We woke up when the sun rose, gathered our things around the site and headed to an Elk and Bison reserve in the Land between the lakes where we drove slowly over the course of a couple hours taking pictures and staring in awe at the size of these creatures. After only a few bison in the park we didn't think we would see anymore but were shocked when we turned a corner to a massive herd of them. It was a pretty majestic way to start the day.
From the reserve we set our sights on Missouri with no plans of where we would sleep that night. We decided to slow things down on our venture further West into and through Missouri so we travelled only backroads through the state. Not knowing much about the area, we decided to aim toward Mark Twain National Forest which seemed to be beautiful and surrounded by nature. It was a pretty long drive through mostly thick forrest only separated by a small town about every 30 miles or so.
We started our search for a campsite and came across “Paddy Creek” campground. It was a free campsite inside Mark Twain National Forrest and one of the nicest campgrounds i had ever been to. we chose a spot in the back of the grounds that backed up to a crystal clear flowing creek with beautiful red and brown river stones and wildlife all around. After about 6 hours of driving that day, a jump in the creek to relax was just what we needed.
