Nathan (now six-going-on-seven) and I hooked up with a Sierra Club group hiking to the top of Taum Sauk Mountain, the highest point (1,772 feet) in Missouri. The high point is now in a state park approachable by road, with a parking lot and all of a quarter-mile paved path to the high-point marker. However, not wishing to make it too easy on ourselves, we chose the bipedal approach, instead.

The hike started at the Claybaugh Creek trailhead on Highway 21, about a mile south of Highway CC which leads into the park. From there it is about 6 miles and 700 net vertical feet to the summit of Taum Sauk. The trail winds through mixed hardwood forests and up to about 1,600 feet on the adjacent Russell Mountain before dropping down about 250 feet to cross the valley between Russell and Taum Sauk. (Why the trail doesn't skirt the nearly-level ridge is a puzzlement...) That gives a total of about 1,200 feet of gross vertical motion, following the old backpacker's rule "that which goes down must come back up."

The weather was delightful, starting out in the low 50's and warming well into the 60's by noon. The leaves had just started to turn, with sumac and dogwood showing some color here and there. Early frosts the preceding mornings had knocked down the ticks and chiggers, which made for more pleasant hiking. We stopped on a rocky outcrop on Russell Mountain about halfway for lunch, where Nathan had a chance to chase a late-season skink before it skittered off into the undergrowth. By the time we had regained the altitude lost crossing the creek, Nathan was getting a bit tired, but the Sierra Club "trailer" was understanding even though we fell fairly far behind the rest of the group. Once again, Nathan held up his tradition as the Energizer Bunny...he just keeps going and going and going...

The top of Taum Sauk is nearly dead flat for the last half-mile of the trail, with perhaps a total of 20 feet change in altitude. As we approached the summit, the trail widened out with greater use and we soon came to the paved path leading to the summit and parking lot. After signing the summit log and taking the requisite summit photos, we headed back to the cars which the drivers had ferried up before starting the hike. Two-and-a-half hours later, we picked up a pizza for dinner and arrived back home...not a bad day's outing!

Alan adds, in email to me ...

The other state highpoint we've hit is Kansas. "Mt. Sunflower", as it's called (even the name of the quad), is the high point of a cow pasture on the Kansas/ Colorado border. You reach it by driving south an hour-and-a-half along the gravel section roads from the Kanorado exit (last KS exit) off I-70. When we were on our way out to Colorado (for the aborted Mt. Elbert climb), I insisted we drive down and find it.

The folks who own the land have a definite sense of humor...they have done away with the gate and installed a cattle grate at one corner of the field which contains the high point, and installed a "Mt. Sunflower" sign at the entrance. They have a little fenced-in area right at the high point, with a steel sunflower sculpture and some other artifacts in it, along with a rural mailbox containing the summit log. They even have a couple of picnic tables there in case you're tuckered out by the altitude. (4,039 feet) (The entire state of KS is basically an inclined plane which slopes up from a little over 1,000 feet at the eastern edge to 4,000 feet at the western edge. Mt. Sunflower is merely the highest hummock around...)

Check out the State Highpointers page!