Best Hikes in Missouri

Missouri's ranked summits cluster in the St. Francois Mountains around Iron County, in the southeast corner of the Ozark Plateau — rhyolite and granite laid down 1.3 to 1.6 billion years ago, among the oldest exposed igneous rock in North America, not the younger sedimentary limestone that covers most of the rest of the state. The live high point, Taum Sauk Mountain at 1,765 feet, is also Missouri's official state high point, unlike Illinois' Charles Mound or Mississippi's Woodall Mountain, neither of which has a confirmed route in this database yet. One quirk worth flagging: Iron Mountain, despite the name, actually sits across the county line in St. Francois County, not Iron County. Eleven of the thirteen sit within about 22 miles of Taum Sauk; two don't — Dyestone Mountain, roughly 86 miles south in the Ozark Highlands' Howell and Douglas counties, and Pinnacle, another 40 miles beyond that in Ozark County near the Arkansas border, the group's most distant entry at 127 miles out. Jayce Mountain's 1.1-mile out-and-back is the shortest hike here; Iron Mountain's 14-mile out-and-back is the longest. 12 more Missouri summits are already queued in the database — these 13 are simply the ones with a confirmed route and elevation profile today.