Premier Missouri Hiking and Backpacking Destination: Devils Backbone Wilderness | Mark Twain National Forest

Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:

Before the Devil’s Backbone Wilderness was established, there were backcountry settlements, logging camps and livestock grazing. When the Forest Service acquired the land it inherited the history of this legacy as well. Now, when hiking on its trails, one can find vestiges of these settlements- mine shafts nestled in between rocks, abandoned grazing pastures and a skeleton network of old roads which nature is slowly reclaiming.

Occasionally the trail is flanked by ruins of old rock walls used to herd sheep, and in places the trail so wide that one can practically feel the rumble of logging trucks which used to cross it. These abandoned roads form the basis for Norfolk Ridge and many of the unofficial trails hikers travel as they journey beyond the maintained portion of the Wilderness.

Early settlers who came to this land tried to eke out a living by clearing parts of the forest for pasture and grazing. Long after they gave up on taming the forest, the boney ridge was harvested during the logging fervor of the 1890’s. Large tracks of land were cut down and logs floated down the North Fork to meet the White River down below.

Today, this history is reflected in the age and composition of the existing tree stands. After the pine canopy was cut, oaks and hickories bounced back and quickly rose to take the place of the towering shortleaf pines, forming a heavy forest cover of an oak-hickory ecosystem. However, these groves contain many individuals who all will age at the same time and stage, contributing to a forest-wide phenomena of oak decline. . . .

With 6,687 acres inside the Wilderness boundary, this is an ideal area for day hiking or overnight backpacking. A long, narrow ridge supports the center of the Wilderness, with 1,020 feet as its highest “vertebra.”

Trails

There are 13 miles of moderate trail within the area. 

Thirteen miles of maintained foot and horse trails follow the Devils Backbone and four other ridges, dropping off into surrounding hollows in a forest dominated by oaks, hickories, and shortleaf pines. 

Link: 

Premier Missouri Hiking and Backpacking Destination: Devils Backbone Wilderness | Mark Twain National Forest