Car Camping at Marble Creek

I don't always go hiking when I camp. Sometimes when I bring one of the kids along we either hike just short ways or just camp right next to the car. This past weekend was one of the latter opportunities.

My three oldest daughters spent the week at "Girls Camp" which is a program the church runs every year for girls between 12 and 18. Natalie just turned 12 recently and so was able to go. We persuaded our oldest, Kimberly, to go again (she doesn't care for camping) so all three of them were there together and had a great time.

On Saturday morning I was supposed to go early to pick them up. So I decided to spend the night before the same area I did last year, Marble Creek. Last year I hiked the trail from the Marble Creek campground to Crane Lake. It was a hard hike because there were so many trees down but I remember it fondly. But I was disappointed that I spent so little time at Marble Creek itself. So this time I took my son, Hyrum, and we spent the night at the campground there. We hung our hammocks from trees near the car.



The creek itself is beautiful. The water has worn away all the soil, exposing the rhyolite bones of the area. Rhyolite tends to crack in straight lines, leaving square blocks or stair steps. So the creek looks as though some giant child has spilled their set of building blocks into the water.



Between these large, square boulders are many nice little pools. In the morning Hyrum and I went for a swim in one. Well probably more of a bath than a swim. But it was fun anyway. It's a great place to go splash around on a hot summer's day.



We hiked a bit upstream to where we could see a waterfall. We found that a dam had a been built at some point, possibly for an old mill that no longer exists, and the water fall was really water spilling over this old dam.



I recommend that if you are coming to hike the Marble Creek section of the Ozark Trail that you spend some time here.