My brother and I left Kansas City after work on Friday. It's about a five hour drive if you don't have to stop, so we got to the trailhead for the Bell mountain loop at around 11pm.

There are two first come/ first serve sites by the parking area off of A hwy. The site closest to the parking area is obvious, the second is down the trail that runs SW about 100 yards from the parking lot. Unfortunately, we didn't find it until the morning! We just put up our tents and built another fire ring to the north side of the obvious site.

After hiking up the loop to the summit of Bell mountain there are a number of "sites" that have been made. These are all along the rock outcroppings looking out to the east. I counted 14 fire rings, and a few, but not all have areas near them sufficient for pitching a tent.

Please note: these are not maintained camp sites. There are no facilities up there. Other than a nasty looking little pond 1/4 mile south down the trail, there was no filterable water available either, so bring what you'll need.

It us a pretty area. The views are wonderful, probably some of the best in Missouri. The granite outcroppings give a lot of places to explore and do some scrambling.

My favorite part was that we didn't see any other campers/ hikers that night or the next day. The weather was cold and rainy and that likely contributed to the solitude!

Absolutely worth the hike and the drive!