Elephant Rocks

    We woke in our sweet camp site at Johnson's Shut-Ins to a cool, cloudy day.  The peak of Taum Sauk Mountain was shrouded in clouds and we thought we should try a few non-river activities until it warmed up.  Luckily, one of the neatest natural wonders in the state is thirteen miles away.

     Elephant Rocks is an outcropping of the famous Missouri red granite that resembles a string of pink circus elephants.  You can run, climb, pose and ponder these fantastic formations in Belleview, MO.  Dogs are welcome, but observe the social contract and clean up after them!  

The stamp for Elephant Rocks is at The Battle of Pilot Knob (new name, same great civil war battlefield), so make sure you grab the code and travel the 12 miles into town.

The whole low down on why these granite shapes are here is explained very well here.  The state park website is here.  If you're within an hour, go see this.  Luckily, you can go to Johnson Shut-Ins, Taum Sauk and Battle of Pilot Knob as well as the vast awesomeness of Mark Twain National Forest are all nearby.