Joplin's Wildcat Glades trail system destoryed by record flooding is now repaired and open again | joplinglobe.com

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Next weekend, when hundreds of runners take to the trails at Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center, it will help mark the center's recovery from one of the worst events in its history.

It happened just after Christmas 2015. A deluge was pushing Shoal Creek out of its banks, rising several feet by the hour.

From the porch of my home in Redings Mill, I achingly watched as the trails sank under the raging water.

The trails had been the crown jewel of the nature center south of Joplin. Nearly 4 miles in all, they cut through prairie savanna and woodland, along majestic bluffs and near the entrance to a cave along Shoal Creek. They also snaked through rare chert glades; of the 60 acres of chert glade remaining worldwide, the nature center is the steward of 27 acres of them.

Now, nature's power was destroying much of that trail system. By the time the water crested, Shoal Creek had reached a historic 23.4 feet in Wildcat Park.

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Joplin's Wildcat Glades trail system destoryed by record flooding is now repaired and open again | joplinglobe.com