The Pig Trail

The Pig Trail is one of the most scenic roads in the state, and one of the funnest roads to drive on. The stretch of Hwy. 23 north of the town of Ozark curves and dips along the Ozark Mountains, through deep forests of tall oak and spruce trees.

I headed up there last weekend to meet up with Zack, so we could try to take some pictures of the fall colors. The colors in the mountains were right at their peak, and the weather conditions were cloudy and foggy (perfect!). We had arranged to meet up at an overlook, but I was running late because I kept getting distracted by so many things to stop and take pictures of. Like mountains covered with orange and yellow trees, and drifting fog...



And old barns...



At one point the road enters what seems like a "tree tunnel," and I found a safe place to pull over and park for a few pictures. 



And I know it probably really doesn't make sense to take pictures with a camera that only shoots in black and white on a day when the fall colors were peaking, but it did look kinda neat with the infrared camera too.



And a bit of a wider shot, after some of the fog had moved down the mountain. Luckily there wasn't much traffic out that day.



I couldn't help but stop a little bit down the road again.









It was about this point that I realized I was long overdue from the time I promised to meet up with Zack. I sent him a text which said "Distracted by foggy road shots." He almost immediately responded with "I knew it!" I hurried back to the car, eager to see more of some peak fall color in the Ozarks...

Shirley

Caroline and I decided to celebrate our anniversary (six years!) by renting a cabin near Mountain View for the weekend. So along the way, we took the extremely curvy road that travels up and over the mountains and found ourselves driving through the small town of Shirley. The town was incorporated in 1911, and is believed to have been named after a railroad worker (and not, sadly, named by someone who was a fan of this scene from Airplane!).



Just south of Shirley is this old house, abandoned and falling apart. I wasn't able to find out anything about how old it was, but apparently it was once used as a boarding house.



The Little Red River runs by Shirley, and an old rail bridge spans the river here that was built in 1908. After the railroad ceased to use the bridge, it was paved and converted into use for cars (and big trucks, which started to drive onto the bridge when I was hurrying out to get a few pictures, I had to turn around and hustle back since the bridge is very narrow).



We headed north, passing by a few neat barns that I tried to get a few pictures of....



The fall colors were looking good, and were saturated a bit by the rainy and foggy weather.





And then we passed by this old building, which maybe was once a school?





And one last shot, before we hurried on towards Mountain View in the rain....