Kit Carson Trail |
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THE KIT CARSON TRAILHohn Scout Reservation
PrologueBefore you hike the trail, obtain a trash bag from the Quartermaster and take it with you on your trek. The trail edges the boundary of the camp and crosses county roads four different times. As a result, trash accumulates near or on the trail and we ask that you do your best to make it a clearer trail when you finish. The trail is marked in yellow paint along its course. Should you lose the trail, have patience and scout around until you find it again. Also, take plenty of water with you on the trail. This trail, built in 1973 by Explorers of Post 120, California, Missouri, is nearly 8 miles long. It is a very rough trail and you should take a full day to hike the entire distance. It was named the KIT CARSON TRAIL after the famous mountain man who ran away from his home in New Franklin, Missouri, and joined a Santa Fe bound wagon train. After exploring the west as a trapper, mountain man and scout, he settled down an a ranch in New Mexico on the Rayado River (now part of the Philmont Scout Ranch). There be served as a Colonel in the New Mexico Volunteers and as a well-liked Indian Agent at Cimarron. You will find many wonderful and interesting things along this trail if you do not rush through it. The trail will test your courage and strength; not may scouts can, or will, hike the entire trail! The county is very wild and we hope you find adventure and can experience some of the thrills of discovery that KIT CARSON did as he crossed the Rocky Mountain wilderness.
The Trail
The trail begins next to Parkhurst Lodge. It first goes down Jackass Hollow. This is a rich, well drained oak forest. On the forest floor can be found the common Christmas Fern, the herb Golden Seal and even Ginseng, a rare and expensive herb. After crossing Moonshine Creek, the trail starts a long steady uphill climb. You will pass a marker for the Medicine Oak, a tree with a large deformed section of its trunk caused by an uncontrolled cell growth. You may find it if you travel 40 yards form the marker at 320 degrees. Nearby is another tree with a hole through it. If you stand on the nearby rock and can manage to spit through this hole, an old miners tale has it that you will become a millionaire. When you finish climbing Son-of-a-Gun Hill you will be able to see Eagle Scout Lookout. This is the highest point one can see from Hohn Scout Reservation. It is nearly 950 feet above the sea level, and 300 feet above the level of the Lake. As you leave Son-of-a-Gun Hill you will be hiking on a part of an old wagon road that was part of the now-named Ozark Frontier Trail. This old road was a course of travel between Boonville and Springfield. It must have been an exciting trip in those days to travel this rugged country and to cross the Osage River with a horse and wagon. As you follow the Ozark Frontier Trail, you will cross a blacktop county road. From here the trail goes downhill all the way to the lakeshore. On this section you will hike through Wolf Run where some pines have been planted by fellow Scouts. You will cross a gravel road and then stagger down Drunkards Hill, a very steep downhill section. Be careful dont run. After hiking through Bull Tick Hollow, where lots Paw-paw trees grow, the trail finally opens on the lakeshore at Flap-Jack Cove. The trail now follows the shore of the lake ( more of less) and crosses huge log jams in the ends of small coves. Be careful around the logs on the beach, this is a good place for copperheads! Now the trail leads you to the Swimming Area. The trail goes behind, not trough, this camp area. You will find it again at the end of the Waterfront Trail. After hiking through a cedar grove the trail comes to the bluff section of the trip. This will be one of the more difficult areas and it is certainly the most exciting part! There are wonderful rock ledges and other rock formations to see. The trail takes you to Hangover Rock, which is a good resting spot. After enjoying a moment at Hangover Rock, you will pass Crawl-Belly Cave. Then you will soon get to the Landslide segment of this thrilling bluff section. A cable has been stretched across to assist you. Kit Carson never had it so good! Near the end of the bluff section, you will come to Sinners Rock, named because a young sinner has prayed a prayer to help him on this narrow ledge. Some crawl on their knees to get around it. At the top of Sinners Rock is Osage Lookout. After you leave the bluff you re-enter the woods. In the first small hollow you cross you will find Walking-Fern Rock. The walking-fern is a very interesting plant. This member of the fern family is a not easily located, rare plant. Notice how it grows and how it got its name: walking-fern. Next you will come to a large rock in the middle of the trail. This marks the intersection with the trail that leads to Dan Beard campsite. This is a good place to replenish your water bottles and dispose of trash collected so far! The trail now goes through Lost Forest. This was a very beautiful, cool, thriving forest with a good stand of young trees, mostly white oaks. In April of 1974, during a dry and windy day, two cabin owners on the lakeshore allowed a trash fire to escape and burn this area. The area had begun to recover, but will forever carry the scars of this damaging fire. After climbing Toss-Across Hollow you will reach a gravel road. This is called Quitters Point and is where many scouts quit the trail and walk back to camp. The trail bends back to the south and for those rugged scouts that continue, the trail takes them to a little knob called Indian Hill. When you cross the road at the high hill top the trail enters the Turkey Trot. This stretch of the trail teases a weary scout as it weaves in between the two county roads. It crosses a paved road and passes the Witness Trees. These are the trees which the United States Department of Natural Resources has marked for land surveying purposes. Do not disturb these trees or the official marker! Soon, the trail starts a long, tiring climb to the Devils Rock Pile. The slope of devils Rock Pile has been burned so many times that nearly all of the surface soil, the vital humus, has been eroded away. Only rocks and poor-quality timber remain. Now you are in the final stretch. However it is a long and weary stretch! The trail is less distinct and there is a lot of underbrush. Soon the gate from you started your journey will come into sight and the trail is completed. We hope you tested yourself mentally and physically, and felt a little of the excitement of exploration and danger that a young Kit Carson felt when he was your age. We hope you learned a little about nature and what happens when men are thoughtless and careless with fire. We hope that this experience will encourage you to hike the trails of your area with your patrols and troops. We hope you pack is now heavy with memories and that your litter is in your pocket and not on the trail. |
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