Deep in the Missouri Ozarks, the region surrounding the Current River includes the most extensive forests and some of the most rugged topography in the state. If Missouri can be said to have a “big woods,” this is it. Parts of these woods are owned and managed by a variety of public agencies, including the US Forest Service, the National Park Service, and the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), but a large swath of this landscape is a private working forest known as Pioneer Forest. At more than 140,000 acres, it is the largest holding of private land in Missouri, and it is owned by the L-A-D Foundation. Of that forest, the most expansive and primitive block of 62,000 acres is designated as the Roger Pryor Pioneer Backcountry, comprised of mile upon mile of wooded, hilly country, all draining to the Current River by way of three unspoiled streams.
More than fifty miles of trails wind through this sprawling Shannon County landscape. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) leases and Missouri State Parks administers the trails for public use. Though this trail system is not a state park in the usual sense, it is a significant recreational resource for Missouri, especially for those in search of an experience in a remote and undeveloped Ozark area.
The story of this resource is part of a saga of Missouri conservation history, one that centers upon the vision and tenacity of a mildmannered and self-effacing but determined conservationist named Leo A. Drey. In the early 1950s, Drey began to acquire the Ozark lands that became Pioneer Forest. These lands, like much of the Ozarks, had been logged heavily and were in poor condition. Drey’s resolve was to restore them to health and productivity, and he sought advice from various professionals, especially foresters and conservationists. His goal was to demonstrate that such Ozark land could be managed conservatively as a viable economic enterprise, using single-tree selection harvests, while at the same time restoring its natural integrity. After more than sixty years, the results are manifest for all to see: vigorous timber, clean water, abundant wildlife, and scenic beauty
One of Leo Drey’s trusted advisors regarding environmental issues was another St. Louisan named R. Roger Pryor. Pryor was a passionate and highly knowledgeable spokesman for the Missouri outdoors and a larger-than-life figure as not only an activist but also a folk musician, raconteur, and general outdoorsman. Shortly after his untimely death in 1999 at age fifty-four, Drey selected the largest contiguous block of Pioneer Forest and designated it as the Roger Pryor Pioneer Backcountry. His purpose was to provide an enduring reserve of wild Ozark land, a largely primitive setting available for visitors to explore and enjoy but that would remain a productive working forest.
The L-A-D Foundation, an institution he formed in 1962 to carry his conservation mission into the future. The foundation continues to manage this property faithful to Drey’s vision and principles. L-A-D also owns nearly 4,000 acres of natural areas and other special designation lands, including nearly thirty-five miles of frontage on the Ozark National Scenic Riverways under scenic easement to the National Park Service, seven state-designated natural areas and related lands leased to MDC, and the core properties at Dillard Mill State Historic Site and Grand Gulf State Park, leased to the DNR’s state park system.
Part of Drey’s vision includes the lease of the extensive trail system in the Backcountry, which a DNR director expressed an interest in helping to administer for public use in 2001. These trails provide access to a remote and scenic setting about as far removed from modern surroundings as one can get in Missouri. Despite periodic selective timber harvesting, the Backcountry remains primitive and even isolated, a place where one must be observant and careful to avoid getting lost. But here is a landscape that is undeveloped, unconfined, and full of appeal and adventure for some.
Finding these trails is part of the fun. Heading south from Salem along Route 19, one of Missouri’s original state highways and the first to be designated as an official Scenic Highway, you begin to leave the open rolling Salem plateau and enter a new type of country. This is a region of steeper hills and essentially unbroken forest and woodland, with only occasional openings and settlements. This landscape holds firm all the way through Shannon County and into central Oregon County, not drives when the colors of the changing oak leaves contrast with the dark green needles of Missouri’s native shortleaf pine. The first major low-water crossing along Camp Zoe Road is Big Creek. From there the road climbs out of the valley, crosses broad Polk Ridge, winds around the uppermost reaches of the Brushy Creek drainage, and continues east. Himont was once the site of a fire tower, but all that is left are its concrete bases that now surround a fire pit used by hikers and hunters.
Forest researcher Richard Guyette at the University of Missouri has called this area of the Ozarks “the heart of roughness.” This remote, rugged, and scenic setting offers remarkable hiking and backpacking on more than fifty miles of trails on 62,000 acres for fit and experienced adventurers.
As the largest contiguous block of wild country in the state, the Backcountry spans thirteen miles east to west and eight miles north to south. It includes three sizable tributaries to the Current River and all of the associated hollows, ridges, bluffs, springs, and caves. The vegetation here reflects the Lower Ozarks with hickory, ash, black gum, shortleaf pine, and a broad array of oak species. A highlight of the native fauna amid these hollows is the American black bear, one of Missouri’s last remaining populations and a real symbol of wildness.
Pioneer Forest and state park staff have assisted many volunteers in building and maintaining the trails you find here. The three streams that drain the area, spring houses, old homeplaces, cemeteries, traces followed by early travelers, and even an old logging tram route are all part of the trails that the public can now explore.
Motorized travel is allowed only on county gravel roads, but the hiking opportunities are abundant and colorful. Thirteen miles of the Blair Creek Section of the Ozark Trail traverse the eastern portion of the Backcountry. This section of the Ozark Trail was among the first to be constructed in Missouri during the late 1970s by volunteers from the Missouri Chapter of the Sierra Club. They return each year to help with signage and maintenance. As this section of the trail enters Pioneer Forest from the Mark Twain National Forest, it drops down into the valley of Blair Creek and passes several dolomite bluffs, wending its way south toward the Current River. McIntyre Spring, also known as Harper Spring, near the mouth of Jim’s Creek, is one of the largest along the trail and emerges from within the remains of an old springhouse. Past the mouth of Holmes Hollow, the old Blair Creek Cemetery remains in use.
Sierra Club volunteers also helped with the Laxton Hollow Trail. This easy two-mile route leaves from Himont Trailhead and winds its way around a side hollow before heading into its namesake hollow, crossing the dry gravel-bottom stream, then out to its mouth where it merges with the larger Blair Creek. Here, across Blair Creek, the trail joins the Ozark Trail, but those interested in a shorter hike may return to Himont.
Volunteers of the Show-Me Missouri Back Country Horsemen have helped with the design, maintenance, and signage for the Blair Creek Equestrian Trail. There are two equestrian trailheads with parking for several horse trailers, one just north of the Backcountry on the Mark Twain National Forest and the other to the south on MDC land near Owls Bend. Riders may travel through the Backcountry for nearly twelve miles, in places generally paralleling the hikers-only section of the Ozark Trail. Although there is no overnight horse camping in the Backcountry itself, designated areas are nearby on the Mark Twain National Forest.
The nineteen-mile Brushy Creek Loop Trail begins at Himont and takes hikers down Brushy Creek Valley along an abandoned narrow-gauge tram bed to the long-deserted company town of Brushy, some remnants of which are still discernible. Logs were loaded on rail cars here during the first major timber harvest in this area in the early 1900s. The eastern Satterfield Hollow loop offers hikers an alternative return route and passes through part of the 265-acre Current River Natural Area, an area saved by Leo Drey from imminent harvest when he purchased a large tract that included what is now the Backcountry from National Distillers Products Corporation in 1954. A ten-acre tract here was initially recognized by the Society of American Foresters in 1955 as one of its first Research Natural Areas, and it was the very first such preserve in Missouri. This important area protects a rare remnant of old-growth forest, featuring some impressive white oaks up to four hundred years old. Hikers then cross into the bottom of the Middle Prong Brushy Creek near Hog Cave Hollow before heading back to Himont.
A new trail still under construction, the Current River Trail, uses part of the Brushy Creek Trail, then follows the Current River and, in places, Big Creek for twelve miles to Round Spring. It is a cooperative effort of the L-A-D Foundation, Missouri State Parks, and the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. There are splendid views of the Current River, and lucky hikers may see wild horses grazing in open areas along the river. Plans are to continue this route farther from Round Spring to the old Camp Zoe and then on to Current River State Park. Once completed, those seeking more adventure may be able to combine overland and river travel. Other trails are envisioned, for example, to Jerktail Mountain, affording striking views across the Current River watershed, and another trailhead is planned at Camp Zoe.
About fifty years ago, a newspaper writer from Kansas City hiked through the Brushy Creek area of the Backcountry and returned home to write that it was “the most remote place in all of Missouri.” The trails of this Backcountry offer a unique experience, where you can explore for miles or for a short distance. Either way, a powerful sense of ancient wooded hills and lonely spaces will linger long and pleasantly in your memory.
TRAILS OF THE ROGER PRYOR PIONEER BACKCOUNTRY • CAMP ZOE ROAD, SALEM
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