A Walk in the Woods

A lot of people – mostly men it seems – will sometimes say, “I was born about 100 years too late.” 

C’mon now, I know I can’t be the only one.

They want to go back to the pioneer days, when men were men and…well, you get the idea.  They want to go back to a time when the plains were home to millions of bison and much of the country was covered in trees that reached monstrous proportions.

The bad news is, you can never go back in time.

The good news is, there is one place where you can get a feel for the old days. 

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One of the places where you can get a taste of that bygone era is in southeast Missouri near where I live.  Down in the Bootheel of Missouri, barely more than a stone’s throw from the Mississippi River, is a state park that was skipped over when the great Swampeast Missouri was almost completely logged off at the beginning of the 20th century.

When we walk in the woods in most of our state, we see trees that may have lived 100 years and think of them as old.  Well, there’s a place near East Prairie, Missouri where some of the trees celebrated their 100th birthday hundreds of years ago. 

It’s tempting to call it the land that time forgot.

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When our kids or grandkids are visiting, Annie and I try to do fun and interesting things rather than sitting around all day just talking.  Well, when our son, Bobby, brought his son, Richard, home to visit for Christmas, they stayed several days after everyone else left.  I had taken vacation to deer hunt and had already filled my tags, so I was able to enjoy their visit even more than usual.

One of the places Bobby liked to visit as a kid was Big Oak Tree State Park.  He was eager to share that experience with his son.

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The drive to Big Oak Tree is long and signs are sparse.  It can make one wonder if they’ve missed a turn.  My family has been there enough times that we just relaxed as we wound around through the vast expanse of cleared farmland following the levee. 

When you approach the park, you can see it way off in the distance.  Some of the trees there stand well above the neighboring forest.  Well, they stand above pretty much everything else between there and St. Louis.  I’ve read that the trees in the park average 120 feet in height.  Remember, the average includes saplings too, which vastly outnumber mature trees in most woods.  Yup, there are some whoppers.

The big oak tree that gave the park its name was over 400 years old when it finally died in 1953.  The first couple times we visited the park, about 20 years ago, they had a cross-sectional slab cut from that venerable old oak standing on edge inside a building.  That cross-cut piece was probably seven feet tall.  If I remember correctly, someone had stuck tags to it pointing to certain growth rings and told the years those layers had grown.  They also noted some historic event that happened the same year.  One listed the Pilgrims’ landing at Plymouth Rock.

Yeah, 1620…and the tree was already grown then.  Before it’s passing it would have probably been over 23 feet around!  That’s about as big as four grown men can reach around, fingertip to fingertip. 

The park is currently the home of seven state record trees, and five others have sadly died since it opened.  Three of the living trees are actually the largest representatives of their species in the entire United States.

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One of the things my family likes to do when we visit Big Oak Tree is to take a walk on the boardwalk.  Well, it was made of wood when we first walked it; now it’s made of steel.  It’s still a boardwalk, though.  Go figure.

The walk zigzags through the lowlands around Big Oak Lake.  The snake-like boardwalk twists and turns to take the viewer within sight of some of the bigger trees in the park.  The lowlands are actually a swamp, but a lot of it is dry for parts of the year.  There are no signs (at least that I’m aware of) warning visitors to stay on the boardwalk.  Thus for much of the year, agile walkers can hop off the trail and visit the forest monarchs.  Yeah, go ahead and try to wrap your arms around them, but be sure you bring some friends.

A quick warning for some of my less nature-aware readers – some times of the year hikers would be well-advised to carry bug spray.  Also, remember, besides raccoons and rabbits, the wildlife you may see can include snakes.

Hey, it’s a swamp.  Always keep your eyes open.  I’m not the least bit afraid of snakes but I still stay alert.  Even fearless Davy Crockett types like me can still get bitten by poisonous snakes.

Risks are actually quite small, but still greater than stepping on a poisonous snake in downtown St. Louis.  All things considered, I feel safer in the swamp.

Davy Crockett, remember?

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There is a playground just across the road from the entrance to the boardwalk.  Richard loved it.  The park encompasses somewhere between five and ten acres.  It has a few pieces of modern playground equipment spaced out with more thought-provoking and educational areas, like the section with various musical instruments.  Richard and his Bobby enjoyed the wooden xylophone for a few minutes before moving on to try pretty much everything in the park.  That was easy to do, as we were the only people there that day.

Yes, I said we were the only people there that day.

Special events are put on at Big Oak Tree State Park from time to time but are not as well advertised as I would like.  When my sons were younger I took them there during a sort of Pioneer Day.  Booths were set up selling such delightful old-time snacks as kettle corn.  In others talented craftsmen demonstrated old-fashioned skills.  The boys and I watched a blacksmith pound a piece of steel into a curved plant hanger with a pretty leaf on the end.  I bought one for my lovely wife.  She really liked it and still uses it.  In fact, she asked me to buy a few more if I get the chance.

One man stood out for his 19th century garb.  He was doing a great job pretending to be John Muir.  For those not familiar with Muir, he was a Scottish immigrant best described as a naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, glaciologist, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States.

My kind of guy.

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Richard loved his first visit to Big Oak Tree State Park.  Bobby thoroughly enjoyed his fifth or so visit, and Annie and I felt like we were revisiting one of the few aspects of our younger lives that hasn’t changed much in the intervening years.  Heck, it hasn’t changed much at all in, well, forever.

If you enjoy nature and would like to get a feel for what the pioneers saw when they first walked through Southeast Missouri way back before it was even a state, Big Oak Tree State Park is the place to do it.  Pack a picnic lunch and let the kids play on the playground, but don’t count on making a lot of new friends unless you go on a day when a special activity is planned.  There is a chance you may find Big Oak Tree State Park as people-free as it was hundreds of years ago.

That’s a good thing in my book.

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To find Big Oak Tree State Park, go to East Prairie, Missouri, and head south on Highway 102.  Follow the signs, but be patient, they are a long way apart.  The address of the park is 13640 South Hwy 102, East Prairie, MO 63845-8768.

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