Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park
Subnational Park · Middle Brook, Missouri
Nine and a half thousand acres on the East Fork of the Black River in the St. Francois Mountains, where the river runs through a gorge of 1.4-billion-year-old rhyolite and has scoured it into a chain of chutes, potholes and plunge pools. "Shut-in" is the local term for a river confined by rock it cannot erode. In December 2005 the Taum Sauk reservoir on the mountain above failed and released a billion gallons down the valley in minutes, stripping the campground and the park store to bedrock - the park was rebuilt and reopened, and the scar is still legible.
148 Taum Sauk Trail, Middle Brook, Missouri, 63656, United States
FREE and open daily, generally dawn to dusk. THE SHUT-INS AREA OPERATES A CAPACITY LIMIT IN SUMMER and closes to new arrivals once the car park fills, which on a hot weekend happens by mid-morning - arrive early or be turned away. The visitor centre keeps seasonal hours. Camping is reserved. The park is jointly administered with Taum Sauk Mountain State Park next door.
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