Spring Migration at the Confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers

 
 Confluence Greenway posted its schedule for April and May, a celebration of the spring migration in the St. Louis area.
Confluence Greenway started in 1998, when the McKnight Foundation, based in Minneapolis, suggested that five groups it was funding with small grants, each with an interest in the Mississippi, pool their resources and form a bigger organization, [...]

Kassel Cave Natural Bridges

 
Yesterday was warm, windy, and overcast, perfect for making photographs of the Kassel Cave Natural Tunnels in Perry County, Missouri.
Thomas R. Beveridge described the tunnels in Geological Wonders and Guriousities of Missouri. For years it has been on my list of places to hike. But, it is privately owned and I needed permission. Somewhere along [...]

Castor River Glade

 
The soil on the Castor River Glade is thin and rapidly drained and the rocks exposed. It almost desert-like and it supports drought-tolerant trees, grasses, sedges, and wildflowers.
At least three different moses and one lichen carpet the pink granite bluff on which a cedar has taken root in a crevice in in the rock.
The Caster [...]

The St. Francis River–Silver Mines

February is such a come-on in southern Illinois and southeastern Missouri. We have the beautiful warm spring-like days. Then, March comes, all cold,  gray, and rainy. 
Yesterday, Michael Sue and I took a break from editing the Swamp book and took a hike to the Castor River Shut-ins in Madison County, Missouri and Silver Mines Shut-in [...]

Hike Hickory Canyon

Hike the St. Francois Mountains, a dome ancient Precambrian rocks in the southeastern corner of Missouri. They are two and a half billion years old and were never completely buried by the inland seas. Look at a Missouri’s geological map, layer upon layer of sedimentary rocks–sandstones, limestones, and dolomites–spread out around the ancient mountains, a [...]