September 26, 2011

We packed up the camper and took off for Sam A Baker State Park down near Piedmont, MO. This park is from 1927 and named for Governor Sam Baker, a local resident. The park is very nice and had very little activity at this time of year.  Sam A. Baker State Park, located in the Francois mountain range, in Patterson, Missouri, is one of the oldest in the park system and perhaps the most classic. We set up camp them went out to explore a little.  We found a stray cat that was very friendly and I would have taken him if we didn't travel around so much.  Later after dinner we were sitting outside when Hardy noticed the cat running by.  I looked quickly and said to him that it wasn't the cat but a skunk wandering through.  A little later as we were sitting there, Mr. Pepe came back through our camp.  He stopped and sniffed at my foot then wandered through the camp on his way to the next campsite.  The next campsite had a little dog that was barking and then let out a short yip and we could smell the skunk shortly after that.


We went to Fort Benton near Patterson, MO in Wayne county.  This was a union held fort which is now on the national historic registry and maintained by Wayne County.  This is the artist, Joe Huett's conception of how Fort Benton may have looked.  Fort Benton is a Civil War Fort, built by Union troops on the hill behind the old school in Patterson, MO, between 1861-1863.  The Fort measures about 150 sq ft.  The internal packed earth walls may have been 5 ft high using 2 in thick vertical plans on the inside.  Outer walls were of packed earth and Gunny sacks filled with earth topped the wall.

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We drove to Clearwater Lake in Reynolds County to find "The Well's Gone Dry", a geocache at an abandoned Corp of Engineers campground.   The pump is an old NFS style pump with a tank.  There is no sign of the old campground left but it was a nice drive to the lake.Clearwater Lake is a reservoir on the Black River six miles from Piedmont, Missouri. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers uses Clearwater for flood control in the White and lower Mississippi River Basins.  Construction began in 1940 but was halted temporarily at the advent of World War II. Clearwater Lake Dam opened in 1948.  

Piedmont, MO

Piedmont has a WalMart and McDonald's so it is a nice town to camp near. It is near to Sam A Baker and sits in a fairly narrow valley and quite pretty.