Trans-Missouri Trail S Ride Report

11 Jun Trans-Missouri Trail S Ride Report

Topaz Mill

So what was I getting excited for… Topaz Mill and Topaz Spring in the heart of Douglas County off the North Fork of the White River. This mill and the general store is historically rich, one of the highlights of this trip! Set off in a quiet, secluded area unlike many mills that are tourist attractions.. but not this one. Thanks to BigDog for hooking me up with this gem, check out his photos of inside the mill and general store.

Topaz Mill is privately owned. The owner Mr. O’Neal, is friendly and welcomes visitors. Research shows that the mill was established in 1895 and was the center of a thriving community, including a general store, blacksmith shop, cannery, barbershop and post office. The three-story building housed a fully automated mill, which could produce flour as well as meal, with a peak capacity of about 40 barrels of flour per day, each weighing in at 96 pounds. The mill was used in the 1930’s, but it stopped operating after that. The current owners have owned the property since 1956 and have worked to restore it. The mill was originally painted white, but it is now red. Today, visitors can still hear the spring as it gushes through the channel into the mill. The nearby spring produces between eight and 10 million gallons of water per day, and the mill is operated by the water directed into the works by a wooden flume.

This next video recap speaks for itself. The ride to Topaz Mill and leading out are almost as good as seeing the mill itself. Man.. we loved this riding…a perfect day as you will see.

Video Recap #4 : Topaz Mill

Wow, what a great area there in Topaz.. I’m not sure anything will top that. Well, what comes next does! We came out of the gravels upon this beautiful view, looking right at our next destination.

Look off in the distance to the right.. those far off mountain tops.. thats where we’re headed.

Heading south on Hwy 14 we made our next gas stop in Ava. It a very quick stop because we knew what was just a few miles away from us, and the excitement was growing every wheel turn closer. Then.. there she was.. right there in front of us.. we could almost touch our front tire to her…. this very old, very slow grandma in some huge Toronado driving 1 mph on Hwy 5 leading into the National Forest area. Seriously! After what seemed like 100 miles we finally were able to pass her and turned right into the Mark Twain National Forest once again…. and this time.. we had arrived!

Glade Top Trail

The beautiful Glade Top Trail.. this trail runs along high ridges of the Ozark National Scenic Byway. This area is rich with single track and country roads, I think we could spend a couple days in this area exploring around.. but unfortunately we have a route to finish. The GTT was another highlight of the trip, the views looking some 30 miles at the Boston Mountains in Arkansas is breath taking. I think our highest elevation was around 1475 ft on the trail.

The Arkansas View – Glade Top Trail

Video Recap #5 : Glade Top Trail

Continuing south after leaving the Mark Twain National Forest and beautiful Glade Top Trail we ran tarmac pretty much the entire way to our campsite. Since we needed to make up time we decided to stay north of the lakes and in the morning head south through Branson West, Kimberling City, our home town of Lampe then out to Blue Eye. MO.  We made sure to stay clear of tourist filled Branson area, as well went around all that mess.

Stopping in Kissee Mills we filled the tanks up and saw this crazy dog sitting in this van window. That thing would tight rope the window frame, spinning circles on it, like it was 3 feet wide instead of 3 inches…

We decided to try snagging a site at Indian Point campground, and there were a few left. Unfortunately, as you an see where we placed our tents, this was the flattest area available. Heck, we didn’t much care, we were hungry and knew we’d hit the sack at sundown. We got our clothes line up and hung socks out… for some reason my bike is in front of Aaron’s tent and his DRZ is in front of my tent.. haha! We’re crazy like that!

Let’s eat! I got my Stever Stoves out and we got to cooking.. mmm.. we scarfed these down, then finished the night off with some cookies from the store up the way we walked over too.  We both were ready for a soda.. or should I say “pop” down south..

Aaron eye’n his dinner..

I forgot my foil windscreen, so we had to get a little creative..

Day 2 was a good day…