Bullard's Nature Picks
These are my top twenty nature spots near Springfield. Because I like biking, day hiking, floating and springs, these places are chosen largely because they offer these sights and activities. This is only a sampling, of course, of floatable rivers, hiking and biking trails, and public lands in southwest Missouri.
1. Bryant Creek State Park: Opened in 2022, Bryant Creek State Park contains about 2,900 mostly wooded acres, with two miles of frontage on Bryant Creek. Bryant Creek is one of my favorite Ozark float streams, with clear water, good fishing, and fed by beautiful springs like the one at Hodgson Mill. The park could be accessed by floating Bryant Creek from Rippee MDC Access to the low-water bridge at Highway 95, about12.3 miles (the park is about three miles above the Highway 95 access). Or, float from the Bertha low-water ford about 7.6 miles to Highway 95 (I’ve never accessed the park from the river). There are two hiking trails, totaling just over five miles, in the north end of the park, with sandstone outcrops and high overlooks of the river. As of the last time I visited, there are no trails down the river.
2. Bull Creek: Probably my favorite Ozark stream, ranking right up there with the Jacks Fork. Bull Creek doesn’t have huge dolomite bluffs like the Jacks Fork, but it has very clear water, deep green swimming holes, and great smallmouth fishing. The deep valleys and twisting turns of Bull Creek confused explorer Henry Schoolcraft in 1818-9 as he tried to retrace his steps back to the White River, finally finding his way out of the valley at Peckout Hollow, on land now owned by Bob and Barb Kipfer. Public access for floating Bull Creek has become a problem since the low-water bridge at the end of Round Mountain Road was closed off after the county constructed a high bridge. The road at the low-water bridge was the usual put-in for a seven-mile float down to Highway 160. My friend Curtis Millsap told me he contacted county officials, who told him a vehicle could be legally parked at the pullout by the new bridge, but the pullout is narrow and boats must be hauled over a gate.
3. Busiek State Park: About twenty miles south of Springfield on U.S. 65 Highway, Busiek surrounds Woods Fork Creek, a clear, spring-fed tributary of Bull Creek. This 2,700-acre area has two trail systems, totaling 18 miles, for hiking and horse riding. The topography is relatively rugged, with elevations ranging from 980 feet at creek level to 1,200 feet along ridgelines. Trails cross Woods Fork Creek, a perennial stream, so if hiking you can expect to get your feet wet. The park is named for Dr. Urban and Erma Busiek. The original 740 acres was purchased from their son, Dr. Paul Busiek, in 1981.
4. Cedar Gap Conservation Area: A 431-acre, mostly forested area at the headwaters of Bryant Creek, featuring dolomite glades with sweeping views of the surrounding hills. About ten miles east of Seymour on U.S. 60, take highway O south to the parking lot at the end of the road, just past the railroad tracks. A 1.6-mile loop trail descends into a rugged valley, the uppermost tributary of Bryant Creek. The “cedar gap” is a railroad cut through a steeply sloping hill (actually, the edge of the Eureka Springs escarpment separating the Salem Plateau of the eastern Ozarks from the Springfield Plateau) just east of the conservation area. This is high ground, a little over 1700 feet in elevation, the second highest area in Missouri (Only Taum Sauk mountain is higher). Headwater streams of the Gasconade and Finley Creek radiate off high ridges just a few miles to the north and west.
5. Crane Creek: A small, spring-fed tributary of the James River in Stone County. About eight miles of upper Crane Creek has been designated as a Blue-Ribbon Trout Fishery, where only flies or artificial lures can be used. Crane Creek is one of the eight streams in Missouri with a naturally reproducing population of rainbow trout. In this case it is the McCloud River (California) strain of the redband rainbow, introduced into the creek in the late 1880s. Trout in Crane Creek are “spooky,” so stealth is mandatory. Also know that a healthy population of venomous cottonmouth snakes live along Crane Creek, hibernating during winter in rocky, south-facing outcrops. Parking is available at the Wire Road Conservation Area.
6. Fulbright Spring Greenway Trail: This is my favorite greenway trail in Springfield. It traverses about six miles on the north side of Springfield, following the valley of the South Dry Sac River (which can hardly be called a “river,” given its size and ephemeral nature). The trail passes through Lost Hill Park, where the river long ago incised into and cut off the neck of a meander loop, forming a hill surrounded by circular floodplain containing no channel and no water. In the remains of the neck are several caves and a natural bridge. Lost Hill Park is Springfield’s first park to apply for “Urban Dark Sky Place” status from DarkSky International. The South Dry Sac running through the park is a losing stream, meaning that most of the time it flows underground. After a heavy rain, however, the little limestone shut-ins near Grant Street are vigorous and interesting. Near the Fulbright Water Treatment Plant, the greenway trail skirts the old Fulbright Landfill, a solid waste site now cleaned up and the winner of an EPA site reuse award. Ritter Springs Park, on land once owned by the Springfield Water Company, is accessible on the west end of the greenway trail.
7. Ha Ha Tonka State Park: A 3,750-acre parcel sitting on the Niangua Arm of the Lake of the Ozarks in Camden County. Some of the first hiking and caving I did in Missouri, in the early 1970s, was at the Ha Ha Tonka “castle,” several years before it became a state park (1978). We used to climb the old ruins and crawl into the caves. Since Ha Ha Tonka is now a state park, we can’t do these things, which we should not have done anyway because the ruins were unstable and early spelunking was insensitive to delicate cave ecosystems. The site has an interesting history. Robert Snyder, a KC businessman, bought 5,000 acres containing the big spring and began his castle in 1905, hiring stone masons from Scotland. Before he could finish the work, he was killed in a car accident. His sons completed the mansion, though not to Snyder Sr.’s exacting standards. Missouri’s governor suggested buying the property for our first state park in 1909, but sufficient funds weren’t available. In the 1920s, the Snyder family planned to build a resort at Ha Ha Tonka, but that plan hit a snag when Union Electric applied for a permit to dam the Osage River—a dam that would back warm water over the cold, trout-filled pond below the spring. Ha Ha Tonka has some of the most pronounced karst topography in the state, including not only the spring, Missouri’s 12th largest, but numerous sinkholes, caves, and a large natural bridge once crossed by the drive to the mansion.
8. Hayes Spring Conservation Area: To find Hayes Spring, take highway A east of Hurley, turn east on Twilight Drive, then go about two miles to Hayes Spring Road (AA-110). After crossing Dry Crane Creek a few times, look for the parking lot on the east side. Walk the trail about one mile to the spring. Beautiful Hayes Spring flows from a large cave into Dry Crane Creek. I have a photo of Beth sitting by the spring in my book “Living Waters: The Springs of Missouri.” The cave and spring are now part of the 104-acre conservation area, open to hunting. Hayes Spring is sampled every three years as part of the James River Basin Partnership’s Snapshot Sampling event.
9. Garrison Spring Park/Community Forest: This 10-acre site, at 1699 E. Jackson Street in Ozark, Missouri, was recently purchased by the city of Ozark for a city park. Garrison Spring flows over moss-draped ledges, and was once piped downstream to the Ozark railroad depot for locomotive boiler water. The city has developed both wood chip and hard surface trails. One trail climbs to overlook a natural amphitheater, which during wet weather is alive with springs cascading from horizontal openings. In the valley below are the remains of a dam that once held back a trout pond. Dye tracing has shown that water flowing from Garrison Spring first passes through Garrison Cave, about ¾ mile up the valley to the east. Garrison is the fourteenth longest cave in the state and contains the endangered bristly cave crayfish. The cave is on private property, inaccessible to the public.
10. Glade Top Trail: The Glade Top National Forest Scenic Byway is mostly gravel, curving twenty-three miles through some of the most scenic landscapes of southern Missouri, almost all within the Mark Twain National Forest. The road alignment has changed little from the time it was first laid out by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930s. The serpentine road mostly follows ridgetops, and pullouts provide outstanding views of the valleys, five hundred vertical feet below. The trail is heavily traveled in the fall, when colors can be spectacular, but consider driving it in spring, when hundreds of white-blooming American smoke trees dot the hillsides. Glade Top Trail Maps can be accessed through the Forest Service website, fs.usda.gov.
11. Hercules Glades Wilderness: This 12,400-acre wilderness area was Missouri’s first, designated in 1976. It lies off Highway 125 about two hours southeast of Springfield and contains about 31 miles of trails. Ridgetop trails pass through open glades, providing outstanding views of the surrounding hills. The hike down to Long Creek is rocky, but the rewards are great. Long Creek flows through a shut-in area, with waterfalls and a limestone “grotto.” The old Hercules fire tower, 100 feet tall, still stands in the main parking area, near eight primitive campsites. Trail maps are available at usfs.gov., the Hercules Glades Wilderness Trail.
12. James River Float Trip: Several sections of the James River are floatable year-round, but my favorite is the six-mile stretch from Shelvin Rock to Hootentown, both Missouri Department of Conservation accesses. There are deep holes and scenic bluffs on this section and exciting smallmouth action in spring and summer. I have even caught smallmouth here in January! This section also features one of the more exciting riffles on the river, just above the confluence of the James River with Finley Creek. The James River Basin Partnership has a “James River Explorer’s Guide” showing local wildlife and places of historic, geologic, and ecologic interest.
13. Little Sac Woods Conservation Area: This mostly forested, 772-acre site is about seven miles north of Willard. Take Highway ZZ north of Willard, then east on BB two miles to Farm Road 115, then right 0.8 mi. The site has 7.3 miles of hiking trails, and borders the Little Sac River. Access to the river is down a steep slope with limestone ledges. This conservation area is a little off the beaten path, and I have never encountered another person while hiking there.
14. Lovett Pinetum: Bob Lovett was a friend who loved and collected pine trees. His pinetum, an educational arboretum featuring over fifty species of pines and other gymnosperms (mostly from North America), is at 2706 N. Pearson Valley Rd., Strafford, Mo., 65757. Wood chip trails wind through the 108-acre site, passing by two large springs. A stroll through the whispering pines near Danforth Spring is very relaxing. Individuals and small groups my visit the pinetum by appointment, registering through lovettpinetum.org.
15. North Fork River Float: A beautiful Ozark stream about two hours east of Springfield. Largely spring-fed, the North Fork is almost always floatable below Hebron Access. I like the section from Hebron to North Fork Campground (Highway CC) for overnight camping, since there are many large gravel bars and deep fishing and swimming holes. This section is entirely within the National Forest, so there are no houses along the river. Below North Fork Campground, private property abuts the river. Good campsites, away from houses or cabins, are rare on this lower section, but the day-floating is great, and relatively exciting in higher water. In May 2017, a huge flood took out the high bridge on Highway CC, which has since been rebuilt.
16. Roaring River State Park: This 4,300-acre park contains trails, restored savanna woodlands, a huge spring and a state fish hatchery. The old CCC structures, like the Chinquapin Nature Center, are solid and handsome. The father of Bill Bryan, former Director of Parks in Missouri, worked as a CCC employee building some of the park’s structures. The land around the spring was originally purchased in 1928 by Thomas Sayman, a soap salesman from St. Louis. The previous owner had built a hatchery below the spring, but a flash flood in 1927 destroyed the dam, flushing trout into Roaring River and bankrupting him. Sayman held onto the property only briefly before donating it to the state. I especially like the trail that overlooks the magnificent spring, upwelling in a shady cleft of the surrounding bluffs. The water welling up isn’t just deep blue—it’s deep. Divers in 2021 went down 472 feet, making this the deepest known spring in Missouri, maybe even the country. A few times I had exciting canoe runs down Roaring River, which features several drops over old dams of three or four feet. However, a few of the old dams still have rebar sticking up.
17. Springfield Botanical Center at Nathaniel Greene Park: The 114 acres at 2400 S. Scenic contain a Japanese Stroll Garden, Arboretum, and Roston Butterfly House. Many easy, paved trails run through the property, connecting the features with the main Botanical Center, which has offices, a meeting room, and exhibits. A section of the South Creek Greenway runs through the Center alongside South Creek at Lake Drummond, where turtles can be seen sunning on logs. I toured the Butterfly House with Chris Barnhart, former MSU professor, who is now the volunteer manager. Barnhart is locally famous because of his work on propagation of freshwater mussels for restocking into Ozark streams. The idea of the butterfly house was to raise butterflies on their native host plants, unlike many butterfly houses that buy larvae or chrysalis from commercial growers.
18. Springfield Conservation Nature Center: This 80-acre site near the confluence of Galloway Creek with the James River has three miles of trails winding through upland forest, bottomland wetlands, and hillside glades. A wooden boardwalk along a slough off the James River channel provides a launching area for kayaks and close-up viewing of aquatic plants and animals. The Nature Center building is a local favorite, with exhibits, aquariums, terrariums, bird-watching stations and meeting rooms. One of the older exhibits, a soil profile model with bigger-than-life earthworms, beetles and other creatures, was designed and created by Chase Studios near Cedar Creek, Missouri, which once manufactured exhibits for museums worldwide.
19. Watershed Center at Valley Water Mill Park: I have a special affinity for this site, located at 2400 E. Valley Water Mill Road north of Springfield, because I helped to get it built. The 96-acre site contains the main Watershed Center Building, a gold-certified LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) education and demonstration center, and 2.5 miles of walking trails passing through restored glades, upland forests, and over streams. The first dam forming Valley Water Mill Lake was built in the 19th century to provide a source of drinking water for the growing city of Springfield. At one time, there was a valve at the dam where water could be admitted into a pipe running downstream to a “swallow hole,” a karst conduit taking water to Fulbright Spring, three miles west. This created a problem for the water company, however, because when the miller closed the gates on the mill dam to allow the pond to refill, the city's water supply was "cut off," which "inconvenienced them greatly."
20. Wilsons Creek National Battlefield: Although the park at 5242 S. Highway ZZ, Republic, mostly commemorates the Civil War battle, the five-mile paved loop road has a walking and biking lane, crossing Wilsons Creek twice. Wilsons Creek, which receives the treated wastewater from the city of Springfield, is today clear and clean. The park also has five walking trails, from one-fourth to three-fourth miles long, accessible from parking areas. The park conducts prescribed burns to restore its prairie landscapes. I once found a trilobite fossil in a small creek running beside the Wire Road.
1. Bryant Creek State Park: Opened in 2022, Bryant Creek State Park contains about 2,900 mostly wooded acres, with two miles of frontage on Bryant Creek. Bryant Creek is one of my favorite Ozark float streams, with clear water, good fishing, and fed by beautiful springs like the one at Hodgson Mill. The park could be accessed by floating Bryant Creek from Rippee MDC Access to the low-water bridge at Highway 95, about12.3 miles (the park is about three miles above the Highway 95 access). Or, float from the Bertha low-water ford about 7.6 miles to Highway 95 (I’ve never accessed the park from the river). There are two hiking trails, totaling just over five miles, in the north end of the park, with sandstone outcrops and high overlooks of the river. As of the last time I visited, there are no trails down the river.
2. Bull Creek: Probably my favorite Ozark stream, ranking right up there with the Jacks Fork. Bull Creek doesn’t have huge dolomite bluffs like the Jacks Fork, but it has very clear water, deep green swimming holes, and great smallmouth fishing. The deep valleys and twisting turns of Bull Creek confused explorer Henry Schoolcraft in 1818-9 as he tried to retrace his steps back to the White River, finally finding his way out of the valley at Peckout Hollow, on land now owned by Bob and Barb Kipfer. Public access for floating Bull Creek has become a problem since the low-water bridge at the end of Round Mountain Road was closed off after the county constructed a high bridge. The road at the low-water bridge was the usual put-in for a seven-mile float down to Highway 160. My friend Curtis Millsap told me he contacted county officials, who told him a vehicle could be legally parked at the pullout by the new bridge, but the pullout is narrow and boats must be hauled over a gate.
3. Busiek State Park: About twenty miles south of Springfield on U.S. 65 Highway, Busiek surrounds Woods Fork Creek, a clear, spring-fed tributary of Bull Creek. This 2,700-acre area has two trail systems, totaling 18 miles, for hiking and horse riding. The topography is relatively rugged, with elevations ranging from 980 feet at creek level to 1,200 feet along ridgelines. Trails cross Woods Fork Creek, a perennial stream, so if hiking you can expect to get your feet wet. The park is named for Dr. Urban and Erma Busiek. The original 740 acres was purchased from their son, Dr. Paul Busiek, in 1981.
4. Cedar Gap Conservation Area: A 431-acre, mostly forested area at the headwaters of Bryant Creek, featuring dolomite glades with sweeping views of the surrounding hills. About ten miles east of Seymour on U.S. 60, take highway O south to the parking lot at the end of the road, just past the railroad tracks. A 1.6-mile loop trail descends into a rugged valley, the uppermost tributary of Bryant Creek. The “cedar gap” is a railroad cut through a steeply sloping hill (actually, the edge of the Eureka Springs escarpment separating the Salem Plateau of the eastern Ozarks from the Springfield Plateau) just east of the conservation area. This is high ground, a little over 1700 feet in elevation, the second highest area in Missouri (Only Taum Sauk mountain is higher). Headwater streams of the Gasconade and Finley Creek radiate off high ridges just a few miles to the north and west.
5. Crane Creek: A small, spring-fed tributary of the James River in Stone County. About eight miles of upper Crane Creek has been designated as a Blue-Ribbon Trout Fishery, where only flies or artificial lures can be used. Crane Creek is one of the eight streams in Missouri with a naturally reproducing population of rainbow trout. In this case it is the McCloud River (California) strain of the redband rainbow, introduced into the creek in the late 1880s. Trout in Crane Creek are “spooky,” so stealth is mandatory. Also know that a healthy population of venomous cottonmouth snakes live along Crane Creek, hibernating during winter in rocky, south-facing outcrops. Parking is available at the Wire Road Conservation Area.
6. Fulbright Spring Greenway Trail: This is my favorite greenway trail in Springfield. It traverses about six miles on the north side of Springfield, following the valley of the South Dry Sac River (which can hardly be called a “river,” given its size and ephemeral nature). The trail passes through Lost Hill Park, where the river long ago incised into and cut off the neck of a meander loop, forming a hill surrounded by circular floodplain containing no channel and no water. In the remains of the neck are several caves and a natural bridge. Lost Hill Park is Springfield’s first park to apply for “Urban Dark Sky Place” status from DarkSky International. The South Dry Sac running through the park is a losing stream, meaning that most of the time it flows underground. After a heavy rain, however, the little limestone shut-ins near Grant Street are vigorous and interesting. Near the Fulbright Water Treatment Plant, the greenway trail skirts the old Fulbright Landfill, a solid waste site now cleaned up and the winner of an EPA site reuse award. Ritter Springs Park, on land once owned by the Springfield Water Company, is accessible on the west end of the greenway trail.
7. Ha Ha Tonka State Park: A 3,750-acre parcel sitting on the Niangua Arm of the Lake of the Ozarks in Camden County. Some of the first hiking and caving I did in Missouri, in the early 1970s, was at the Ha Ha Tonka “castle,” several years before it became a state park (1978). We used to climb the old ruins and crawl into the caves. Since Ha Ha Tonka is now a state park, we can’t do these things, which we should not have done anyway because the ruins were unstable and early spelunking was insensitive to delicate cave ecosystems. The site has an interesting history. Robert Snyder, a KC businessman, bought 5,000 acres containing the big spring and began his castle in 1905, hiring stone masons from Scotland. Before he could finish the work, he was killed in a car accident. His sons completed the mansion, though not to Snyder Sr.’s exacting standards. Missouri’s governor suggested buying the property for our first state park in 1909, but sufficient funds weren’t available. In the 1920s, the Snyder family planned to build a resort at Ha Ha Tonka, but that plan hit a snag when Union Electric applied for a permit to dam the Osage River—a dam that would back warm water over the cold, trout-filled pond below the spring. Ha Ha Tonka has some of the most pronounced karst topography in the state, including not only the spring, Missouri’s 12th largest, but numerous sinkholes, caves, and a large natural bridge once crossed by the drive to the mansion.
8. Hayes Spring Conservation Area: To find Hayes Spring, take highway A east of Hurley, turn east on Twilight Drive, then go about two miles to Hayes Spring Road (AA-110). After crossing Dry Crane Creek a few times, look for the parking lot on the east side. Walk the trail about one mile to the spring. Beautiful Hayes Spring flows from a large cave into Dry Crane Creek. I have a photo of Beth sitting by the spring in my book “Living Waters: The Springs of Missouri.” The cave and spring are now part of the 104-acre conservation area, open to hunting. Hayes Spring is sampled every three years as part of the James River Basin Partnership’s Snapshot Sampling event.
9. Garrison Spring Park/Community Forest: This 10-acre site, at 1699 E. Jackson Street in Ozark, Missouri, was recently purchased by the city of Ozark for a city park. Garrison Spring flows over moss-draped ledges, and was once piped downstream to the Ozark railroad depot for locomotive boiler water. The city has developed both wood chip and hard surface trails. One trail climbs to overlook a natural amphitheater, which during wet weather is alive with springs cascading from horizontal openings. In the valley below are the remains of a dam that once held back a trout pond. Dye tracing has shown that water flowing from Garrison Spring first passes through Garrison Cave, about ¾ mile up the valley to the east. Garrison is the fourteenth longest cave in the state and contains the endangered bristly cave crayfish. The cave is on private property, inaccessible to the public.
10. Glade Top Trail: The Glade Top National Forest Scenic Byway is mostly gravel, curving twenty-three miles through some of the most scenic landscapes of southern Missouri, almost all within the Mark Twain National Forest. The road alignment has changed little from the time it was first laid out by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930s. The serpentine road mostly follows ridgetops, and pullouts provide outstanding views of the valleys, five hundred vertical feet below. The trail is heavily traveled in the fall, when colors can be spectacular, but consider driving it in spring, when hundreds of white-blooming American smoke trees dot the hillsides. Glade Top Trail Maps can be accessed through the Forest Service website, fs.usda.gov.
11. Hercules Glades Wilderness: This 12,400-acre wilderness area was Missouri’s first, designated in 1976. It lies off Highway 125 about two hours southeast of Springfield and contains about 31 miles of trails. Ridgetop trails pass through open glades, providing outstanding views of the surrounding hills. The hike down to Long Creek is rocky, but the rewards are great. Long Creek flows through a shut-in area, with waterfalls and a limestone “grotto.” The old Hercules fire tower, 100 feet tall, still stands in the main parking area, near eight primitive campsites. Trail maps are available at usfs.gov., the Hercules Glades Wilderness Trail.
12. James River Float Trip: Several sections of the James River are floatable year-round, but my favorite is the six-mile stretch from Shelvin Rock to Hootentown, both Missouri Department of Conservation accesses. There are deep holes and scenic bluffs on this section and exciting smallmouth action in spring and summer. I have even caught smallmouth here in January! This section also features one of the more exciting riffles on the river, just above the confluence of the James River with Finley Creek. The James River Basin Partnership has a “James River Explorer’s Guide” showing local wildlife and places of historic, geologic, and ecologic interest.
13. Little Sac Woods Conservation Area: This mostly forested, 772-acre site is about seven miles north of Willard. Take Highway ZZ north of Willard, then east on BB two miles to Farm Road 115, then right 0.8 mi. The site has 7.3 miles of hiking trails, and borders the Little Sac River. Access to the river is down a steep slope with limestone ledges. This conservation area is a little off the beaten path, and I have never encountered another person while hiking there.
14. Lovett Pinetum: Bob Lovett was a friend who loved and collected pine trees. His pinetum, an educational arboretum featuring over fifty species of pines and other gymnosperms (mostly from North America), is at 2706 N. Pearson Valley Rd., Strafford, Mo., 65757. Wood chip trails wind through the 108-acre site, passing by two large springs. A stroll through the whispering pines near Danforth Spring is very relaxing. Individuals and small groups my visit the pinetum by appointment, registering through lovettpinetum.org.
15. North Fork River Float: A beautiful Ozark stream about two hours east of Springfield. Largely spring-fed, the North Fork is almost always floatable below Hebron Access. I like the section from Hebron to North Fork Campground (Highway CC) for overnight camping, since there are many large gravel bars and deep fishing and swimming holes. This section is entirely within the National Forest, so there are no houses along the river. Below North Fork Campground, private property abuts the river. Good campsites, away from houses or cabins, are rare on this lower section, but the day-floating is great, and relatively exciting in higher water. In May 2017, a huge flood took out the high bridge on Highway CC, which has since been rebuilt.
16. Roaring River State Park: This 4,300-acre park contains trails, restored savanna woodlands, a huge spring and a state fish hatchery. The old CCC structures, like the Chinquapin Nature Center, are solid and handsome. The father of Bill Bryan, former Director of Parks in Missouri, worked as a CCC employee building some of the park’s structures. The land around the spring was originally purchased in 1928 by Thomas Sayman, a soap salesman from St. Louis. The previous owner had built a hatchery below the spring, but a flash flood in 1927 destroyed the dam, flushing trout into Roaring River and bankrupting him. Sayman held onto the property only briefly before donating it to the state. I especially like the trail that overlooks the magnificent spring, upwelling in a shady cleft of the surrounding bluffs. The water welling up isn’t just deep blue—it’s deep. Divers in 2021 went down 472 feet, making this the deepest known spring in Missouri, maybe even the country. A few times I had exciting canoe runs down Roaring River, which features several drops over old dams of three or four feet. However, a few of the old dams still have rebar sticking up.
17. Springfield Botanical Center at Nathaniel Greene Park: The 114 acres at 2400 S. Scenic contain a Japanese Stroll Garden, Arboretum, and Roston Butterfly House. Many easy, paved trails run through the property, connecting the features with the main Botanical Center, which has offices, a meeting room, and exhibits. A section of the South Creek Greenway runs through the Center alongside South Creek at Lake Drummond, where turtles can be seen sunning on logs. I toured the Butterfly House with Chris Barnhart, former MSU professor, who is now the volunteer manager. Barnhart is locally famous because of his work on propagation of freshwater mussels for restocking into Ozark streams. The idea of the butterfly house was to raise butterflies on their native host plants, unlike many butterfly houses that buy larvae or chrysalis from commercial growers.
18. Springfield Conservation Nature Center: This 80-acre site near the confluence of Galloway Creek with the James River has three miles of trails winding through upland forest, bottomland wetlands, and hillside glades. A wooden boardwalk along a slough off the James River channel provides a launching area for kayaks and close-up viewing of aquatic plants and animals. The Nature Center building is a local favorite, with exhibits, aquariums, terrariums, bird-watching stations and meeting rooms. One of the older exhibits, a soil profile model with bigger-than-life earthworms, beetles and other creatures, was designed and created by Chase Studios near Cedar Creek, Missouri, which once manufactured exhibits for museums worldwide.
19. Watershed Center at Valley Water Mill Park: I have a special affinity for this site, located at 2400 E. Valley Water Mill Road north of Springfield, because I helped to get it built. The 96-acre site contains the main Watershed Center Building, a gold-certified LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) education and demonstration center, and 2.5 miles of walking trails passing through restored glades, upland forests, and over streams. The first dam forming Valley Water Mill Lake was built in the 19th century to provide a source of drinking water for the growing city of Springfield. At one time, there was a valve at the dam where water could be admitted into a pipe running downstream to a “swallow hole,” a karst conduit taking water to Fulbright Spring, three miles west. This created a problem for the water company, however, because when the miller closed the gates on the mill dam to allow the pond to refill, the city's water supply was "cut off," which "inconvenienced them greatly."
20. Wilsons Creek National Battlefield: Although the park at 5242 S. Highway ZZ, Republic, mostly commemorates the Civil War battle, the five-mile paved loop road has a walking and biking lane, crossing Wilsons Creek twice. Wilsons Creek, which receives the treated wastewater from the city of Springfield, is today clear and clean. The park also has five walking trails, from one-fourth to three-fourth miles long, accessible from parking areas. The park conducts prescribed burns to restore its prairie landscapes. I once found a trilobite fossil in a small creek running beside the Wire Road.
