Into the Mystic: Spring Spring Tour

Currently In Van Buren, MO
Leaving for our last stop (Quincy, IL) tomorrow!

The title of this post is not a typo. We took a tour of all of the bubbling springs along the National Scenic Riverways in the Ozarks. These springs supply most of the water to the Current River - that's where we're camping! And we had a great campfire while we were here.

The Park (scenic riverways) is home to more first magnitude springs (flows over 65 million gallons of water) than anywhere else in the world. Most people visit this area to float, canoe or kayak down the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers. We were a little too early in the season for that, so we took a tour of the main attractions.

We took a quick hike behind the visitor center before looking for the springs. The hike was not much, but such a beautiful day I had to snap this photo.

Big Spring is just a few miles from our campground, so we visited there first. This spring moves 285 gallons of water a day. Spectacular!

The color is crystal blue.

And so clear - you can see to the bottom of the water.

We took a quick hike on one of the shorter trails there.

Close by was the Big Springs Historic District anchored by the office building where people checked in to stay at Missouri's first State Park. It is part of the National Park System now.

Several buildings, along with other bridges and dams, were built by the CCC in the 1930's. Gosh those men were busy!

The dining hall and other cabins were built using half-timber architecture; half hewn timbers and native stone. The result is so beautiful, as is the view of the Current River just below the dining hall.

This cabin and several others were for rent prior to 2014 when a complete renovation was scheduled. There was a major flood of the whole area in 2017 which put the timetable for completion way behind. They are now scheduled to be finished and rentable in 2020.

Next on our tour was the Alley Spring and Alley Mill. It is a piece of Americana.

The mill used the rushing spring water for power. So fast!

And right into the Jacks Fork River.

A peaceful view of the Alley Spring.

There was a short hike around the spring that looked nice.

There were many rock holes and caves along the way.

One last look at the mill on our way out.

It was a twenty minute drive to our next stop was the Two Rivers - the confluence of the Jacks Fork and Current rivers.

I thought it would provide a perfect lunch spot, but we couldn't really see the rivers. Oh well.

On our way down to the beach on the Current River, we saw this river measure stick. They have these everywhere along the riverways here.

The beach.

We watched these aqua and black colored butterflies for a while. So pretty.

Blue Spring was another 15 minutes down the road. We drove on a hilly gravel road to get to the trailhead.

The hike to the spring was about 1/2 mile.

Across a small stream...

It was worth it! Blue Spring is the 8th largest Missouri spring and is said to have the deepest blue of any of them. The daily flow is about 87 million gallons.

Again the water was so clear I could see the vegetation growing in the shallow parts.

Johnny got this overhead photo. The spring is 310 feet deep which gives it the blue color.

Rocky Falls was the last stop of the day. Not a spring - but a great view.

I wanted to get a closer look, so of course did a bit of a rock scramble across some boulders.

Yes! It was really loud.

A couple of other things unrelated to our spring tour. First, this area experienced a devastating flood in 2017. The town of Van Buren was under water and they are still recovering. Almost every person we met still talks about it. The historic County Courthouse needs some restoration and they are trying to raise money. I love these old buildings.

Finally, we took a quick hike this morning on the OT (not the AT!), the Ozark Trail. It's 350 miles long and eventually will join a trail in Arkansas.