Mark Twain National Forest - Missouri

Explore the land of steep limestone mountains decorated with clear-rushing streams. Perfect for canoeing and filled with diverse plant life, the Mark Twain National Forest is a great nature getaway for the whole family.

Located in 29 counties in southern and central Missouri, the Mark Twain National Forest extends from the St. Francois Mountains in the southeast to dry rocky glades in the southwest, and from prairie lands along the Missouri River to the nation's lead belt in the northeast. Lying mostly in the Ozark Plateau, Mark Twain consists of 1.5 million acres of forested area that was once given up for dead after timbering operations stripped the hills by the turn of the century. Today, the Forest is alive and well and holds some of the Midwest's wildest, most remote land.

Visitors can enjoy plenty of outdoor recreation on the clear spring-fed rivers and streams and climb rocky bluffs to take in pastoral views. Hikers can choose trails from one of the richest trail systems in the U.S. Mark Twain National Forest also offers two developed OHV (off highway vehicle) recreation sites, one at Chadwick near Ava, MO, and the other at Sutton Bluff near Salem, both filled with wildflowers and wildlife, making this forest popular with fisherman, wildlife photographers, observers and plain lovers of the outdoors