A couple days off this past weekend and thankfully no sporting events scheduled gave us a free weekend. A bonus with some what clear weather...meaning still super hot with scattered showers, leaving for some humid days. We decided to float some of the currant river in Missouri. This trip we used a friends trailer to stay in, too bad we were unable to get a spot with electric. The evenings cooled a bit but the trailer didn't. The kids ended up in their hammocks the last night-Brayden lasted the night while the other kids made it around mid morning. We floated the river twice-two sections, this river was our first to spot river otters. The camp ground had some evening talks-which the kids didn't want to go to at first but after discovering the first talk was about turtles and then the second snakes they were all about going.
The terrain in the area was just amazing- we stayed by round spring and cave, The cave was open this last weekend for tours...finally a morning spend in cool weather, the cave was beautiful to see and beautiful for the cool temps. We also found numerous springs that would pour gallons of water out into the stream bed-freezing water.
Floating the currant river. We liked having an extra kayak...although the kids still want to change places every 20 minutes!
Still all about turtle catching.
This spring/cave we were able to paddle into. We actually walked into the cave closer to our camp ground where they have traced this water coming from.
They all survived the two floats-James was dumped off the front of the kayak but didn't seem to mind...I would have been screaming snake!
On of the springs along the river-pouring cold water into the river. The round spring close to where we were camping put out 2 million gallons of water a day!!! These spring were amazing!
Our second float was a morning float-so peacefull.
A cave along the river-the kids were not too happy about exploring. I think the national parks ranger freaked them out about going in caves without a guide.
Blurry....Andrea who didn't venture much past the opening, lots of crying and just general freaking out.
Waiting for Ron to get the car-we paid for a shuttle on day and then Ron took his bike the second day.
Turtle documentation
Some crawfish
Loving our hammocks
Looking into another spring-cave system. We found out later that underneath us the shoot opened up into a huge cavern filled with water so deep and wide that you could fit a battle ship inside.
Trips are always fun but really also just a ton of work. Lots of loading and unloading...multiple times and then back to the trailer to cook and deal with all the river float stuff.
We also took a day to head to Johnson Shut-in State Park. We didn't realize quite how busy this place would be and ended up having to walk in due to limited parking. Such a great place to explore- just super busy. An amazing rock system in some fast flowing water-fun to play in. Also a bit scary with so many people and kids jumping in and out of pools, some deep and some really shallow. I wouldn't take any little kids here!
Fun shoots of water to play in-the water moved through these rocks really fast.
A fun get away only to come home late Monday night to discover out house broken into. Thankfully no damage just a lot of mess but the work just never ends.
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