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Caves on Whites Creek
Caves on Whites Creek – currently inaccessible. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. When the creek is low and the caves are not closed state-wide due to white-nose syndrome, you can explore them. Unless I fancied swimming I wasn’t going to get a closer look on this trip.
Getting here isn’t easy…
It’s not particularly hard work, but the trail is very difficult to follow or non-existent. So be prepared for a load of bushwhacking, and some woodland navigation.
Going counterclockwise from Bliss Spring, the first part of the trail is quite rugged and runs along a ridge-end or bluff with a (very) steep drop-off down to the Eleven Point River. You will not want to take a fall here. Once past the bluffs, the trail heads east, crosses the top of a large hollow, and then heads back west towards the Eleven Point River. I had a lot of trouble finding and keeping on the trail in this section. The descent down to Whites Creek is steep, but there are plenty of switchbacks to keep it manageable.
Once down to Whites Creek, you cross the creek, and then the trail follows alongside Whites Creek, and you come to the caves pictured above. Carry on along the trail to get to the junction and spur trail to Whites Creek Float Camp.
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Eleven Point (Wild and Scenic) River
Eleven Point Wild and Scenic River. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. This is pretty much the only overlook in the entire 20-mile Whites Creek Trail. The trail here is very narrow and rough with a 100+ft. drop-off on one side.
What’s with the (Wild and Scenic) stuff? Nothing. Except that’s how it’s listed on the map. I think it’s a tad daft. Strictly speaking, it’s the Eleven Point River, and the area is called the Eleven Point Wild and Scenic River.
It’s a long way down – to the Eleven Point River, which can be glimpsed through the trees below me. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
This is not the trail you are looking for…
That is not the trail you are looking for … You would think (and I and many, many others have), that the trail goes straight on here. Not so. Look carefully and there’s the trail, two feet in front of the sign on the left going up the hill. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. You would think (and I and apparently, many, many others have), that the trail goes straight on here. Not so. Look carefully and there’s the Whites Creek trail, two feet in front of the sign on the left going up the hill.
The (wrong) trail leads to a nice campsite with a view of the Eleven Point River and some old ruins, so I’m not going to complain about my navigational blunder. This was, however, the first indication that the trails on the southern loop of the White’s Creek Trail were going to be a little bit more challenging to follow.
The picture below shows the trail in the opposite direction with the spur trail to Bliss Spring on the left. The sign purports to mark the Irish Wilderness and Eleven Point Wild and Scenic River boundary – I think this is more of a virtual boundary, as according to the map, the real boundary is further east.
Irish Wilderness and Eleven Point Wild and Scenic River boundary. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Campsite by the Eleven Point River
Campsite by the Eleven Point River. I followed the trail, that I thought was the Whites Creek Trail to this campsite. I took a couple of pictures and then went back to Bliss Spring to work out where I went wrong. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Old homestead chimney
Old homestead chimney. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I presume this ruin dates back to the American Civil War era (1861-1865). The house would have had a nice view of the Eleven Point River. I was hoping there was a way back to the main White’s Creek Trail from here. If there was I didn’t find it. Instead, I backtracked all the way back to Bliss Spring.
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Camped at Bliss Spring
Camped at Bliss Spring. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
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Bliss Spring (Second spring)
Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Bliss Spring
Bliss Spring, Irish Wilderness, Missouri. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
Bliss Spring, Irish Wilderness, Missouri. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Day Two: Bliss Spring (video)
Bliss Spring has to be seen and heard, so I recorded a short video. Unfortunately, it’s a bit shaky in places. I was using my tiny tripod tied to a hiking pole to keep the camera steady. I wasn’t always successful at keeping things smooth.
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Bliss Spring (Pano)
Bliss Spring, Irish Wilderness, Missouri. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
The two springs at Bliss Spring, Irish Wilderness
Bliss Spring, Irish Wilderness, Missouri. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Bliss Spring
Bliss Spring – the noise and the amount of water flowing were very impressive. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
On the trail to Bliss Spring
Bliss Spring 3.9 Miles. And it is four o’clock, at this rate I’ll be arriving around six-thirty p.m. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I’m not sure when I made up my mind to hike the eight miles to Bliss Spring, but I kept moving on. For some reason, I didn’t take any pictures of White’s Creek when I crossed it. I should have, it was wide and fairly deep. There was a big pool too. It would have made a good stopping point, but I had a bee in my bonnet about getting to the Spring.
Trail Blaze on the White’s Creek Trail, North Loop – the official blazes were highly irregular and erratically placed. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
In places the trail was narrow. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
In places the trail was narrow and The drop-offs quite impressive. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Signs of (unofficial) trail maintenance. I say unofficial as it looks like the downfalls had been cut with a chainsaw, and such mechanical devices are not allowed in a wilderness. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Tiny creek crossing (drainage ditch). Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Brawley Pond Spur Trail. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.The climb up away from White’s Creek was tough. Only 160 feet or so, but the trail was narrow and the drop-off was quite impressive. You wouldn’t want to slip and take a tumble. There was only one more small creek that I crossed, though it was more of a drainage ditch for a big stock pond, which I didn’t bother to check out.
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Gary, ready to get moving again – On the White’s Creek Trail, Irish Wilderness
Gary ready to get moving again – On the Whites Creek Trail, Irish Wilderness. April 30, 2021. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. When it comes to backpacking fashion, I lead where others dare not follow 🙂
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Lunch Break on White’s Creek Trail.
Lunch Break on Whites Creek Trail. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Well, it was more of a snack than lunch. I didn’t want to spend time heating some food, so I made do with a tuna sachet. I’d already stopped once, at a crossing of the currently inaptly named Dry Prong, to refill my water bottle, and daylight was burning.
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Whites Creek Trail (North Loop)
Whites Creek Trail – fairly easy to follow here. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Spur Trail from Camp Five Pond to Whites Creek Trail
Spur Trail to Whites Creek Trail. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. The above picture looks back along the spur trail from the junction with the Whites Creek Trail.
Whites Creek Trail – At the junction with the spur trail to the Camp Five Pond Trailhead. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I’m heading right (West) along the North Loop of the trail. I’d better get used to this view of Missouri oak woodland because, as I found out, it isn’t going to change much for the next six or seven miles.
White’s Creek Trail – or is it Whites Creek Trail? I visited everywhere except Brawley Pond. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Irish Wilderness, Mark Twain National Forest
Irish Wilderness, Mark Twain National Forest – on the spur trail to the White’s Creek Trail. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. My plan for this trip is fairly simple, take the White’s Creek Trail counterclockwise starting with the North Loop.
- Day One. Hike six to eight miles on the North Loop, stopping either at some stock ponds or if the water there looks iffy, carrying on to Bliss Spring. Eight miles with a midday start means I’ll need to move quickly, and I’m terribly out of condition. Should be fun!
- Day Two. Hike four or so miles to the White’s Creek Eleven Point put-in, and camp somewhere near there.
- Day Three. There’s rain all day in the forecast, so another short four miles or so and stop somewhere near Fiddler Spring.
- Day Four. Hike out, another four or five miles, and the weather should be nice again.
Of course, plans change, and this one was no different, though I was blissfully ignorant of the fact at this point.
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Camp Five Pond Notice Board and hitching post
Camp Five Pond Notice Board and hitching post. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
Trail Map – It’s a bit too big to take with you. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Parking lot at Camp Five Pond, Irish Wilderness
Parking lot at Camp Five Pond, Irish Wilderness. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
Camp Five Pond from the parking lot – in the distance the wilderness notice board. The registration point/box has been removed. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
