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Location:  

Greer, MO.  10-12 miles south of Eminence, MO on Hwy 19.  

Features:  

This is a 3 mile round trip hike, which descends several hundred feet. At the bottom, the Greer spring pool forms partially inside a small cave.  There's a medium-sized stream flowing out of a cave.  There used to be a mill here, but now there's just a marker in it's place.

Note:  This is the second largest spring in the state.  Waterflow can be quite large.

Equipment - what you should take:

 -  This is a strenuous 3 mile hike down to the stream / spring.  I wouldn't recommend carrying a tripod that distance unless you're really in shape.  Perhaps one of those hiking sticks that doubles as a monopod would be useful here.  This is a steep trail.  Take water, even if it's cool.  Wear comfortable shoes.  This trail blisters the backs of my heel/legs every single time I hike it.  Take some SecondSkin (adhesive felt / moleskin) material

 - This is a fairly tight canyon-like area.  I can't see that you'd have much use for a telephoto lens. I shot most everything with my 28-70L zoom.  I also took my 17-35L, and used it for a few shots.

 - Take fast film (ISO400).  The canyon blocks direct sunlight at most times of the day.  Since you don't have a tripod, you'll need fast film.

 - Unless you're shooting from Noon - 2pm, you'll be shooting in the shade of the trees lining the canyon.

 -  The trail is a fairly dusty adventure.  Bring a lens brush.

 - I'd recommend wrapping your photo equipment and placing it into a backpack.  A camera bag or belt pack will get in the way on the hike.  

 - As this is a fairly remote location, and one where your cell phone won't work, you might want to bring along a first aid kit.  The area is inhabited by poisonous snakes, so a snake bite kit might be in order. 

Photo tips:

There are good photos to be had if you can cross to the other side of the stream - there's a great shot up the canyon upstream from where the greer pool is.  This was dry when I was there - I guess it's mainly storm runoff that flows through it.  .I walked across a fallen tree and didn't have any problem, but if you have to wade, be careful.  It gets about 20 ft deep in the center and the water is moving fairly fast.  

Seasonal Info:

I went there at the end of April, 2000, and the foliage wasn't what I'd hoped.  People tell me it looks best in the summer months of July and August.  Keep in mind that you're in a canyon that will fill when it rains.  There are metal stairs at the very bottom of the trail, so you should be able to get out of the canyon easily if it starts to rain.  Also keep in mind that you're in Missouri, and in southern parts it rains on a semi-daily basis during the summer. Forecasts more than a few hours old are rarely reliable in these parts.

Update 1/2004:  There was no foliage whatsoever.  The area was very uninteresting.  Water level was much higher than pictured here.

The Canyon - the spring is directly behind the photographer

My impressions and experiences: 

In the late fall of 1995, I spent my first night sleeping in my car at Ed's campground, about two miles from Greer Springs and the Eleven Point river in Southern Missouri.  We arrived at about 1:30am.  It was late enough that we decided not to pitch the tents, which was fine as we were embarking on a three-day canoe trip the next morning and we'd have had to repack them in a few hours.  

Being (at the time) a city boy, the first thing I noticed were the stars.  When you're out in the middle of nowhere, away from the lights and pollution of the city, the stars are incredible.  You start to see millions of them that you never before knew existed.  If you look really close, you can see the faint blue outline of the Milky Way galaxy.

The second thing I noticed was that the front seat of my Coldsmobile was a *really* uncomfortable place to spend the night.  The Colds was old enough that I didn't want to risk carbon monoxide poisoning from the muffler that I really should have had replaced, so it was cold.  

I awoke at about 6:00am and about 50 deg F, and through the windshield I see four other city boys trying to start a fire.  I watched in amusement for a while, then decided to help them out.  By pouring a 1.5L bottle of Coleman stove and lantern fuel on the wet logs they'd collected.  I think we all must've realized what a really bad idea this was, because there wasn't one of us brave enough to light it up.  No problem, I thought.  I carry road flares, I'll just light one of those and run.  And to the other city boys' dismay, it worked.  There was now a 45 ft roaring fire with which to warm ourselves.  Unfortunately none of us noticed that this fire was under the only shade tree on Ed's campground, and soon became consumed in the flames.  Around 9am we finished exchanging insurance information and apologizing to Ed and set out on our journey down the Eleven Point river.  

We never figured out why they called it that, or why the maps engraved into the bow of the canoes were upside down, but we did soon discover why Ed was so willing to forgive us for torching his shade tree:  He gave us all leaky canoes.  No problem, we'll use the empties to bail out the water.  Everything is in dry bags, so we'll be fine.    

Then disaster strikes:  I come around the first bend in the river and hit a rootwad.  A rootwad, for those of you who don't have a redneck dictionary, is the root ball of an overturned tree.  The water tends to pull you through the roots, and typically overturns the canoe.  Later I learned that Ed along with everyone else in the area knows about these things, McDonalds even uses the warning brochures as tray liners, they're so common.  I hopped out of the canoe to save the stuff inside, and in doing so, lost my prescription glasses.  As a result, I couldn't see for the rest of the journey.  This wouldn't have been a problem if there were someone else in the canoe to watch for any upcoming problems, but there wasn't.  So I'm on a class 3 river that I'm now navigating by sound alone.  For the next three days.  Then I have to drive home.  Crap.  

But we regroup and continue undaunted.  I followed everyone else through Mary Decker Shoals and could only hear as a friend of mine hit a rock and was thrown out of the canoe.  I would've liked to see that, but hearing it was pretty funny, too.  

Then it starts to rain.  A lot.  We pull up on a sand bank and climb about ten foot to a plateau where we camped for the first night.  There was a small cave near there, and we built a fire at the entrance and used it for partial shelter until the heaviest of the rains had passed, then pitched the tents.  Being city boys, we decided to feast on burned hot dogs and baked potatoes, which promptly made everyone ill.  

The rest of the journey was uneventful - I got pretty good at paddling with one hand and bailing with the other, and at squinting out a route through upcoming rapids.  To all our surprise, Ed was waiting at the other end to pick us up in the all-to-common (at least in these parts) worn out school bus.

Five years later, I find myself back at the place where it all happened.  If you look at Ed's place, you can even see where the tree used to be.

The trail is for the most part Ozark dirt and crushed rock.  It's supposed to be a three mile round trip, but most who have hiked it know that it's only a half mile going down and at least five miles coming back up.  It's mainly a switchback trail which crosses over several foot bridges, and there are plenty of benches to rest coming back up.  The trail is extremely well marked.  In fact the path is so well defined that I didn't see any trail markers along the way.

The poison ivy is plentiful.  There are signs warning you to stay on the trails for this reason.  I wore jeans and stayed on the trail and didn't get it, but there are warnings that if you're particularly allergic, it's so plentiful that the oils can travel through the air and irritate the eyes. 

As I said before, there are snakes, but I didn't see any while I was there.  However I was walking around looking through the viewfinder  of my new EOS3 in a location near there, and I happened upon a 3-3.5 ft diamond back rattlesnake sunning himself on the concrete next to a bridge.  I was about 3 ft away from him when we became aware of each others presence.  He didn't hang around long enough to rattle, he just took off as fast as he could in the other direction.  I can't imagine that you'd have any problem as long as you didn't step on one. 

Was it worth it?  Once.  I went there, I saw what there is to see, and I won't be going back any time soon.  I was stupid enough to embark on this journey not knowing what was at the bottom, or how far away from the bottom the car was, or that I really should've taken water with me.  Maybe I'll try again when it's about 45-55 deg F outside.  Otherwise one tends to overheat along the journey back to the top.  Edward Weston once said that if it's more than 500 foot from the road, it isn't photogenic.  It wasn't his intent to state that he was content to ignore that which was inconvenient, but rather to point out that if it was that great a place, there'd be a road built to it by now.  

Total round-trip time including two rolls of film and wheezing was about two and a half hours.   Update:   Four years later and in a little better condition, I made the hike down, took one roll of photos, and ran back up the trail (it was seriously getting dark) in one hour and 10 minutes.  I consumed a lot of water in the process.

If you're thinking that this maybe isn't for you, you're probably right.  This is a wilderness area, not a tourist attraction.  Unless you like getting back to nature, and getting either poison ivy or snake-bit, which seems to go along with it, skip this and drive 5 miles north on Hwy 19 to the Falling Springs / Turner Mill.  It's a really cool spring coming out of the side of a cliff and turning the wheel of an old mill that you can appreciate from the car.  Twenty minutes North and West from there, you'll find Alley Spring, a bright red mill and huge spring which just makes it inside the 500 ft photogenic perimeter.  

Driving directions:

Take Hwy 19 South from Hwy 60 or I-44 (the Cuba, MO exit).  Pass through Eminence, MO and continue for 16 miles.  Hwy 19 will cross the Eleven Point river and start back uphill.  At the top of the hill  and on the West side is the parking area and trail head for Greer Spring.  

Brochures, maps and other publications:

Sorry, there weren't any.  This is one of the state's unheralded treasures.

A Few More Photos:

Other Attractions in the area:

Turner Mill / Falling Springs 

Eleven Point River - Class 2/3 rapids, a great three-day canoeing adventure and world-class trout fishing.

Round Springs - A deep blue spring that flows under a natural bridge which you cross to get to the spring.  Lots of otters play in the pools here.

Rocky Falls - a really cool continually flowing cascade which falls about 60 ft to a large swimming lake.

Current River - Most of these springs end up flowing into the Current River, another class 2/3 canoeing favorite around these parts.  

Dining:

There's a combination bait shop, wildlife checking station where they check to see that what you shot is what you think you shot (and you thought the tests ended after college - ha!), ammo shop, gas station and restaurant.  ColdBeerIceAmmoBaitFireworks, I think the name was.  I'd recommend passing this by and driving 60 miles north on Hwy 19 to the brand-new Denny's restaurant.

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