Over the next few days, my wife and I will explore the St. Francois Mountains, in southeast Missouri, eroded from an ancient Precambrian dome of volcanic and intrusive rocks. Almost 1.5 billion years old, this dome pushed up through the strata of the Ozark Plateau during the Ouachita Orogeny (about 300 million years ago).
Known for their scenic outcrops of granite and for their rich supply of lead, these Mountains host five Missouri State Parks and are drained by the St. Francis River and its tributaries; this river flows southward into northeast Arkansas before joining the Mississippi north of Helena. Taum Sauk Mountain, elevation 1772 feet, is both the highest peak in the St. Francois Mountains and the highest point in Missouri.
We will be staying in Ste. Genevieve on the Mississippi River and our adventures will be documented in the next few blog posts. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate.
