It didn’t take long to figure out. In the tradition of St. Joe and Route 66 State Parks, it’s another environmental mess handed to the state to turn into a natural playground. The tip-off was the concrete bunker-like structures rising among the campsites and the various odd-shaped lakes.The state park brochure accentuates the positive: “The 1,050-acre park that features six lakes and a rare sand prairie was created through a unique series of events involving both nature and man.”

To summarize, ice age glaciers left huge amounts of gravelly rock, that were used beginning in 1924 to build more than 23,000 miles of Missouri secondary highways. Once the gravel deposits were mined out, the state highway commission deeded 273 acres to the Missouri State Park Board in 1960. The DNR added 777 acres from Central Stone Co. in 1992.

The lakes look fishy — in a good way. They are stocked with largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill and catfish. As you might expect along the Mississippi, the lakes are a waterfowl magnet, attracting Canada geese, snow geese, mallards, lesser scaups, norther shovelers, great blue herons, snowy egrets and other kinds of ducks and gulls.

Flora lovers can find sand-loving plants like sandgrass, sand dropseed and prairie sunflower.

There are 79 campsites, handy to the nearby casino, and the state park system’s largest swmming beach on Wakonda Lake.

This time, it was a beautiful spring day and I was in no hurry to be anywhere, so I pulled in to explore. What a lovely, secluded Ozark vista, just a half-mile off U.S. 34 in Wayne County.

The CA is a 130-acre tract containing shut-ins on six-tenths of a mile of McKenzie Creek, which flows through nearby Piedmont.

The rocks and pools are gorgeous. If you’re a fan of Johnson Shut-Ins, Madison County’s “Pink Rocks” at Amidon CA and Millstream Gardens, better add Lon Sanders Canyon to your list of must-sees. There’s a glade restoration project in place and a half-mile nature trail built as an Eagle Scout project.

More information on Lon Sanders Canyon is available at MDC’s Conservation Atlas. 

The cabin had a sleeping loft, a bedroom and living-dining room that featured a futon couch, dining table and bench, refrigerator and microwave-toaster. There was electric in the cabin, but no bathroom or water. The view was beautiful overlooking Mark Twain Lake. The cabin worked well for Virginia and me, two granddaughters and one of their friends.

Campground hosts were Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Jaco, Jefferson City, who formerly lived in southeast Missouri and were familiar with Traveler. That was a nice connection to make.

The campground was fairly busy, with lots of boats and anglers. The lake was cold and brown in color from recent heavy rains. Overcast skies on Friday made it look dull. But skies cleared by evening and we enjoyed beautiful sunsets by the campfire both Friday and Saturday night.

Granddaughter Shael and I climbed down the rocks and fished with nightcrawlers Saturday evening. Then we switched to some sparkly lures, but nothing bit. Still, it was nice to wet a line and get the kids into the outdoors. Ipods, the latest movies and tv shows were forgotten for awhile. Who can think about electronic stuff when there’s a campfire to poke or driftwood to pick up.

It was the first time we had taken our dog on a camping trip. He wasn’t as much trouble as we expected and added to the enjoyment. It’s good to have a pickup truck with a camper shell to shut him up in though.

Mark Twain Lake is an easy drive from St. Louis — four lanes until the last few miles — uncongested with friendly businesses. There are a number of private resorts and campgrounds in addition to the state park and Corps of Engineers campgrounds.

Put it on your list of places to visit this summer.

The crossword on the front cover of April’s Traveler is missing some boxes. I found this out when I walked into Holliday Landing’s office at Wappapello Lake and found that owner Rod Howard had written answers off the edges of the puzzle. After taking a good natured beating, I figured out what happened.

Charlie Slovensky created the puzzle in Microsoft Excel. When I converted the Excel file to a PDF to export it into Traveler’s cover layout, I set the print area too small, dropping off two rows of boxes down the right side and one row across the bottom. My bad.

Here’s a link to the complete puzzle, in pdf and jpeg formats. Clues are on Page 20 of the April print issue. Here’s a link to the solution.

•••

Other than that, it’s been a good week in the Ozarks. The redbud blooms are so thick and heavy in southeast Missouri, it’s a wonder they don’t break off some branches. Why do they call it redbud? Most that I see are a vivid shade of lavender.

•••

I’m beginning to notice cars park along the road shoulders and folks staring at the earth at the edge of the woods. They may be morel hunters, but I haven’t stopped to ask. That’s not a subject anybody wants to discuss, until they’ve brought in their finds.

•••

The U.S. Highway 60 community of Ellsinore made the national news this week when a young man landed a stolen Cessna there that he had flown from Canada. Tracey Holden, executive director of the Ripley County Chamber of Commerce, lives near Ellsinore and said the F16s corralling the Cessna woke her.

•••

Had a nice visit with Ray Joe Haskins while I was in Doniphan. Ray Joe wholesaled me a couple of his books, Bow & River Gigs, to have available for our office visitors, then told me about good times he had competing in team canoe racing around Missouri. He says the annual canoe race at Doniphan has dwindled, but there’s a movement afoot (afloat?) to make a bigger event of it.

The Missouri River 340 has been held in July of the last two years. That’s the only other Missouri canoe race I know about. If you know of others, please drop me an email at estyron@rhtrav.com.

•••

Speaking of office visitors, we’ve had several since Traveler established digs at 21B Vance Road in Valley Park. The office is generally open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays and by chance at other times. We’d love to see you, if you’d like to stop by. Call ahead to make sure we’re in. The phone number is 800-874-8423.

•••

There’s a great deal of optimism about this year’s float season among canoe outfitters we’ve talked to this spring. The weather’s been great, especially compared to last spring’s floods, and several report that reservations are coming in at a healthy clip. Though the economy’s down, floating, fishing and camping are affordable family activities.

•••

That’s all for now. Have a great Easter weekend.