A GOVERNOR'S LEGACY: SAM A. BAKER STATE PARK OFFERS OUTDOOR FUN AND COMFORTS OF HOME

The stables constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s serve as the park office and visitors center. Many other building were built by the CCC.

A lizard clung to a rock bluff along Mudlick Trial. The trail climbs to the top of Mudlick Mountain which is 1,313 feet above sea level.

PATTERSON -- Sam A. Baker State Park, named for the Southeast Missouri State University graduate and former governor from Wayne County, has experienced times of boom and bust.

In 1926, when the state bought for $23,000 the first 4,000 acres in the southern skirt of the St. Francois Mountains, the nation was reveling in the Roaring Twenties.

But by 1933, the roar had been muffled into growls in the stomachs of unemployed workers mired in the Depression. With President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal initiatives, such as the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps, the government put men to work.

Some of those men were part of CCC camp No. 5 and the WPA unit that labored in Sam A. Baker. Their work helped make the 5,164-acre park the national historic district and sixth-busiest state park it is today.

While much of the park is the majestic opus of Mother Nature -- the clear water and "shut-ins" of Big Creek and the St. Francois River, the ancient, domelike Mudlick Mountain, the 4,420-acre Mudlick Mountain Wild Area -- in the 1930s, the CCC and WPA constructed the sturdy timber-and-dellenite buildings, hiking trails and roads that make the park hospitable for family fun, Sam A. Baker's specialty.

Modern conveniences -- fireplaces, kitchens, full baths, heating and air conditioning -- have been added to the park's 18 rustic cabins. They are available for rent April through October, although a park official said the waiting list is long.

The cabins range from one-bedroom bungalows that rent for $48 a night to a five-bedroom estate that goes for $120.

If the cost or the wait for a cabin is too much, the park has an excellent parcel of more than 200 campsites, about half of which have electric hookups. Shade is plentiful, and the sites are available year-round on a first-come, first-served basis, for a small fee.

Other historical buildings in the park include the Lodge, a restaurant that specializes in home cooking and is open Memorial Day through Labor Day, and an old stable, which has been converted into the visitors center, nature center and park office.

The visitors center contains exhibits about the natural and cultural history of the area.

The nature center has insects, snakes, mammals and fish native to the area and a Junior Naturalist Hour at 10 a.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It has a snakes presentation on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Park Store has groceries and swimming, camping and fishing gear. Canoes, kayaks and rafts are available for rent. Half-day to three-day float trips can be arranged.

One day last week, many park visitors who weren't lounging in the camping areas were enjoying the cool (but not too cool) water of Big Creek. Some were frolicking, some floating, some fishing.

We explored three miles of the parks' nearly 20-mile Mudlick Trail System -- up the Mudlick Trail under the canopy of cottonwoods, shumard oaks, sweet gums and sycamores to a three-sided CCC shelter at a scenic overlook, and down the Shut-Ins Trail, which allows access to the rock-bottomed Big Creek.

The sometimes rocky, sometimes sandy trails led us by igneous rocks -- pre-Cambrian Mudlick dellenite (known locally as blue granite) -- which are thought to be the oldest exposed rocks in North America.

You can use the rest of the trails, which rise to more than 1,300 feet, for hiking or backpacking -- or just to snatch a bit solitude.

Although it can't be seen from the sections of Big Creek accessible from the campsites and the trail, shut-ins, an Ozarks term for a gorge or valley where water flows around and through carved and polished bedrock and boulders rising from the water, can be accessed by floating.

A bluegrass festival will be held July 23, 24 and 25. On the last day of the event will be the first Missouri Governor's Cup State Fiddle and Banjo Contest.