Pavement Ends
James Baughn was the webmaster of seMissourian.com and its sister newspapers for 20 years. On the side, he maintained even more sites, including Bridgehunter.com, LandmarkHunter.com, TheCapeRock.com, and Humorix. Baughn passed away in 2020 while doing one of the things he loved most: hiking in Southeast Missouri. Here is an archive of his writing about hiking and nature in our area.
See the bonus coneflowers at Royal Gorge
Posted Monday, June 17, 2019, at 9:00 AM
I've written previously about the stand of pale purple coneflowers at Cave Creek Glade Nature Preserve near Vienna, Illinois.
This weekend I found another place to see coneflowers, this time in Missouri along Highway 21/72 at Royal Gorge in Iron County.
Several dense patches of coneflowers have grown in the right-of-way next to the highway. These can be easily viewed from the pullout on the north end of Royal Gorge and from the parking lot for the Ozark Trail, both along Highway 21/72 south of Arcadia.
This part of Iron County is beautiful on any season, but the coneflowers add some extra spice during June.
Directions: From Cape Girardeau, take Highway 72 west through Patton and Fredercktown to Arcadia. After crossing the viaduct at Arcadia, turn right twice to stay on Highway 72. Then drive 6 miles and look for the coneflowers on either side of the road. Parking is available at the Ozark Trail and at Royal Gorge.
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