Located in the heart of the Mark Twain National Forrest, Johnson’s Shut Ins State Park is truly a beautiful spot to behold. Known for its rapidly running shut ins, the State Park features hiking trails, swimming spots, fishing spots, and camping!
I say this every time I go here, but Johnson’s Shut Ins is without a doubt, my favorite state park in Missouri. It is absolutely stunning, no matter the time of year that you travel there. I have lost track of how many times I have visited this spot over the last three years, but it is easily past 25.
Byron and I traveled the two hour drive a handful of times before and this time we were spending the night in the wilderness! I grabbed my camera and took tons of shots a long the way…
Of course when we arrived we had to put on insect repellant because this place is no joke. There have been a handful of times I have hiked here and picked up a few friends… Depending on the time of year, ticks can be ferocious. One time, I hiked here and during the course of the hike, I found a total of 8 ticks crawling on me. Fortunately, I have sensitive skin and could feel the little buggers before they bit me and latched on.
It doesn’t take long before you start to see the incredible beauty this place has to offer.
Byron brought his drone along with us and we found a cool spot to stop and get some aerial footage. Check out the Soaring Eagle Overland YouTube page to see the results!!
This trail has a lot of limited mobility accessibility for the first half mile or so. The nature hiking trail begins after you take quite a few stairs…
We saw quite a few friendly faces on the trail!
So, as it turns out, Byron is actually a really soft-hearted guy. Anyone who knows him can attest. But, did you know he is really afraid of bugs? Haha 😛
Johnsons’ Shut Ins offers some amazing swimming spots. It was pretty hot today so we definitely took advantage of the offer.
Part of the trail brings you to the bottom of a beautiful rock face that you then have to hike a fairly steep climb to get to the top and continue on the trail.
We definitely saved the best swimming for last, and this is definitely worth checking out on the Soaring Eagle Overland YouTube channel…
The park was pretty busy on this hot day. Not at all surprising since it was one of the first days of summer when kids get off school!
The water that runs through these shut ins is FAST. And this is no joke… People swim in this area all the time but caution is strongly warranted.
It’s good to start off slow…
Byron and I are a little competitive when it comes to seeing who is more adventurous. I gotta hand it to him, this guy doesn’t hold back!
If you’re like me, and running water soothes your soul, you really need to check this place out. Sometimes I come here early in the morning just to sit and pray. I absolutely love it.
Hey Byron, how do those rocks feel as a slide? haha
Well, the sun was going down and we still needed to drive 30 minutes to get to our camp sight at Taum Sauk Mountain. This trip was already off to a great start and now we were ready to go make camp!
This campsite is also a favorite of mine. Taum Sauk Mountain has absolutely breathtaking views of the rolling hills of Missouri. Sadly, I was so overtaken by them that I forgot to take pictures… hahaha
For years now, I have camped out of this truck and I am so thankful to have the opportunity to use it for adventuring. I am hoping that soon I can make some upgrades to the overland set up for some even more exciting adventures!!
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