By Dave Tobey
Hiking in Missouri? You bet! Fall hiking opportunities are plentiful in Missouri.
Unfortunately, during the long hot and humid summer you can lose your hiking edge.
Looking for a solution, I was excited when a group of old friends contacted me and invited me to join them for a climb up Pikes Peak.
Actually, it was more than a group of “friends.” Thirty-five years ago I was coaching cross country at Kickapoo High School in Springfield.
I was excited to have four new freshmen join the team. They immediately picked up the tag of “Stickmen” from other coaches at the school. They weighed 74, 77, 84 and the “fat one” topped out at just over 90 pounds.
The summer after their freshman year, 1987, I threw them in a white van and drove them to Colorado to climb Pikes Peak. The first day we hiked Barr Trail and set up camp at the 6.- mile mark near Barr Camp.
