{"id":18050,"date":"2026-08-06T18:37:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T01:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/streaming2nps.com\/?p=18050"},"modified":"2026-08-06T18:40:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T01:40:37","slug":"ozarks-of-missouri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/streaming2nps.com\/?p=18050","title":{"rendered":"Ozarks of Missouri"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Ozarks<\/mark><\/strong> cover southern Missouri, northern Arkansas, northeast Oklahoma, and southeast Kansas. We were last in the Ozarks in Arkansas in Oct<\/a> \/ Nov<\/a> 2024. The Ozarks are made of high hills, old rock, thick forests, and deep river valleys. Famous for clear lakes, fast streams, and big underground caves. We saw lots of that in our 3 days here…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visiting 1<\/mark> new National Park Site<\/mark>, last one in Missouri:<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Ozark National Scenic Riverways<\/strong><\/mark> (#357) was the first federally protected river system in 1964, and provided the inspiration for the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. It conserves and interprets the unique cultural and natural resources of the Current<\/mark><\/strong> and Jacks Fork Rivers<\/mark><\/strong>. The Riverways protects 134 miles of clear, free-flowing spring-fed waterways. The impressive karst landscape of the Riverways supports an amazing variety of features, including a spring system unparalleled in North America<\/strong>. The Current and Jacks Fork rivers are two of the finest floating<\/strong> rivers found anywhere, a delight to canoe, swim, boat, or fish. The park is also home to hundreds of freshwater springs, caves, trails, and historic sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spent our first 2 days checking out the 3 Visitor Centers and the Spings for which they are each named, Round Spring<\/mark><\/strong> (~28 M Gal water daily), Big Spring<\/mark><\/strong> (~286 M Gal water daily), and Alley Mill Spring<\/mark><\/strong> (~89 M Gal water daily; Blue Spring<\/mark><\/strong> (~90 M Gal water daily & “famous” for it’s deep blue color, due to depth & heavy concentrations of calcium carbonate); Rocky “Falls”<\/mark><\/strong> (the “” are ours…the “waterfall” is really a cascade); and the historic Alley Mill<\/mark><\/strong>. No significant hiking, just some short trails to\/around some of the sites, and almost 200 miles of driving (including 5 miles RT on a steep-ish dirt road). We did cross both the Current<\/mark><\/strong> and Jacks Fork Rivers<\/mark><\/strong> at least a couple of times each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n