*
Pavement Ends
James Baughn

Jay Nixon State Park: Missouri's most controversial park

Posted Tuesday, February 7, 2017, at 1:00 PM

Comments

View 3 comments or respond
Community discussion is important, and we encourage you to participate as a reader and commenter. Click here to see our Guidelines. We also encourage registered users to let us know if they see something inappropriate on our site. You can do that by clicking "Report Comment" below.
  • This park needs to be done away with very quickly, before someone in Jeff City thinks a gob of taxpayers money should be spent to make it accesable. You know, like build a highway into that wilderness which would be very expenive ! ! !

    -- Posted by mo_ky_fellow on Thu, Feb 9, 2017, at 4:05 PM
  • "DNR had a windfall of cash"

    Say again ? How does the DNR have a windfall of cash when there are so many more important issues being cut for lack of Funds . It's a Government land grab .

    Why not name it the Rip Off State Park .

    -- Posted by Rick Scaggs on Thu, Feb 9, 2017, at 4:24 PM
  • Another great adventure. Thanks for sharing it with us. Very interesting.

    With all the mild, relatively dry weather this winter there have been good opportunities to go on hikes such as yours without all the heat and humidity, mosquitoes, and dense weeds and foliage that are a pain in summer. On the flip-side, one has to carefully plan to get finished before dark and be prepared for unexpected changes in the weather. Take a flashlight and all-weather clothing even if you don't think you need them. Sadly a year or two ago a father and his sons died of hypothermia in the Ozarks when they got caught in freezing rain that came when a fast cold front followed after a mild day. Have a good time out there folks, but be safe.

    Concerning the park controversy, I have to say that naming the park after a sitting governor lacks grace regardless of politics. I'm not aware of enough details to have a opinion whether the purchase was a good or bad thing, but it is done. Certainly if this settlement money could have been used in an effective way to clean up mining pollution or mitigate related public health risks, then that should have been done. I expect that the damage the settlement covered was so widespread and irreversible that it wouldn't make any meaningful difference, however. I agree that it would make little sense for Missouri, a state that doesn't have money to adequately maintain its highways now, to fund any access roads or improvements for this park. Better to have it become an unimproved part of Johnson Shut-ins and it can be slowly improved with trails by volunteer groups.

    James, why did you decide to come from the southeast side? The USFS topo shows a road coming off Route N from the north almost right to the lake. I guess the river would be impossible to cross there at times or maybe it runs over private property? I'm not familiar with the area, but would like to visit it sometime.

    -- Posted by coffeelover on Sun, Feb 19, 2017, at 2:04 PM