Don Corrigan, a journalism professor at Webster University, is also an outdoorsman. He’s chronicled Missouri’s wildest places—and now, its most civilized, in Images of America: Forest Park.
Corrigan will be signing that book, as well as Show-Me… Natural Wonders and Environmental Missouri, this Saturday, December 9, at Naturally Inspired Gifts.
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(Speaking of local wonders, the alpaca whose yarn made the boutique’s woolly gifts live on a farm in Fletcher, Missouri, working guests of one of the store’s owners.)
We all know how to get to Forest Park, so SLM asked Corrigan his favorite outdoor places around the state.
On the east side of Missouri:
“I visit Hannibal’s Lover’s Leap, towering over a wide stretch of Mississippi River, whenever I’m in Mark Twain country. Lots of history and folklore associated with those bluffs, which really adds to the experience when you look north to the lighthouse sitting on the bluffs on the north side of Hannibal.”
In mid-state Missouri on the I-70 corridor:
“I’ll exit at Rocheport to buy a bottle of wine and take in the Missouri River from the bluffs. Of course, a bike ride on the Katy Trail below the Rocheport Bluffs is always an experience, and I like to ride to Catfish Katy’s and farther south onto Easley. It’s a good idea to partake in the wine after the Katy bike ride and not before.”
On the west side of the state:
“I recommend a trek on the Weston bluffs overlooking the Missouri River north of Kansas City. As with Lover’s Leap in Hannibal, there’s plenty of history and folklore beneath those bluffs. When gazing across to Kansas and the Leavenworth area, think of the Native Americans who were held captive on this land until they could be relocated — after being forcibly removed from their lands.”
And flowing throughout:
”When it comes to gurgling springs, streams, and unusual water features, I can almost hear the cascading waters at Joplin’s Grand Falls or at Castor River Shut-ins. Quieter places include the brilliant Ozark Blue Spring off the Current River or the gorgeous Alley Spring with its bright green water cress, ferns and flowery columbine, come spring. It’s always worth a look at that spring before shoving off from Alley on a canoe trip down the Jacks Fork River to Eminence, Twin Rivers or beyond, as the river merges into the Current and heads to Arkansas. Sites best seen from a canoe: the Vilander bluffs, Devil’s Elbow Bluffs, and Cardareva Bluff.”
