I say hiking loosely because there are no mountains, more like epic hills, and we probably have a grand elevation change of 100 ft or so, but this is a little taste of what the heartland has to offer. Nearly everyday I pack my dogs into my little car and we take off for Ha Ha Tonka State Park for our usual exercise. It has trails ranging from just a half mile up to 7 miles or more depending on how you want to combine loops. Fall is now in full swing so I figured I would give you all a little taste of what at times seems like the forgotten land since it usually doesn't come up on anyone's list of most beautiful places in the world, but it still has a beauty that is uniquely its own.

I had hoped to have my new camera before fall is gone but that's not going to happen it seems so you're at the mercy of seeing Missouri through the weary eyes of a 2009 model Olympus Stylus that has been dropped and even frozen at one time. Enjoy!



I can't blame all the fuzziness on the camera's injuries. Kenzi has a paw in some of it as you might be able to tell.



















A visual of our elevation change. We go from the bottom of this rock face to the top in the course of a walk sometimes.















The castle we walk to.









The spring.



The castle burned down in the '40s.









View from the castle.

Wow - you don't need skyscraper mountains to have beautiful hikes. These pics are lovely. Kenzi and Keno seem to really enjoy your hike, too!

Guess it's time to argue with my computer and put up some pics of the fingerlakes trail we've been hiking. For some reason, the desktop is no longer recognizing the card reader

i may love my mountain summits, but a good walk in the woods with a cool old castle is just as cool!
thanks for the post and pics

Wow, that is a very cool castle and beautiful pix! Can't wait to see some once you get your Nikon! What's the history of the castle?

It was started in 1905 by Robert Snyder, big wig from Kansas City, but he died in a car accident (supposedly one of the first car deaths recorded in MO). His kids finished it up in the '20s. It served a short stint as a hotel and then burned down in the early '40s. I'm not sure what started the fire. There's a stable and a water tower not far from the castle I hope to take pictures of sometime too. The stable burned the same day as the house, but the water tower burned thanks to vandals in the '70s. It's actually been rebuilt to an extent and had the roof put back on. The stone for the house was actually dug out on site and you can walk through where some of the stone was quarried on one of the trails.

Those are some breathtaking pics Jenn, the dogs look like they had so much fun too. Such beautiful country in MO. Thanks for sharing.

You definitely don't need mountains to have beautiful views! What an awesome trail and cool castle. The fall colors are just amazing.

Got pictures of the water tower and stables and one of the other trails yesterday on our walk. It was cloudy and the colors are definitely starting to fade. Fall is just about over.









Just right of top center you might be able to see a tan colored building. It's the old rock post office that was on the estate. Not a post office anymore but it's pretty cool. May try to get pictures of it a different day. It's on another trail.



The land bridge. You can walk under it or over it. This is the trail we found the baby squirrel on.



View of the castle from the other side of the cove before taking the stairs down to the spring.