MISSOURI

With only a few exceptions at nature conservancies and a few state parks, dogs are welcome citizens on Missouri trails. The best of those canine hikes come across the southern tier of the Show Me State in the Ozark Mountains. The Ozarks - America's most extensive mountain range between the Appalachians and the Rockies - are so old and worn down that no peaks exceed 3,000 feet. In Missouri they have been whittled down all the way to 1,772 feet on Taum Sauk Mountain. The hike for your dog to highpoint is flat and simple with no views but continuing to the state’s highest waterfall, 132-foot Taum Sauk, will set doggie tongues to panting. Your dog will see an example of eons of erosion up close and personal in Elephant Rocks State Park’s granite formations. Plenty of places name natural springs in their streams “blue hole” but few can match the vibrancy of color your dog will find in the swimming holes and grottoes in the Mark Twain National Forest. Dogs with a few dollars to throw around can buy a membership in Dogwood Canyon Nature Park, a 10,000-acre oasis created by Bass Pro Shops owner Johnny Morris.

The Best Day Hike You Can Take With Your Dog In Missouri

Blue Spring Trail
Mark Twain National Forest • West Plains

Plenty of places name natural springs in their streams “blue hole” but few can match the vibrancy of color found in the Mark Twain Forest. There are so many that there aren’t enough shades of blue to name them all. This canine hike is to the Blue Spring feeding the North Fork River, not the Blue Spring in the Current River.

This is an easy walk with your dog on a narrow dirt strip through streamside oaks, maples, flowering dogwood, and redbuds. The Blue Spring Trail passes by and under ledges of cherty Gasconite dolomite that spice up the canine hike. At this point you are hard by the North Fork River which is muddy and brown and giving up no hints of the wonders it holds up ahead.

In less than one mile the star of the hike emerges, the natural spring nestled in a dramatic rock amphitheater, disgorging seven million gallons of water per day. If you didn’t know better you would think this large grotto with deep blue water was designed specifically as a doggie swimming hole. Rock blocks line the edges for dogs to plunge into the pool and there is also a level bank for walking easily into the water.

If Seaman is feeling frisky after a dip in the 57-degree water he can tackle the Devil’s Backbone Wilderness that surrounds a long ridge through the Missouri Ozarks. There are thirteen miles of maintained trails here and the 300-foot climb to McGarr Ridge just beyond Blue Spring will be the biggest challenge to your dog.

HIKING TIME: 1-2 hours

(from the book 300 Day Hikes To Take With Your Dog Before He Tires You Out: Trails where you won’t be able to wipe the wag off your dog’s tail)