The Gorge

There are many scenic gems hidden away in My Corner of the Ozarks. 

On November 4 in response to a notice in the local newspaper, we joined a group of about 20 on a guided hike at Prairie Valley Gorge Natural Area in the Ozarks National Scenic Riverways. 

The guide was Ranger Josh Chilton whose parents lived in Mountain View at one time.

The group first took a winding trail to the top of the gorge to look over the deep valley. 

This gorge, called locally, "the canyon" has been named "Prairie Hollow Gorge" by the National Park Service.  A glade area on top of the bluff has many open land or prairie plants.  It must be managed with fire or eastern red cedar will dominate it, as it does in many Ozark glades.

 

After viewing the gorge from above, we retraced our steps and walked up the valley parallel to a small stream to see the steep rhyolite walls.  Rhyolite is an igneous rock similar to granite.  The igneous outcroppings of the St. Francis Mountains in southeastern Missouri are granite. 

Prairie Valley Gorge empties into the Current River just downstream from Two Rivers, where the Jack's Fork joins the Current.  The lazy trickle of water in the stream turns into a torrent after a heavy rain.  There was evidence of flash flooding in the trees of the gorge.