12/3/2020 0 Comments Missouri Rocks! At the beginning of November Ryan and I took our long awaited trip to go visit my great friend, Morgan Barkley! I wrote about Morgan and her trail building experience here, back in March when we were initially planning on going to see her. Since then Morgan has started working for a new trail building company, Jagged Axe Trail Designs. Morgan is leading the build team in Ironton, Missouri where we got to check out the green, blue and black trails on Shepard Mountain! This region was originally home to the Kickapoo and Osage people who were removed during the Indian removal act of 1830 and marched along the trail of tears where they were given small parcels in territories of present day, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Kansas.
Ryan and I have been on a lot of trips but this was our first road trip out of state. We left after work on Saturday and stayed in the driveway of a Lafayette Indiana bike polo player. It's so great to have a bike community that stretches outside of Grand Rapids! The drive went quickly while we listened to podcasts, and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Ironton is in the middl eof nowhere Missouri, like the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, but as we made our way out there we passed through St. Louis and saw the arch for our first time! We arrived at the Academy where the Jagged Axe crew has put up. The last time I saw Morgan was just over a year ago. The minute I tumbled out of the Element, Morgan was right there in the parking lot. We cried a little and hugged and laughed a ton. She handed us PBR's and we headed out on the tour of the Historical Arcadia Academy. (Arcadia is adjacent to Ironton, both tiny towns that are pretty much bunched together to make one normal sized town). The Academy was originally built as a Methodist High School in 1846 and was used as a hospital during the Civil War. (The Battle of Pilot Knob happened in another tiny adjacent town, Pilot Knob.) In 1877 the Ursuline Nuns bought it and ran it as a girls school until 1971. The architecture and grounds are really beautiful and I can only imagine how incredible it was back in the hay-day. Yes, the pipe organ still works in the Cathedral, and the spotlights in the theater still work too. Fast-forward to waking up the next morning to Ryan making coffee out the back of the Element. Morgan had to head up to work on the trails so Ry and I drove out to Council Bluffs and rode an intense 12 miles around an old reservoir. We immediately discovered that yes, Missouri is very rocky, and hilly! Mountainous to be precise, we were up in the St. Francois Mountains, I had no idea there were mountain in Missouri!? Out at Council Bluffs we saw a ton of geodes and beautiful rock formations. The variety out there, so stunning. Tuesday Morning we met Morgan up on Shepard Mountain in the warm, late fall mist, and rode the trails that she and her crew have been working on! Missouri rocks, but also Missouri MUDDD! We typically try not to make a practice of riding when the trails are wet but hey, the foreman said we could! Neither Ryan or I have full sus bikes so we stuck to the green trail that day, but i'd rather call it teal haha It was so fun to session the jumps and berms that have been masterfully built into the side of the mountain and around the old mining trenches. We had a hoot bombing down the trail and then turning around and walking back up to do it all over again. After reveling in our muddy glory we cleaned up, napped and met back up with Morgan. As we were chilling, the owner of Jagged Axe, Alex, drove up with Morgan's new work truck and a sick huge chainsaw that the crew gets to use. That night we got to know the whole crew better over monster margaritas and homemade tattoos. Morgan had the next day off so after a decent amount of recovery time in the morning, Morgan took us to Elephant Rocks and Johnson Shut Ins. Both are extraordinary rock formations and result of erosion. The softer rock or earth was worn away by the elements or in the shut ins case, a river, until the bedrock underneath was exposed to what we interact with today. Hate to say it but you had to be there. Or you have to go there! It's so stunning. I love climbing and scrambling around on rocks hahaha Our last day in Missouri started with another ride up on the trails of Shepard Mountain, but this time we got to ride them with Morgan! It was so cool to follow her and hear the stories of all the neat features that they've working through up there. It was a beautiful sunny morning, melting the frost that came in the night. While Morgan finished her work day Ryan and I went to go look at more rocks. This time we went to Marble Creek which is essentially a smaller version of the Shut Ins, but the rocks there are more purple! There's ruins of an old dam from the mining operation that used to be set up there. It's cool to see the rocks cut up in such unnatural shapes.
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AuthorLiz is a bike mechanic in Grand Rapids MI. She is one of two female mechanics in the city. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Drawing and has one dog and one hedgehog. Archives
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