My Corner Online

 

Mingo National Wildlife Refuge

Mingo, Ducks, Opossum, and Eagles, oh my! Feb 2021

We visited Mingo to do our hike 6 of the 52 Hikes Challenge and to find Eagles. We found them! There are also ducks and birds and an opossum in this video.

Mingo National Wildlife Refuge May 2020

This video is from my second visit to Mingo. See the photos and story below.

February 6, 2021

 

 

February 29, 2020

The boardwalk is always a great place to start at Mingo National Wildlife Refuge which is maintained by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. I loved the shadows and lines as I walked the boardwalk and turned this photo into a high key black and white to draw out the shadows. The Refuge spreads out over two counties, Stoddard and Wayne. The visitor center is located 1 mile north of Puxico off Highway 51 at 24279 State Highway 51. The boardwalk often seen in photos is on the Swampwalk Nature Trail is located either a walk down a hill behind the visitor center, or a drive around to it. The Swampwalk Nature Trail is .8 mile loop. I would suggest having the map handy when you visit because the place is large and will take some time to just drive to all the places, as can be seen in the video above.

We visited on February 29, 2020, and even in the Winter weather we enjoyed the Refuge. I would think it changes constantly throughout the seasons. The boardwalk is literally like walking on water! It is quite intimidating, at least for me, as I am aware of the snakes that live in the water. Just in front of the side viewing area in this photo is where we saw a very large turtle. I only saw it well for a few moments before it began to sink down to the bottom of the water. We could still see it, but not very well, and waited a long time hoping it would come back up. Apparently turtles can hold their breath for a very long time. I still want to know the answer to that question.

We spied several young turtles on logs as we walked the boardwalk.

On the back side of the Swampwalk Nature Trail is a bridge to Rockhouse Cypress Marsh.

With the water running down the left, you can walk down the levy and view the large flat plain. We could have kept going to explore, but left that for another day. The map shows there is an observation tower down this way.

On the back side of the trail is a paved portion of the trail and then it returns to this boardwalk as you loop around to the beginning of the trail. This section has no handrails and it felt a bit more intimidating to me!

Behind the Visitor Center (which was closed when we were there), there is a .1 mile Overlook Trail that leads to a small pavilion with this grand view. It is worth the short hike. It is a vast view larger than a camera or video can capture. To the right side of the Visitor Center is the Bluff Trail which is a .14 mile hike straight down hill to the Swampwalk Nature Trail. Off the parking lot is the Hartz Pond Trail and we also walked down to the pond as can be seen in the video.

There are ditches all over the Refuge which are more like small rivers. This is Ditch 11 along Bluff Road.

Not long after crossing Ditch 11 we came to a turn off that lead to Mingo River. There was a bench and we sat down for a while and quite enjoyed the peacefulness and the birds.

The reflections of the trees on the water were mesmerizing as well and I spent time playing with the camera.

It was a really awesome drive down the Flat Banks area. It was so peaceful that if I had time I could just sit a while. There were picnic benches and places to pull off. The reflections of the trees in the water were so amazing.

On our way to the Ozark Highlands Auto Tour there were many areas to pull off. We pulled into this one and it was beautiful with water fowl and birds of the air. I could not quite be sure, but I thought I saw eagles.

The road to the Ozark Highlands Auto Tour was a bit rough. I believe at times it closes due to flooding. The Auto Tour is 17 miles and we really enjoyed it. Many areas of the road felt like it was built up just above the water level similar to a small levy and it also felt narrow as if a car came in the other direction that we would have trouble passing it. There are some steep hills, but it is really nice that they pave those areas of the road.

This spot called Stanley Creek was at a bridge and was amazingly beautiful the way the sunlight was hitting it. It was not particularly clean water, but at this moment the sunlight gave it a silvery green color.

There are several areas to pull off with amazing views. This is Fry Bluff Overlook, overlooking Monopoly Lake.

 

Next in the video above we visited May Pond.

 

The Monopoly Marsh Overlook is amazing! It is hard to capture the details in a photo. You can see so many details in the distance even with the naked eye. Crowley's Ridge is in the distance, as well as Mingo Basin.

The more you drive through the area, the more you see the common theme of the ditch.

We turned and followed a road along ditch 3 and the birds and water fowl everywhere were amazing. If only I had a long-distance camera lens, I could sit and play here for a long while.

 

We quickly visited the Sandblow Ridge area next, in the video above.

 

Next in the video we visited the Highway 51 Overlook. There is a wooden pier here to walk up on.

We were driving on Red Mill Drive around sunset and found an overlook, also with a wooden area to walk up onto to get a higher view. This was just happenstance, but what an amazing place to watch the sunset! I would come back here and do that again! We would do it on purpose next time. We had made a complete circle around the entire area which took all day, but I left feeling much more familiar with the wonderful place.

March 3, 2011

The first time I visited Mingo was on March 3, 2011, with the local photography group. It sure helped to have a guide to tell us the names of plants.

BLOODROOT

HARGINGER OF SPRING

SPICE BUSH

SPRING BEAUTY

TOOTHWART AND TRILLIAM

Field of Purple near Henbit, Just West of Delta

Unknown Flowering Bush & Overlook Trail

BOARDWALK

Honey Locust

DUCK CREEK

MINGO RIVER

TURTLES

 

 

 

Copyright Cheryl Rutledge-Brennecke
Thank you for visiting.

Follow me: Substack | Facebook | Instagram | Youtube | X | Pinterest | Facebook Group Rutledge | Facebook Group Boyer & Marechal | Etsy Store