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Sam A. Baker State Park: Mudlick Trail

Sam A. Baker State Park, Missouri State Parks (near Patterson)

Sam A. Baker State Park covers about 5,323 acres in the St. Francois Mountains; Wikipedia says the state acquired it in 1926. In the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps built much of the park, including three stone backpacking shelters on the Mudlick Trail.

The trail climbs nearly 1,000 feet from Big Creek to the top of Mudlick Mountain, mostly inside the 4,420-acre Mudlick Mountain Wild Area.

The hike

The park’s trail details give the Mudlick Equestrian Hike Trail as a 10.8-mile loop from the day-use area, rated “Rugged,” with an estimated 10 hours and 47 minutes of hiking. The park map, dated 08/24, splits the system into a yellow-blazed equestrian and hike trail and an orange-blazed hike-only trail, with a 5.8-mile north loop and a 1.9-mile south section. Terrain Magazine’s 2025 roundup lists the 10.8-mile trail with about 900 feet of elevation change and “two backcountry campgrounds to choose from, so you can split up the distance however you’d like.”

The trail starts at about 415 feet in the Big Creek valley and tops out at 1,313 feet on Mudlick Mountain. The 1980 National Recreation Trail listing describes the climb onto the bluffs above Big Creek, a drop into Mudlick Hollow, a “narrow rock-strewn valley” with clear pools about three-quarters of a mile long, then Green Mountain, with its best views in fall and winter, and the Logan Creek valley under dense red cedar. The route then climbs Mudlick Mountain and returns along its eastern slope. Hollow Pass Trail lets horses bypass the hollow. The park’s trail details add a 0.25-mile spur, about two miles in, to a fire tower closed to the public, and old-growth white oak, black oak, and pine on Miller’s Ridge.

The three shelters sit on the mountain’s north slopes, according to SummitPost. The park map places Shelter 1 where the 1.1-mile Shut-Ins Trail joins the Mudlick Trail, after a steep descent of steps and a footbridge to the Big Creek floodplain, and Shelter 3 near the top of the Fire Tower Trail. SummitPost says each shelter is three-sided with a stone fireplace at each end, and that the lowest sits above a cliff dropping “several hundred feet to Big Creek.”

The park lists bluffs and drop-offs, steep grades, rocks and roots, and unbridged water crossings, and warns that ticks, chiggers, and mosquitoes are common from April through October.

For a shorter wilderness overnight nearby, see the Bell Mountain Wilderness loop.

Tips

Camping

Dispersed camping is permitted anywhere along the Mudlick Trail, with two designated sites for groups of seven or more, according to the park’s registration page; the trail details place Backpack Camp 1 in Mudlick Hollow (hikers only) and Backpack Camp 2 on a spur in the Logan Creek valley. Camping is free but registration is required. Each shelter holds up to 10 people. Campfires are prohibited on the trail; fires are allowed in the shelters’ fireplaces with downed wood only, and saws and hatchets aren’t allowed. Don’t damage the historic shelters with graffiti, nails, or staples. Equestrian camping isn’t allowed on the trail, and pets must be leashed.

Inside Intel: SummitPost contributor csmcgranahan spent an April 2002 night in the lowest shelter, which they call “one of the most beautiful campsites in the midwest during the fall colors of late October.” Fires in both fireplaces kept it warm enough on a night in the low 40s that they didn’t need sleeping bags.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

A night in a 1930s CCC stone shelter:

The three-sided Mudlick shelters open only from October to mid-May, so plan on cold-season sleeping with a well-insulated pad.

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Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.