Hercules Glades Wilderness Area is part of mark Twain National Forest. It's a bit off the beaten path, but worth it for a day hike or a bit of backpacking.
Since it's wilderness area, you can camp just about anywhere with few restrictions. There are a few primitive sites at the trailhead, no water or toilets.
A few hundred yards from the Coy Bald Trailhead there is a fork in the trail. Going left gets you to the falls and the majority of the camp sites with the shortest route, about three miles.
The trail is pretty rough and rocky with moderate elevation changes. I'd rate it on the low side of moderate difficulty.
About a mile in you'll cross the river for the first time. There are camp sites with fire rings on both sides of the river. This is a scenic area with bluffs on one side of the river, but forested, so no views to speak of.
About three miles in, you'll cross the river the second time. There are a number of camping areas with fire rings along the river.
Downstream a few hundred feet are the falls that most people go to see. Unfortunately for us, there wasn't enough water for them to be running. There was enough water to wade around in and soak the feet. It was quite nice!
The area is pretty and quiet, we saw only a handful of people in the two days we were there. The only issue was the ticks, they were the worst I'd dealt with in some time.
All in all, a nice hike and a nice bit if camping. I'd go back to see the falls again.
I don't get to the mountains as often as I would like, so when I do I hate to get stuck in a commercial campground with a zillion other people.
I was looking for something with some scenery and solitude, but without the hike to get there being more strenuous than my wife would appreciate! (She doesn't have the same level of love for the outdoors I do!)
The Rainbow Lakes Wilderness area is part of the Roosevelt National Forest. The lakes consist of a series of half a dozen small lakes fed by a glacier. The trail up to the lakes is pretty easy, with very little elevation rise.
The first lakes are small and not as scenic, but the last two are in a nice setting.
About three miles in, you'll cross a small creek running down to the south into the lakes. There are a couple of campsites along this creek upstream a few hundred feet. We stayed in this area overnight.
When you get to the end of what seems to be the end of the main trail, not far from that creek, you'll be able to go to the left and up rocks. There is an interesting field of boulders that almost seems to be a spill way. Just west of the field of boulders are the last two lakes. Pick your way west between the two and you'll come to the other camp areas. There are a few fire rings setup around the lakes. I wish we had found these the night before; waking up to the view of the sun on the water would have been fabulous!
We saw just a few other hikers on the trails up and back and no other campers, but we were there Thursday/ Friday. I loved the solitude!
My understanding is that you can continue west on the trail from that point and climb up to the glacier that feeds the lakes. I'm sure the views up there are gorgeous. And being National Forest, you can camp anywhere with a few restrictions.
A couple of final comments;
- you need to get a permit to camp at the hardware store in Nederland.
-Don't try to drive into the area from the south in anything other than a tall 4X4. Coming in from the north was rough but doable in a sedan.
-Although people have made fire rings, fires aren't permited in this part of the national forest.
- Last, please be respectful of the wilderness and practice the Leave No Trace Ethics! These areas deserve to be enjoyed by generations to come!
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!
Gotta love the Rockies, but I can't say the same for Morraine.
They've packed campsites in like sardines, so there is no privacy and not even a semblance of quiet and calmness. Our site, A116, was within 30 feet of another site and 50' of 3 others. Pretty lame.
And of course they decided to shut down the bathroom closest to us for upgrades, and didn't bother even to put in porta-pottys. So everyone around us was either peeing outside their tent (a very pleasant sound to wake up to), or starting their cars and waking everyone up to drive to the other end of the loop for a bathroom.
Couple all of that with my having to get up and scold a bunch of drunk old ladies about being quiet at 10:45 because a ranger never showed up to do it, I can't recommend this campground.
On the plus side, there are nice views all over the campground and the wildlife is fun.
I love the mountains and RMNP is still nice, but Morraine leaves a lot to be desired.
All the usual state park amenities: showers, laundry, and electric sites. All the tent sites are directly off the road and consist if a fire ring with grill, picnic table and unleveled area for a tent.
The worst part of this campground is the traffic and the people. Our neighbors were all loud including a number of inconsiderate rv campers who made noise and had electric lights going until around 3 am.
Our site was near the entrance to campground 2 and the road to the marina. They have installed speed bumps to slow people down, but people just fly over them making an ungodly, jarring noise that wakes you up all night.
The trash truck came through to pick up the dumpsters at 6:45 in the morning. Luckily we were already awake by this time by the jerks with loud diesel trucks flying by fast enough to get air on the speed bumps.
This campground is a pretty standard state park campground. All of the usual amenities; showers, laundry and electric sites if you want them.
The tent sites all consist of a fire grate with a swing away grill, paved parking spot and a predetermined tent spot covered in mulch.
The majority of the sites are next door to each other and right of the road. However, there are 4 walk in sites that get you away from the majority of the campground noise.
The main issues are the usual; noisy neighbors, extremely noisy and inconsiderate rv campers and an Interstate less than a mile away.
If you're looking for solitude, this does not provide it, but if you just want to sleep in a tent and have a campfire this will probably be fine for you.
