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Scary Hike up Mill Creek Below Devils Gorge (Devils Canyon)
12/31/16
It's been more than two years since visiting this unique area back in late 2014 so I decided it was time to explore an adjoining segment nearby. Break fast was at Waffle House in Clarksville since the South Park Grill was closed for the New Year's weekend. At 5:00 a.m. the forest sucked me into its darkness and spit me out in the valley of Mill Creek. This creek was quite dry and therefore easily traversed. This characteristic also made it quite boring. After hiking the creek to the confluence with the gorge, the rim was attained near sunrise time. It was 50° when I started but the temp dropped to near 40° at the creek bed.
There is a dirt road that leads into this beautiful valley making it far too accessible for anyone with a 4-wheeler or off-road vehicle to drive right in trash the place up. There is trash below many of the bluffs due to this fact. On this partly sunny morning this expanse of Ozark National Forest was mine...all mine. I savored its beauty and partook of its plenty. At 10:00 my time there ended with 48° and 3.6 miles behind me. A drive past Shores Lake revealed the same sad sight I get every time it is visited...the muddy bottom with only a few puddle of water. This has been my luck for the past ten years or more, it seems. I am have no explanation for this...nor do I have an explanation for all the logging in this area and all around White Rock Mountain. The forest is multi-use but it seems that recreation is at the bottom of that use list.
