I had a lovely trip through some of the prettiest parts of Missouri on the most beautiful fall weekend of the year.  The St. Francois Moutains, in terms of size, are barely foothills in some parts of the world, but for Missouri they do very nicely.  Part of the Ozark Plateau, they are one of the oldest mountain ranges in the country- older than the Appalachians, older than the Rockies.  They started forming 1.4 billion years ago, while the Rockies were only formed 70 million years ago.  The St. Francois Mountains are igneous rock, formed from volcanic activity, and they are the center of the Missouri mining region.

I travelled through here as a kid and as a teenager with my family, and I’ve wanted to return with my camera since I moved back to Missouri.  I finally got a chance with a couple of the state parks in the region, but I had to leave most of it for another trip.  Maybe I’ll get to return in the spring.

The above photos were all taken at Elephant Rocks State Park, outside Graniteville, Missouri.  I am looking through these and realizing that I haven’t finished processing everything from that trip!

The above photo was taken at Capen Park, in Columbia, Missouri, which is not part of the St. Francois Mountains, but is on the far northern edge of the Ozark Plateau.

The above two photos were taken at Little Dixie Lake in Millersburg, Missouri.

And this one was taken in my backyard!

For more photos from fall, or more of my landscape & nature images, hop on over to my Flickr site, which is where I post photos regularly.