A boring name for a gorgeous National Park.Ā
The Ozarks are known for its mountains, but the waterways are the most gorgeous parts of the Ozarks. Ozark National Scenic Riverways protects two rivers, the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers, in Southern Missouri. The park is not located in one particular location but instead extended along the banks of these rivers. The park is best seen by boat. Since I didn’t have a boat, I had to drive to the places I could get to, which luckily included many natural springs.
Jana Irving My first stop was Welch Landing, which offered this lovely view of the Current River.
Jana Irving If you follow the old road from Welch Landing, it will lead you to a spring.
Jana Irving Swamp!
Jana Irving Welch Spring comes right out from under that cliff. Spring water was thought to have healing properties so it’s no surprise there was once a hospital here. Only the ruins remain.
Jana Irving The other side of that swamp from before.
Jana Irving I stopped by Pulltite, a great place to launch canoes and kayaks. Great view of the Current River from here.
Jana Irving I feel like this deer was judging me for taking its picture.
Jana Irving The Current River from above.
Jana Irving Now for Round Spring. This one is super unique. It’s like a double spring.
Jana Irving The water comes out from under here. You can even see the current.
Jana Irving The water has this blueish-green color from the minerals the water flows through underground. Even with this interesting color, the water in some areas is crystal clear. A lot of vegetation likes to grow in this super fresh water.
Jana Irving The trail continues around a corner over a natural bridge. On the other side is the actual place the spring water comes out of the ground. It comes out to this pool and then goes underground for a small bit and then emerges again. If the water is super clear, you can really see how deep this spring is.
Jana Irving Now on the opposite bank of Round Spring.
Jana Irving The water from Round Spring drains into the Current River.
Jana Irving Alley Mill at Alley Spring. This mill is even featured on a state quarter. The continuous flow of water would have been perfect for running a mill.
Jana Irving There is quite a flow of water here. It’s literally gushing out of the spring, 81 million gallons a day.
Jana Irving Alley Spring is really quiet over here. So very green.
Jana Irving Very pretty.
Jana Irving Moving on to Blue Spring. There are confusingly two Blue Springs in this park. This is the western one on Jacks Fork. You have to walk along the shoreline a bit to get to the spring.
Jana Irving There it is. The water flows out of that cave and flows directly into the river.
Jana Irving The color of this river is insane. It’s just so green.
Jana Irving This is the first view of the river you see at the parking area for Blue Spring. Missouri rivers like to flash flood, so piles of little rocks line the shore of the river.
Jana Irving A dirt road leads you to Rocky Falls, a popular swimming hole.
Jana Irving There is a spring over there, somewhere. I was trying to get to a trail that would take me to some other spring. Could not find it.
Jana Irving I followed some dirt road and found this gem, the Ramsey Family Barn. The road leads to a shoal on the edge of the Current River. There was a giant line of trailers completely covering it. Don’t know why anyone would put a trailer on a river’s edge for any reason, especially since it was supposed to rain overnight. Did I mention Missouri rivers like to flash flood a lot.
Jana Irving Now for the other Blue Spring. It’s known for its super deep blue hue. You can even see the blue before you even get to the spring!
Jana Irving Wow!
Jana Irving Super blue and super clear!
Jana Irving The water color doesn’t even remotely look natural. So cool!
Now for day two! I didn’t spend the entire second day at the park, but I did do some hiking. I started in the Big Spring area where I had camped for the previous two nights. First stop was the Big Spring itself.
Jana Irving The water gushing out of Big Spring looks like its boiling almost. On average, 288 million gallons of water gush out a day. Crazy!
Jana Irving Flowing out to the Current River.
Jana Irving There is a trail that leads to the other side where you can really experience the torrent.
Jana Irving Such a cute trail.
Jana Irving Here’s another torrent of water. The water flows out of the cliff from at least two spots.
Jana Irving The Stone Ridge Trail climbs to the top of the ridge with the Big Spring below. There was a bunch of wildflowers going on in May.
Jana Irving The flowers were still damp from the rain a couple of hours before.
Jana Irving A bit of a view.
Jana Irving Found this gorgeous Red Headed Woodpecker on the Chubb Hollow Trail, which follows the river.
Jana Irving A few high up views on this trail.
Jana Irving The trail descends and loops back to follow the Current River.
Jana Irving Butterfly! A Giant Swallowtail.
Ozark National Scenic Riverways is not the best name for a place this gorgeous. Many of the most gorgeous areas of the park were already protected by state parks, many of which were later included in the national riverway. The fact that both rivers are now protected, it preserves much of the natural landscape that would be lost to further development. You don’t see a ton of docks along the river. No speedboats (except run by employees). It’s a really lovely quiet area used mostly by locals and a few nature lovers like me.
Check out my next update where I will by exploring the Lake of the Ozarks!
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Check out all these other posts on the Ozarks!
