A Great Place to Make Memories
Story By: Larry Whiteley and Courtney Goff
Photos By: USDA Forest Service and Explore Branson
The Ozark Mountains of southwest Missouri and Northern Arkansas is the largest mountainous region between the Rockies and Appalachians. They are not so much mountains but towering, beautiful, forested hills that stretch across the landscape interspersed with flowing streams and beautiful lakes.
The Mark Twain National Forest is Missouri’s only national forest and encompasses roughly 1.5 million acres, mostly within the Ozarks. It is an ancient landscape characterized by large permanent springs, over 5,000 caves, rocky barren glades, old volcanic mountains, and nationally recognized streams.
Mark Twain is a popular stop for UTV riders coming to the Ozarks. Cobb Ridge Campground, adjacent to the Chadwick Riding area, is their favorite place to stay. The campground provides a variety of campsite sizes, styles, and locations. Riders need a Chadwick riding permit that is available at Kay’s Country Store in Chadwick or Casey’s General Store in Sparta. Cost is $7 a day for motorcycles, ATVs, and side by sides.
The Chadwick area is mostly forested with oak, hickory and pine woods on rocky ridge tops, with a few small open forest glades. Steep ridges break into narrow hollows with scattered surface rock and occasional rock ledges and patches of eastern red cedar. It has numerous trails providing nearly 100 miles of interconnecting loops that vary from easy to difficult terrain, winding in and out of deep, forested hollows and down long ridge tops. Some trail segments are very rocky, steep, rough, rutted, and are technically challenging.
Visit Cobb Ridge Recreation Area to find out more about this great UTV area. After a weekend of riding in this special area of America, you can travel 20 minutes south of the Cobb Ridge Campground through the stunning natural beauty of the Ozarks to Branson.
Want to take the wheel and drive an ATV through the trails at Shepherd of the Hills in Branson? Shepherd of the Hills offers two different adventures to choose from. For the “get your feet wet types,” you can start with a one-hour excursion that includes some time for instruction and learning how to operate the UTVs on the pavement before heading off-road into the Shepherd of the Hills trails for approximately 30 minutes of backwoods adventures.
Branson was ranked Top 20 by Reader’s Digest for Best U.S. Travel Destinations and is known for its family-friendly atmosphere, affordability, and live entertainment. It provides the perfect opportunity for camping, fishing, hiking, outdoor adventure, and a whole lot more. Water sports enthusiasts can swim, water ski, wakeboard, tube, boat, sail, scuba dive, Jet Ski, parasail, kayak, and canoe. There are three lakes in the area to choose from where you can get out and enjoy the water.
From rock and country music to hilarious comedy and amazing acrobats, Branson offers a variety of live entertainment and they are going on mornings, afternoons and nights. Other attractions include museums, aquariums, theme parks, water parks, Ferris wheels, zip lines, movie theaters, miniature golf, and the list goes on. Speaking of golf though, if you’re a golfer, Branson is quickly becoming known as a golfing destination with courses designed by Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, and Tom Fazio. The ladies will love shopping at all the outlet centers, shops and galleries focused on arts and crafts, as well as boutique and specialty stores.
The fall season is a time full of fall craft festivals and Silver Dollar City theme park lights up the night with tens of thousands of pumpkins. During the Christmas season, Branson is known as America’s Christmas Tree City with trees and decorations everywhere you look. Silver Dollar City alone has 6.5 million lights and 1,000 Christmas trees. Every theater puts on special holiday shows.
A search on www.ExploreBranson.com will tell you more about all the many amazing things Branson has to offer couples, families, friends as well as golfing and UTV buddies.
A trip to the Ozarks can be whatever you want it to be. It can be an escape into the natural beauty of the Ozarks to ride your UTV, fish, camp, or just relax. It can be a great destination offering lots of fun things to do for everyone. The Ozarks, Mark Twain National Forest, and Branson are all fantastic places to go make memories to last a lifetime.
