Marble Creek Trail
This nine-mile trail is a pleasant day hike and
an excellent mountain bike trip. This section will eventually
connect to the Taum Sauk section via Ketcherside Mountain.
For a larger image, click here (85KB file)
Overview
The Marble Creek trail is the little orphan of
the Ozark Trail, laying half-way between the Taum Sauk and
Wappapello sections, waiting to be connected. Private land
blocks the path in both directions, so until easements or purchases
are negotiated, the final route between the two is uncertain.
While the trail is point-to-point from Marble Creek Campground to
the Crane Lake trailhead, it features a loop around Crane Lake.
The southern-half of the loop is considered more scenic, as it
passes by the shut-ins below the dam and features great rock
formations.
Note: Timber Sale in Progress
Logging operations are in progress along a
two-mile section of the trail, beginning about three miles from
Marble Creek Campground. A portion of the trail has been
destroyed by logging vehicles and may be difficult to follow at
times. If you are unfamiliar with the trail, you should bring
a topo map and compass.
This timber sale is a "leaf-off" sale, meaning that trees can only
be harvested when they are void of leaves (i.e. winter).
Please contact the US Forest Service for more information on this
and other forest management practices.
Directions
From Ironton, take Highway 21 south for two
miles, then turn east on Highway E for 12 miles to Marble Creek
Recreation Area. From Fredericktown, take Highway 67 south,
then west on Highway E to Marble Creek Recreation Area. The
trail begins on the south side of Highway E.
Trip Report
John Cameron and Michael Willard GPS'd this trail for our OTA
maps in December 2002, and offer this report:
What a wonderful little trail. We hiked from Marble Creek Campground
and back. Significant downed trees (wind) @ 2.3 miles in as you work
you way out of the first valley on the trail. Came across active
logging @ mile 2.75 to mile 3.19 along the infamous trail/logging
road. Not too bad of a traverse. After that everything was still in
the bid process until mile 3.85, signifying the end of all logging
activity. Trail trees marked with blue tape in this section, I
assume to keep loggers from "removing" the trail. A clear-cut hill
above this section makes it memorable. When you reach Reader Hollow
there is an unmarked "T" intersection. Frequent ATV traffic would
leave the unwary to go in either left or right. (go left-south).
About a half-mile later is the intersection of the Crane Lake
trail and the OT. The OT has been moved to the north side of the
creek. The OT route, per the OT signs, would take you from
this intersection, along the north side of the creek and then along
the north side of the lake to the Crane Lake trail head. That is a
shame as the best part of that section is the rock formations on the
south trail and the spillway and you never come near that on the
north side. The old trail (on the south side) goes over the
formations, right by the shut-ins and spill way. The old Crane lake
blazes are on the south side. It is, however, real hard to follow
trail. Beavers have made wet feet hard to avoid and lack of markings
made for our only mistake of the day (crossing Crane Pond Creek).
Mike and I noted that the southern route wasn't GPSed and tracked
it.
All in all a nice hike. The locals taking target practice and mother
nature have done a number to the white triangles and OT markers, but
the upcoming work day should fix that. Glad we hiked it, look
forward to doing it again. If you have any questions or requests
please reply. Mike and I agree that it was a pleasure serving the
OTA and soon we pledge to be members.
Other links
Danny McMurphy's review
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