Missouri Parks and Outdoor Spaces

5/23/16

Ha Ha Tonka State Park Camdenton MO
I grew up in Camdenton so I have been to Ha Ha Tonka numerous times, even before it became a state park in 1978, and it is one of our favorite Missouri State Parks. This park is  3,700 acres  on the Niangua arm of the Lake of the Ozarks about five miles south of Camdenton. The park's most notable feature is the castle ruins, modeled after European castles of the 16th century, completed in the late 20s and burned in 1942. The park also features caves, sinkholes, and bluffs overlooking the lake. It is a prominent example of karst topography, which is geological formation shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock. A 70-acre  portion of the park was designated the Ha Ha Tonka Karst Natural Area in 1981. Today, I visited with my mom and my son and his family. First we visited the castle and there was fencing around the ruins in many places due to falling rocks so there were only a few places where you could walk right up to the ruins. We walked around the ruins and out to the overlook above the lake then walked down to the water tower. Part of the group walked down the over 300 steps from the water tower to the spring while the rest of us moved the vehicles. The spring is my favorite spot in the park and is Missouri's 12th largest spring. We also walked around the island up to the balancing rock in this area. Our last stop today was the Natural Bridge/Coliseum area. We spent about 3 1/2 hours and walked over 4 miles. There were several other visitors today. We try to visit here at least once a year and I recommend this park!