• Gary at the Big Paddy Creek Scenic Overlook, Paddy Creek Wilderness

    Gary at the Big Paddy Creek Scenic Overlook, Paddy Creek Wilderness — It was very windy up on the ridge, and the wind was quite chilly, which was nice as it was 82°F in the sun. This is another Ozarks view I never tire of. Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    It was very windy up on the ridge, and the wind was quite chilly, which was nice as it was 82°F in the sun.

    This is another Ozarks view I never tire of.

    There’s cell service here, and I checked the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Lows of 24°F overnight, then 34°F and windy tomorrow. That’s not what I planned for when I packed my 40°F top quilt. But I have a plan, and all should be good. I just need to get to ‘Paddy Creek Trolltunga‘, and that’s a few miles and several hundred feet of elevation gain away.

  • Big Paddy Creek Scenic Overlook, Paddy Creek Wilderness

    Big Paddy Creek Scenic Overlook, Paddy Creek Wilderness — I’ve taken pictures of this view before, but what the heck, here’s another. Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    I’ve taken pictures of this view before, but what the heck, here’s another. The road in the middle distance goes to the campground, the road running up to the top of the ridge is Paddy Creek Road. The trail crosses almost straight ahead in this image. I just have to get over there.

    Big Paddy Creek Scenic Overlook, Paddy Creek Wilderness — Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Big Paddy Creek Scenic Overlook, Paddy Creek Wilderness

    Big Paddy Creek Scenic Overlook, Paddy Creek Wilderness — This is looking to the southeast. The campground is somewhere near the light patch in the distance. Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Blazes? We don’t need no stinking blazes

    Blazes? We don’t need no stinking blazes — Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Yes I’ve used that image title before. Then it was on the Berryman Trail. I hope they are more restrained here. At Berryman the trees were thinned out to the point where there’s very little shade left for hikers, and it looked pretty bare.

  • Paddy Creek Road Looking southeast, Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness — Day Two

    Paddy Creek Road Looking southeast, Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness — Day Two. Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    This is the first Paddy Creek Road crossing if you are hiking the trail clockwise. To the south of the road is Paddy Creek Wilderness, to the north, Mark Twain National Forest. We’re about to cross over into Mark Twain National Forest.

    View across Paddy Creek Road to the northeast, Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness — Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Where the trail continues is easy to see across the road. Not so much the second crossing of Paddy Creek Road, above the Paddy Creek Campground. There you have to go up hill a few yards to find where the trail picks up.

  • South Loop/North Loop Short Cut on the Big Piney Trail

    South Loop/North Loop Short Cut, Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness. Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    South Loop/North Loop Short Cut, Big Piney Trail — just a short way further along the trail it drops down towards Little Paddy Creek. In that section I encountered some very thick wood smoke. Even though I know from experience that smoke can travel miles and still be very thick, it was a bit disconcerting!

    This is my last picture of the day, and I didn’t take any pictures of my camp in ‘Spring Hollow’ either. The light was fading as I got to the point where I leave the trail, and rather than scrambling over huge boulders and down very steep hillsides in the diminishing light, I tried another route cutting into the hollow from the south after I had passed the shut-ins and spring. That worked, and I arrived just as it started to get dark. I was very pleased to see water running in the creek. The spring must still be running, despite the drought.

  • Gary on the Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness, February 2026

    Gary on the Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness, February 2026 — Time for another quick selfie. It’s after four pm, and I have a couple of miles left to go. Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • All that remains

    All that remains — Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    The homestead chimney at the junction of the South Loop and the shortcut to the North Loop, Paddy Creek Wilderness. There’s a well and circular foundation nearby too.

    I’ve often wondered what it was like to live here, presumably after the area had been clear cut. There is evidence of several major old ‘roads’ to be seen in the wilderness near here.

    From here I’m taking the Short Cut to the North Loop. And my hunch about the burn ban was right. There’s cell phone reception here and I received the ‘Red Flag’ notification while checking in with Ginger. It’s 16:10, and I have a couple of miles left to go.

  • Big Piney Trail

    Big Piney Trail — these signs are easy to spot when they are new, but after a year or so they go gray and almost invisible unless you know to look out for them. Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • New Trail junction on the Big Piney Trail

    New Trail junction on the Big Piney Trail — Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Back in December 2024, I met a Forest Ranger and a couple of guys near the Roby Lake trailhead. They’d been surveying the North Loop between the trail junction and the falls assessing changes to the trail, as it had become eroded and rough in places. That work looks to have been completed, and the start of the South loop has been rerouted too. According to my GPS, this junction is located a tenth of a mile from the old trail junction. For the North Loop, take a left, for the South Loop, go straight on.

    My only concern about this change is that the most popular route for ‘Sunday afternoon hikers,’ the North Loop to the Falls and back, is not clearly identified. There is no mention of North/South Loops or the falls on the signs to help people who don’t have maps or know the area. Wildernesses are not supposed to have blazes and signs, but more blazes and signs seem to be appearing all the time.

    According to another Ranger I met a few years ago, this has been driven by a need to cut rescue efforts and cost. Cell phones have emboldened people to venture out without the necessary preparations and gear, which means they get lost, or into difficulties. To my mind leaving the trail names off these signs defeats the reason for having them in the first place.

  • Start of trip selfie, Paddy Creek Wilderness

    Start of trip selfie, Paddy Creek Wilderness — Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    I’ve not taken one of these in ages, so why not? The only issue right now is that it is just after two pm, my campsite is seven miles away, and it gets dark between five and six. I’d better get moving!

  • Hot Pink Mess at the Roby Lake Trailhead

    Hot Pink Mess Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026.
    Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    I was confronted with this pile of what appears to be hot pink trail blaze tapes as I was signing in at the Roby Lake Trailhead at Paddy Creek Wilderness. My initial guess was that someone had been over-enthusiastically blazing the trail, and had some spare blazes left over. Whatever.

    I’m here for a two-night stay of the Big Piney Trail. I plan to get in around twenty miles, on what’s going to be my first long hike in around nine months.

    • Today, Wednesday, February 18, 2026, I’ll be taking the South Loop up to the North Loop short cut, and then the North Loop to a spot I’ve called ‘Spring Hollow’ I’m heading there, as we’re still in the middle of a drought, and despite some recent rain, it’s still pretty dry, and the spring there has proved reliable so far.
    • Thursday, I plan to hike the remainder of the North Loop north and back around to the South Loop and then get myself to another favorite place I’ve nicknamed ‘Paddy Creek Trolltunga.’ Thursday night and Friday morning will be the coldest of the trip, 34°F and 45°F, respectively.
    • Friday, I’m taking the shorter (faster) route back to the trailhead, continuing along the South Loop. Why the rush? It’s our wedding anniversary, I dropped Ginger off at her parents on the way to Paddy Creek, and I’ll join her when I’ve finished my hike on Friday.

    The weather is going to be mostly warm and sunny, albeit windy too, so I took a gamble and packed my 40°F fair weather top quilt. Judging by the wind and weather, I thought a ‘burn ban’ was likely so instead of my alcohol stove, I packed my butane stove (MSR PocketRocket).

  • Dichroic Glass

    Dichroic Glass — A piece from Ginger’s blue glass collection. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Dichroic Glass — A piece from Ginger’s blue glass collection. I liked the bright colors, and the way the blue glass looked almost black with the light reflecting off of the dichroic coating.

    Dichroic glass is coated with ultra-thin metallic layers that split light into different wavelengths. The result is that the glass seems to glow with different colors depending on the viewing angle.

  • Looking south from City Market

    Looking south from City Market. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    I’ve also seen this area referred to as River Market. We spent a couple of hours soaking up all the exhibits at the Arabia Steamboat Museum. The Arabia sank in 1856 and was excavated in the 1980s. The museum provided a fascinating insight into the goods being shipped by steamboat into the Midwest — a huge amount of the cargo was recovered, restored, and put on display.

    If you are nearby and interested in the period, you’d better plan on going soon as the museum is closing in November 2026.

  • Chinatown Food Market

    Chinatown Food Market — Lots of tasty morsels were purchased along with enough packets of noodles for many backpacking lunches. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Orange cat and spot

    Orange cat and spot — Of course a visit to see Katie also means a chance to see Dick, our grandcat in his native environment and with a nice midcentury modern style rug too. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Top of the Power and Light Building

    Top of the Power and Light Building. I love Art Deco architecture. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • The Kauffman Center from the 32nd floor terrace, Kansas City Power and Light Building

    The Kauffman Center from the 32nd floor terrace, Kansas City Power and Light Building. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    We were at the Kauffman Center last night for Chris Thile with the Kansas City Symphony.

    I decided that the view from a nineteen-thirties building deserved a retro color treatment. I know it’s not period appropriate, but I like it.

    Update

    • March 2026 – I happened upon this reverse-angle photograph from behind the KC Wheel on Flickr. Look carefully and you’ll see the KC wheel in my picture, center frame down from the skyline in front of the I-35. and shows exactly where the other picture was taken from.

  • View to the east from the 32nd floor terrace, Kansas City Power and Light Building

    View to the east from the 32nd floor terrace, Kansas City Power and Light Building. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    This picture features the T-Mobile Center. Katie recently moved into an apartment in the Power and Light Building, and we were taking in a quick tour of the facilities. The Art Deco foyer was absolutely wonderful.

    I decided that the view from a nineteen-thirties building deserved a retro color treatment. I know it’s not period appropriate, but I like it.

  • View to the west from the 32nd floor terrace, Kansas City Power and Light Building

    View to the west from the 32nd floor terrace, Kansas City Power and Light Building. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    This picture features the Diocesan office and Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral, which can be seen just past the convention center. I waved at my ex-colleagues, but I don’t think they saw me. Katie recently moved into an apartment in the Power and Light Building and we were taking in a quick tour of the facilities. The Art Deco foyer was absolutely wonderful.

    I decided that the view from a nineteen-thirties building deserved a retro color treatment. I know it’s not period appropriate, but I like it.

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