The Ozark Trail – Ketcherside Mountain to Taum Sauk

Katie and I decided that in 2018 we were going to make it a point to hike as much of the Ozark Trail as we possibly could.  Would we be able to hike in one continuous allotted amount of time? No.  Would we be able to hike in “order” or from north to south or south to north? No.  Will we be able to do it in one calendar year? Probably not.  But we are going to make hiking it a concentrated effort in 2018.  

Now we have both hiked a different section of it individually in 2017, but the first section we did together was on Taum Sauk Mountain just a couple weeks ago.

Like most of our hikes, this was spur of the moment.  Katie realized her Saturday basketball games were going to be over about noon and that left us with time to get in a mid-sized hike – between 3-6 miles.  We needed it to be close to home and wanted to do a new-to-us trail, so we decided on this section of the Ozark Trail.

Because the Ozark Trail is point-to-point and we didn’t want to backtrack, we decided to use two cars and leave one at the beginning and end points of the trail.  I had read up on this section of the trail in The Ozark Trail Guidebook and on www.ozarktrail.com.  (Both are handy resources to have at your fingertips.) Now the book suggested starting at the Claybaugh Branch trailhead on Highway 21, which is now named Ketcherside Mountain Conservation Area.  So that was our plan, leave one car at Taum Sauk and the other at Ketcherside Mountain.  This is actually just a short drive with it being maybe five minutes between points, which worked out well with our timeline.

A section of the Ozark Trail overlaps the Mina Sauk Falls Trail, and we have done that trail several times.  Enough times to know that the climb out of Mina Sauk can be a tough one especially at the end of a six mile hike, so I was not overly excited about ending like that.  I noticed on the options at Taum Sauk that we could end on the Mina Sauk Trail or end at the firetower.  We decided to end at the tower and not do the shared portion of Mina Sauk. (After looking at the map a little closer, we decided that the shared portion really isn’t the climb out but meets up for about a ¼ of the mile at the end.)

So we dropped Katie’s Jeep off and headed back to the Ketcherside Mountain Trailhead to begin our hike.  Let me give a word or warning on this.  If you use two vehicles to hike, make sure the owner of the vehicle of the end car has her keys.  You don’t want to get to the end and realize you left them in the other car.  Thankfully we didn’t do this, but I can see how it could happen.  

For a January afternoon, it was cold but not freezing and sunny – nice hiking weather.  We set-off and was having a nice start when Katie thought she heard something.  We were about ¾ of mile into the six miles and only about 200 yards from the parking lot.  We heard quite a bit of rustling of leaves – more than your normal squirrel.  I was waiting to see another group of hikers coming from the other direction, but that wasn’t it either.  It wasn’t a few deer that we startled either.  It was a continuous line of shuffling leaves that just so happened to be HOGS!  Yes, those hogs that everyone had been warning us about.  Those hogs that we have seen signs of but never really expected to see.  Yes, those hogs.

We stood very quietly and watched them pass in front of us moving left to right.  They were probably a 100 yards away from us with that being down a ravine and then up the other side of the hill.  There appeared to be about five of them – two adult ones and a few babies.  We snapped a few photos and I took a video, in which you can quietly hear them but can’t see them.

We weren’t necessarily afraid but alert and unsure of how to proceed.  Of all the talk about the possibility of hogs, we had not really researched how to handle the situation. (I do have a bear whistle.) Although, I did check quickly to see if we had any cell service, so we could look it up. LOL  We didn’t have service, so we continued to stand there and weigh our options  – turn around and go back to the car or continue on the trail.

I grabbed my hiking book out of my backpack and found the map of the trail.  I wanted to compare where we were on the trail, and the direction that the hogs were heading.  It didn’t appear that the hogs would be near the trail anywhere soon.  So as we were contemplating, I asked Katie, “What is your gut telling you?”  Her response, “Let’s go back.”  I agreed.  We stood there for a few more minutes to make sure we couldn’t hear them anymore and then we continued forward onto the trail.  I’m not sure exactly when that gut reaction changed in both of us, but we are both stubborn women who didn’t want to have to go home and say that the hogs got the best of us.

With the hogs behind us, we were ready to tackle the rest of the mountain ahead of us.  Because when you start this trail at the Ketcherside Mountain trailhead, you are hiking UP to Taum Sauk – the highest point in Missouri. To make it even better, you don’t make just an uphill climb, but you climb up then down a bit then back up a ways then back down and then finally the last ascent up to the fire tower.  The total elevation gain is roughly 960 feet with the last 600 feet being in the last 2 miles by my estimations. As a note to myself, when I do this one again, I will try it the other direction – downhill.

The path itself is well worn and marked with the Ozark Trail markers.  It is very easy to follow.  Most of the path is a dirt path with the occasional rocky sections.  I would also say that according to my amateur estimations that ⅓ of the trail there is evidence of hogs.  There were signs all along the path that sections of it were being shared, which kept our senses heightened as well.  And we were very cautious the rest of the trail.  We would probably hike about 200 yards or so then stop for just a second to see if we could hear any more rustling among the leaves. Thankfully we did not.  We were however, startled twice to cussing levels by two quick and agile squirrels.  I was also actively looking for a rock to climb or pile of down trees that we could place between us and those hogs.  I didn’t verbalize this to Katie because in my own irrational thinking talking about the hogs would summons them back – the Beetlejuice Effect.

As I mentioned earlier, hiking this trail in this direction means you are climbing up hill.  That is until you go back down and then back up.  Once you think you have reached “the top” and are hiking along this open glade with nice views, you realize that you are descending again.  And since you know that you are ending at Taum Sauk, you also know that at some point you will be heading back up.  The longest and steepest climb is in the last two miles and is full of switchbacks. MapMyHike gives this trail a climb rating of 3 with 5 being the easiest and an HC being the most difficult.  Katie was aware of this possibility because at the beginning she was wondering if we would trek up and down a lot and mentioned it frequently. We did.

As far as views and this being a “scenic” hike, it isn’t high on the scale.  The Ozark Trail Guidebookhas two “WOW” spots listed.  I’m not sure if we would call them “WOWs” but they were worthy of stopping and taking in the surroundings. The trail follows along and then crosses a creek, but it was low on water, if it had any at some points.  Listening to moving water would have been enjoyable. Katie would probably label this trail as more of a “walk in the woods.”  I don’t mind “just a walk in the woods” but think that this trail may be overgrown in the summer months which would make it a different experience.  One I would like to try while going down hill.

So our first combined attempt to hike the Ozark Trail was a success. A surprising hike but an enjoyable one.  I’m not sure if we can top the hogs on another section, although I would love to see the wild horses near Eminence on the lower part of the trail.  We plan to continue working our way through the Ozark Trail and sharing our adventures.  If you have any insights or helpful tips, we would love to hear them.

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