MINGO NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE.
Day 183 – Beginning of Week 27. Frost on everything this morning. 30 degrees, sunny. And when the wind blows up on this ridge – BRRRR!
When we left at 10:45 a.m. it had warmed to almost 40 degrees, but it was completely cloudy. We drove around the rest of the State Park – it’s a very nice Park and quite well-maintained. We drove to Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, not knowing what to expect since several of our last Refuges had been so effected by the flooding. We stopped at the Visitor’s Center and spent about an hour there talking to the two Rangers. They were great and we learned a lot about the area and got recommendations for other places, too. For example, they told us that this coming weekend, at Fredericktown, MO (between here & St. Louis), there would be the 51st Annual Missouri Whitewater Championships with slalom & downriver races. They told us good places to camp in that area. We’ll be in the St. Louis area from Tuesday night until Saturday morning. Hmmm…..sounds like fun; we should look into it.
Then we drove to an overlook and ate our lunches and began the Refuge Auto Tour. Wow. This NWR was amazing. So many wonderful roads throughout the Refuge. We spent the whole day here. Only a few places were closed due to flooding. We saw Bald Eagles, hawks, deer, geese, so many different ducks, squirrels, songbirds, etc. Lots of bayou and swamp areas with Bald Cypress Trees. Canoeing & kayaking were permitted thoughout most of the Refuge. But it was just too darn cold. Hikes and a long boardwalk & the water was almost at boardwalk level. And a wonderful drive through the hills of the Ozarks.
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
It remained cold all day, not getting higher than 45 degrees; although finally later in the day, the sun did come back out. It still didn’t help much when the wind blew. When we got back to the campground at 6:45 p.m. it was 38 degrees. So good to be back inside the warm RV with the girls. Tomorrow we travel to near St. Louis to visit my sister and Jake, the wonderdog.
Have a great visit with Gayle and Jake.