Hiking Russell Mountain to Taum Sauk | Missouri’s Highest Point
#missourishighestpoing #taumsauk #highpointing
Today I’m hiking a 10 mile loop from Russell Mountain to Taum Sauk Mountain, the highest point in Missouri. On the hike I learned about the Highpointers Club founded by “Guru Jakk” Longacre and stumbled upon several surprises including Taum Sauk Tower, which was awesome! Give the video a watch on YouTube and please subscribe. I just passed 100 subscribers and could not be more grateful.
AllTrails Stats
Russell Mountain to Taum Sauk Mountain
Arcadia, Missouri
Type: Loop | Rate: Moderate | Traffic: Moderate
Length: 9mi | Elevation Gain: 1,345ft
3 for 1! You get Taum Sauk Tower, Taum Sauk Mountain, and Mina Sauk Falls in this trail making it an excellent Missouri day hike.
What is Highpointing and the Highpointers Club
The Highpointers Club is a non-profit organization comprised of hiking lovers across the country who share the passion of highpointing, summiting the highest points in all 50 states of America. The club was founded in 1986 by Jack “Guru Jakk” Longacre after he began noticing a pattern of comments in various summit registers of people summiting their 9th, 24th, 42nd, etc. summits across the nation. Those comments inspired Jakk to post a bulletin in the Oct. 1986 issue of Outside Magazine to have other summiters contact him, and the rest as they say is history.
Just a few hundred yards from the Russell Mountain Trail head there is a memorial to Guru Jakk built by a local Missouri Boy Scout Troupe. Russell Mountain was selected because you can see the Taum Sauk summit and Taum Sauk Tower beautifully across the valley.
Russell Mountain to Taum Sauk Mountain Trail
I really enjoyed this 10 mile loop trail just an hour and a half south of St. Louis. The Russell Mountain Trailhead is off State Hwy CC just a few miles from Arcadia, Missouri. The cool part about this trail is that you hike the Ozark Trail from Russell Mountain until you enter Taum Sauk Mountain State Park. Once inside the park I was surprised to find the trail not only leads to the Taum Sauk high point but also past Taum Sauk Tower (which you can climb up during the day) and Mina Sauk Falls, neither of which were mentioned on AllTrails.
Head to my Instagram @mshepjordan9 to see more pictures from this hike!
I’ll be honest, the Taum Sauk high point is not the highlight of this trail. It’s a bit underwhelming. There isn’t a view or vista (which I was fully expecting), just a stone, high point marker, and bench, but hey! You made it to Missouri’s highest point!
Taum Sauk Tower and Mina Sauk Falls are what this 10 mile loop hike are all about. Starting at Russell Mountain and visiting Guru Jakk’s memorial is a wonderful way to kick off this trail. Plus you can tell people you’ve hiked park of the OT!
“Keep Klimbin”
More YouTube Hiking Videos
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Staunton State Park | Colorado
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