High Point - Missouri

Missouri High Point weekend

Eric (Morse) and I are working towards standing on the highest point in each state.  I had one blank spot on the map in the southeast prior to this trip.  A few months back Eric saw that the USATF “winter” cross-country championships were in St. Louis which is only 100 miles from the state high point, so plans were forged and off we went.

High point pictures from Eric's adventures

We headed out of Burlington Vermont early Friday morning and by 10am we were driving south from St. Louis with 80’s tunes rocking on Sirius radio.  The weather was not ideal with rain and temperatures in the 30’s as we passed the hilariously named “Knob Lick” MO (that entertained us for quite a while).  As we got closer to Taum Sauk (1,772’) the rain turned to snow.  We stopped ½ mile from the summit to climb the observation tower, but on this day there was nothing to observe.  The ice coated steps made for a couple of dicey moments.

Not surprisingly when we got to the parking lot we were the only ones exploring the park on this day.  We changed into our running gear and ran the ¼ mile (paved path) to the top of Missouri.  We climbed about 2 feet from the parking lot.  After the obligatory pictures we headed off for another 45 minutes of running mixing it up with some on the Ozark trail but mostly on the slushy park road.  The park was nice and is probably a great location to explore in better weather.  I’ll never find out…no plans on going back there.  Onward!

State high points

Dave – 41

Eric – 23

County high points

Dave – 176

Eric – a mystery