Day 11: Gore to Marthasville
This was Monday and my first full day back in the trail.
After spending the night at Birk's Gasthaus, our favorite B&B in Hermann, Theresa shuttled me back out to the trail at Gore. As I said in the previous post, I walked "in reverse" from Gore back to McKittrick the day before. This time, I was headed in the other direction -- to Marthasville.
This section of the trail is fairly remote. There are long stretches where you are away from Highway 94 and the scenery just river, trail and bluff. I kind of like it. The weather conditions were much the same as the day before, hot and humid. The photo above shows the typical lay of the land from Gore to the Treloar area. It is looking back upstream toward an island in the channel. I must have an affinity toward rivers. For the whole hike, I was always happiest when I could walk next to the water.
As I wrote before, it was pretty hot in the early stages of the walk. As I neared Treloar, however, the sky started to get cloudy and I was beginning to hear rumbles of thunder. OK, so kids, I have heard all the warnings about lightning and how it is best to find cover, so don't do this at home, but I just kept walking. My theory, however flawed, was that I was not the tallest object on or near the trail. so I was relatively safe. And if I was wrong, well, it would all be over pretty quickly. I know ... not the Boy Scout way. But I made it to the trailhead where Theresa met me with lunch. mmmm-mmmmm that Subway sandwich was tasty!
At the trailhead, I met a couple who were headed west on bicycles. They were looking to fill up their water bottles. No luck. They weren't in bad shape and turned down my offer to top them off out of my supply in the truck. Unfortunately, many of these little towns just aren't open for business on Mondays, so if the trailheads don't have water or there isn't a machine available, you are often out of luck. I did see that the town bar had a soda machine outside, so that would do in a pinch. As I wrote last fall and I still believe, EVERY trailhead should have water available. If the state has to run some water lines, so be it.
After eating and scratching what I assume to be the town dog, I bid Treloar goodbye and continued east. After about and hour and a half, I was in Peers. There is not much to Peers, but it does have a great general store and the owners rent a room above the shop to trail-users. I didn't take advantage of the room this time, but I hope to in the future.
Next up was my stopping point for the day, Marthasville. One of the places that I heard so much about was Choo-Choos Frozen Custard. Unfortunately, they have gone out of business. It looked like it was a pretty cool place, so that is a shame. Marthasville, however, still seems to have lots of life in it. There were people coming and going, and they have a really nice ballpark next to the trailhead. Its good, after seeing so many of these little towns that are fading away, to see a little place that is still hanging in there.
I met Theresa at the trailhead and we headed back to Hermann for another night at Birk's. Man is it nice having a ride at the end of a long hiking day!
Stay tuned!
After spending the night at Birk's Gasthaus, our favorite B&B in Hermann, Theresa shuttled me back out to the trail at Gore. As I said in the previous post, I walked "in reverse" from Gore back to McKittrick the day before. This time, I was headed in the other direction -- to Marthasville.
This section of the trail is fairly remote. There are long stretches where you are away from Highway 94 and the scenery just river, trail and bluff. I kind of like it. The weather conditions were much the same as the day before, hot and humid. The photo above shows the typical lay of the land from Gore to the Treloar area. It is looking back upstream toward an island in the channel. I must have an affinity toward rivers. For the whole hike, I was always happiest when I could walk next to the water.
As I wrote before, it was pretty hot in the early stages of the walk. As I neared Treloar, however, the sky started to get cloudy and I was beginning to hear rumbles of thunder. OK, so kids, I have heard all the warnings about lightning and how it is best to find cover, so don't do this at home, but I just kept walking. My theory, however flawed, was that I was not the tallest object on or near the trail. so I was relatively safe. And if I was wrong, well, it would all be over pretty quickly. I know ... not the Boy Scout way. But I made it to the trailhead where Theresa met me with lunch. mmmm-mmmmm that Subway sandwich was tasty!At the trailhead, I met a couple who were headed west on bicycles. They were looking to fill up their water bottles. No luck. They weren't in bad shape and turned down my offer to top them off out of my supply in the truck. Unfortunately, many of these little towns just aren't open for business on Mondays, so if the trailheads don't have water or there isn't a machine available, you are often out of luck. I did see that the town bar had a soda machine outside, so that would do in a pinch. As I wrote last fall and I still believe, EVERY trailhead should have water available. If the state has to run some water lines, so be it.
After eating and scratching what I assume to be the town dog, I bid Treloar goodbye and continued east. After about and hour and a half, I was in Peers. There is not much to Peers, but it does have a great general store and the owners rent a room above the shop to trail-users. I didn't take advantage of the room this time, but I hope to in the future.
Next up was my stopping point for the day, Marthasville. One of the places that I heard so much about was Choo-Choos Frozen Custard. Unfortunately, they have gone out of business. It looked like it was a pretty cool place, so that is a shame. Marthasville, however, still seems to have lots of life in it. There were people coming and going, and they have a really nice ballpark next to the trailhead. Its good, after seeing so many of these little towns that are fading away, to see a little place that is still hanging in there.
I met Theresa at the trailhead and we headed back to Hermann for another night at Birk's. Man is it nice having a ride at the end of a long hiking day!
Stay tuned!
posted by Greg at 3:48 PM
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