Missouri Ozarks - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 702

valleys, and low-lying pastures. This is one of Missouri's most popular floatable streams.
It is serviced by numerous outfitters.
Wildlife thrives in this protected riverside habitat. Kingfishers scan the water for prey;
huge pileated woodpeckers and their smaller downey cousins drum on tree trunks; great
blue herons wade beneath aged sycamores that lean out from the shoreline; and portly wild
turkeys strut across the forest floor. In springtime, blossoming azaleas contribute dashes of
bold, spectacular color to a scene that seems painted by a watercolorist's brush.
Foramoreintimatelookatthissylvanparadise,followtheone-milefootpaththatleads
to Greer Spring, from a parking area on Rte. 19. While some Ozark springs roil or gush,
versatile Greer Spring does both at the same time. Some of its water bubbles up from the
stream bed, while the rest surges from the mouth of a dark cave. The spring water then
spills through a rocky, mile-long canyon before joining the Eleven Point River, doubling
the river's volume.
11. Grand Gulf State Park
Just north of Thayer (a mile before you reach the Arkansas border), the drive veers west
onto Rte. W, a six-mile spur leading to Grand Gulf State Park. As parks go, it's a place of
modest size—about 160 acres—but it harbors a fascinating treasure: a narrow, mile-long
gulf, or chasm of stone, where vertical walls reach as high as 13 stories. This Little Grand
Canyon, as Grand Gulf is sometimes called, provides a visible outline of what was once a
system of underground limestone caves whose roofs have long since collapsed. A portion
of the ceiling that is still intact forms a natural bridge from which visitors can peer down
into the cleft—an unusual glimpse into a hidden recess of the Ozarks, whose subterranean
splendorsaremostoftenconcealedbeneathhundredsoffeetoflimestone.Toviewthisgulf
is to symbolically take part of the Ozarks home with you, as a memory of the drive just
finished.