles were still present on parts of the rocks. We rested for awhile and took some pictures. The bridge was by the stream and the water was fairly high. We kept scoping how to get across so that we could finish up the loop. We couldn’t even really see where the trail picked up again on the other side of the water. After crossing the water back and forth a few times in different spots trying to find where the trail picked up again, we decided to simply go back the way we came.
Getting back didn’t take as long even though we could feel the burn in our legs. We hadn’t been a good hike in several months and it felt good. The dogs were certainly worn out when we got back. Next time, we are going to take the .9 mile hike to the bridge to see what we’ve missed.
