Mark Twain National Forest - Southwest Project

The Mark Twain National Forest's Houston/Rolla/Cedar Creek Ranger District "Southwest Project" is still open for debate. Last May the Columbia Tribune reported on the issues and the Missouri Wilderness Coalition commented on the proposal. KOMU has their own twist to the arguments. My favorite article is Ken Midkiff's Service can’t see forest for the trees on the topic. The Missourian also published this informative article On the path to preservation. Now the Mark Twain National Forest proposal appears to be in the middle of a 30 day written comment period.

Lesser Known Trails

Capen Park Trail

1600 Capen Park Drive

Length: 0.5 mile

Type: Dirt

Selling point: The park is home to limestone cliffs that draw rock climbers and sightseers alike.

User comment: “I come here every day because I can let my dog off the leash. I like that it’s in the woods,” MU student Shana Pauley said.

Hinkson Creek Trail

2011 S. Old 63

Length: 4.25 miles

Type: Limestone

Selling Point: The trail crosses the Hinkson Creek in several places, where you can find rust-colored bridges designed to look like the old railroad bridges along the Missouri River.

User comment: “I come here every day because it’s the only place you can bring your dog and not get a ticket,” Columbia College student Randi Robinson said. “There are places to bike, places to run and lots of trees.”

Cosmo-Bethel Park Lake Trail

4500 Bethel St.

Length: 0.46 mile

Type: Limestone

Selling Point: The trail circles the Cosmo-Bethel Lake, which offers fishing and wildlife-viewing.

User Comment: “I love how you see the families fishing. I think that’s really neat,” said Katie Brown as she chased her 16-month-old son, Abner, away from a flock of geese.

Excerpt from: Thursday, June 5, 2008 Missourian, Lesser-known trails, by Ashley Simpson.

GPS trails on Google Earth

Google Earth has mixed with Wikiloc to combine GPS trail coordinate with a 3D view. There are not a whole lot of trails in the Midwest on Wikiloc but this is the coolest thing I've seen for a while. I have not broken down and bought a GPS yet. Map (and rarely a compass) is all I've needed. But this technology plus a GPS unit may be a good excuse to rehike previously completed trails.

Google's announcement can be found here.