Fall Foliage Tour

This past week or so the leaves finally started to change into brillant shades of yellow and red. The hubby and I decided to take a drive this past weekend and enjoy some of the beautiful fall scenery. We drove down to visit several state parks in southern Missouri. Our first stop was Elephant Rocks State Park. The park gets it's name from the huge granite boulders that are strewn about. They are indeed "elephant sized" rocks. We walked along the trails amid the changing leaves.

The park contains the ruins of an 1890s engine house. The railroad used to connect here when granite was quarried here. The walls of the engine house remain along with a section of abandoned railroad track.

Some of the elephant rocks. These huge granite boulders are all over the park.

The old granite quarry, now filled up as a lake.

After our hike through the giant rocks, we headed on to Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park. This park suffered great destruction a few years ago when the wall of a large water resevoir was breached. A 20-ft wall of water was sent down through the park.They have rebuilt and cleaned up most of the park, but some trails are still closed and construction continues to rebuild the upper resevoir. The resevoir is used to generate power.

The final state park we visited on our fall colors drive was Taum Sauk State Park. We didn't do any hiking at this park. We simply drove around and stopped at the overlook located by the highest point in the state.

It really starts to feel like fall when the leaves are bursting with color. I love driving along the country backroads to see all the various shades and signs of autumn Are the leaves changing where you live yet or have they already turned? I hope you enjoyed this little tour through the changing colors of the Midwest.