Find Adventure In Eminence, Missouri – Sparkle Adventures
Lodging
· Echo Bluff State Park (Eminence)
· Alley Springs (VanBuren)
· Montauk State Park (Salem)
· Visit Eminence (Eminence)
Activities
· Floating, Swimming and Fishing
· Biking, Hiking and Horseback Riding
· Site Seeing (wild horses)
· Motorcycle Riding (Missouri Life Motorcycle Guide page 77)
Point of Interest
· Echo Bluff State Park (Emminence)
· Alley Springs (VanBuren)
· Montauk State Park (Salem)
· Current River State Park (Salem)
· Rocky Falls Shut Ins (Winona)
Events
· Ozark Mountain Festival (Eminence, May)
· Alley Independence Day Celebration (Alley Spring, July)
· Haunting in the Hills (Alley Spring, Oct)
· Pickin & Jammin @ Museum (Eminence, various)
· Echo Bluff State Park (Eminence, all year)
Dreaming of your next adventure? Sparkle Adventures offers custom adventure planning services for your next adventure. Just need ideas? We have lots of ideas to help you plan your outdoor adventure.
With the Jack’s Fork River flowing through the middle of town and wild horses roaming free, Eminence, Missouri is a must visit small town. There is so much to do and see, you could spend “a day or a lifetime” which just happens to be the town’s motto. Located in the southeastern or south central side of Missouri, this little town is right in the middle of so many of the best adventures in Missouri.
There are tons of choices for places to stay in Eminence, Missouri. In addition to Echo Bluff State Park, Alley Springs Campground and Montauk State Park, the link to Visit Eminence provides a long list of campgrounds, cabins and BB’s. You can also find a variety of outfitters at this site.
“Echo Bluff State Park is a year-round outdoor destination that allows visitors to create new memories as they experience all the Ozarks have to offer. Visitors of all ages can fill their days with floating, hiking, swimming or fishing. While the park has a spectacular natural setting, the modern amenities enhance the experience and make it welcoming for everyone. An impressive, iconic lodge features guest rooms, indoor and outdoor casual dining and meeting rooms. Nine full-service cabins with 13 units are a great option for families and groups. Camping opportunities range from primitive to full-service campsites. The bluff-top shelter is perfect for special events and an amphitheater for smaller events offers a dramatic natural backdrop. The park also offers hiking and mountain biking trails.”
“The rolling, forested landscape around Alley Spring is where two of America’s most beautiful spring-fed rivers combine to make up the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. As the first national park area to protect a wild river system, visitors are able to enjoy various water activities as well as hiking, horseback riding and wildlife viewing. Known for its caves, springs, sinkholes and losing streams, the Ozark National Scenic Riverways has over 300 identified caves within its boundaries. They range in size from a rock overhang to almost seven miles of identified passages. Eight caves, including an open sinkhole, have been designated as outstanding natural features. The Ozark forest is mostly White oak and Shortleaf pine, Missouri’s only native pine species. Along the rivers, Sycamore, Cottonwood, River birch and maples are common. Redbud and Dogwood are abundant, putting on a spectacular show during most spring months.”
“Open year-round, the Alley Spring campground has flush toilets and shower facilities available April 15 through October 15. Roads and parking spurs are paved. Ranger-led campfire programs are offered in the campground amphitheater during the summer months. Canoeing, tubing, swimming and fishing are popular activities on the vast waterways in the region, with over 130 miles of water trails. Canoe and kayak rentals and outfitters can be found nearby. A short walk from the campground leads to a popular swimming area on the Jacks Fork River, a crystal clear and spring fed waterway that’s cool and refreshing on a hot summer day. Several interpretive trails with educational exhibits meander nearby. Other hiking trails include the Alley Overlook Trail, Chubb Hollow Trail, Ozark Trail, Cave Spring Trail and Big Springs Trail.”
“Montauk State Park preserves a shady green retreat that offers visitors plenty of opportunities for fun, whether it is fishing, camping, hiking, picnicking or just relaxing with friends and family. The park is located at the headwaters of the famed Current River. The park’s springs combine with tiny Pigeon Creek to supply more than 40 million gallons of water to the river each day. The cool spring water is perfect for rainbow trout and this makes the park popular with anglers. Picnic areas and two picnic shelters provide the perfect place for a quiet lunch or a family reunion. Three trails provide hikers and bicyclists with an easy way to explore the park. Tours of the gristmill, built in 1896, give visitors a taste of the past and help them learn about the history of the Ozark region. For visitors wanting to spend the night, the park offers a variety of choices, including a modern campground, rental cabins and motel rooms. The modern dining lodge will satisfy any appetite.”
Whether you stay at Echo Bluff, Alley Spring, Montauk or one of the many campgrounds or BB’s, you absolutely won’t be able to see everything this area has to offer. But it is worth a try!
“Much of the area around Current River State Park exhibits the heavily wooded rolling hills, rugged karst topography, bubbling springs and clear rivers and streams distinctive to Ozark landscapes. The nature of the landscape prevented much large-scale development and agriculture and was, to a large extent, responsible for preserving the area’s wilderness quality and scenic beauty.
The Current River Hills, a rugged and picturesque subsection of Missouri’s Ozark Highlands, form the heart of the one of the most heavily wooded landscapes in the modern Ozarks. Native oaks and shortleaf pines cloak the steep-sided valleys that sometimes exceed 500 feet deep. Within these valleys lie fens, bluffs, sinkhole ponds, springs and caves with a biological richness that includes more than 170 rare species and at least 30 species that are mostly unique to the area. The centerpiece is the exceptionally clear Current River and its many tributaries. With its abundant aquatic fauna, it is noted as one of the Midwest’s most biologically significant waterways.
As the heart of one of the largest wooded areas in the Midwest, the area landscape is considered important to the long-term survival of interior birds and other woodland-dwelling wildlife. Being such a biologically rich area has led to further distinctions as part of an Audubon Important Bird Area, Outstanding State Resource Water and one of Missouri’s Conservation Opportunity Areas with a focus on the woodland, karst, aquatic and special terrestrial natural communities.”
“Few places in the Ozarks provide a glimpse of earth’s turbulent past as well as Rocky Falls. The reddish-brown rock you see here is rhyolite porphyry. It formed as molten rock deep within the earth and flowed onto the surface about 1.5 billion years ago. At the time, no living thing existed to see the awesome flow of glowing hot lava slowly advancing over the barren landscape. Normally, a stream eroding softer dolomite, a type of limestone, would make a wider valley for itself. Since the rhyolite is harder, the stream tends to stay within whatever cracks that it finds, deepening them only a little by erosion. Thus a “shut in” is formed where the harder rock has “shut in” the stream. Farther downstream, past the constricting rhyolite, the stream valley widens once again. This allows the stream to expand into a pool.”
Floating, swimming and fishing, biking, hiking and horseback riding – you can enjoy all of these in or near Eminence, Missouri. You can find links to all these fun activities above in the activities highlight.
From Montauk State Park to Eminence, you will find several float outfitters. If you really love a challenge, try the Current River Challenge, hiking from Echo Bluff State Park to Current River State Park and paddle from there to Round Spring. June 1, 2019, the Ozark National Scenic Riverways celebrates National Trails Day with The Current River Challenge. Sounds like a great adventure anytime!
“Ozark National Scenic Riverways is the first national park area to protect a river system. The Current and Jacks Fork Rivers are two of the finest floating rivers you’ll find anywhere. Spring-fed, cold and clear they are a delight to canoe, swim, boat or fish. Besides these two famous rivers, the park is home to hundreds of freshwater springs, caves, trails and historic sites such as Alley Mill.”
The choices for swimming and playing in the water are endless in this area. Trout fishing is a feature of Montauk State Park. There is a vast network of hiking trails in the many state park and natural areas surrounding Eminence. Swimming, fishing, and hiking are part of the big adventure in Emminence, MO.
Maybe staying a lifetime in Eminence, Missouri is the best choice! Do we have to go home?
Sparkle Adventures offers custom adventure planning services for your next adventure. We do the planning; you have the fun! Check out our adventure planning services and pricing at www.sparkle-adventures.com and get your next adventure started today.
