Time spent in the great outdoors hiking, backpacking, camping, fishing, paddling, and shooting. Anything well away from the madding crowd.
Hike almost over — it’s just a short way from here, at the edge of the wilderness, to the registration point and parking lot. All in all, I hiked a tad under 19 miles and climbed 1,500 feet of elevation. Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026.
Big Piney Trail, South Loop along the top of a ridge, heading west near the Little Piney Creek Overlook. Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026.
The trailside fire rings have been rebuilt — At first I thought it was just the odd one here and there, but all the fire rings I encountered and remember seeing on previous trips had either been rebuilt or cleared away. Many, like this one, had a supply of wood in them or nearby. 2
Camped at ‘Paddy Creek Trolltunga’ — this is such a great place to hang a hammock. Not so good if you want to set a tarp, though. I never have when stopping here. Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. 2
Preparing second breakfast — Peak Refuel Biscuits and Gravy. I’m glad I anticipated the burn ban and brought along my butane stove.
View from my hammock at ‘Paddy Creek Trolltunga’ — The real Trolltunga is around 2,300 feet above the lake below it.
Coffee and an (out of shot) Pop-Tart in my hammock. Eight o’clock and it’s warming up just a tad.
It got chilly last night – Day Three — not quite as bad as the forecast at 26°F. My plan worked, and I was too warm at times. 1 2
Big Paddy Creek was low enough to ford at the old crossing point — It’s the first time I’ve been able to cross here in quite a while. All the weed in the creek shows how low and slow the creek is at the moment. 2
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. 3
Big Paddy Creek Scenic Overlook, Paddy Creek Wilderness — I’ve taken pictures of this view before, but what the heck, here’s another. 2
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.
Blazes? We don’t need no stinking blazes — Yes I’ve used that image title before. Then it was on the Berryman Trail.
Paddy Creek Road Looking southeast, Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness — Day Two. 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. 2
South Loop/North Loop Short Cut, Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness — 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!
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.
All that remains — 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.
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.
A while back, I met a Forest Ranger and a couple of guys near the trailhead. They’d been surveying the trail, assessing changes, as it had become eroded and rough in places. That work looks to have been completed. 3
Start of trip selfie, Paddy Creek Wilderness — 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 — 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 of the Big Piney Trail 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.
A brief respite — The trail levels out briefly in places.
Looking up the trail — Going up was much easier than coming down. I have just noticed that I can see my footprints going up the trail in this picture.
The views continue to impress me.