Scenic USA - Missouri

Each day Scenic USA presents a different and interesting photo feature from somewhere in
the United States. Chosen from a wide variety of historic sites, city scenes, back-country
byways, points of interest and America's best parklands, this site offers the viewer hundreds
of unique vacation destinations and photographic subjects. Each feature is coupled with a
brief explanation. For further detailed information, links to other sites are provided, however
these links should not be considered an endorsement.

Elephant Rocks

Elephant Rocks State Park - Belleview, Missouri

Photos by Ben Prepelka
Ben's Panoramio Gallery

     One of Missouri's most Elephant Rocks - Missouri intriguing state parks, corraling a jumble of huge granite rocks, appears to some visitors as a line-up of very docile elephants. Here in Elephant Rocks State Park a pathway weaves around the huge collection of St Francois Mountain granite rocks, with a trail leading up through a boulder field and over the top. Dumbo, one of the extra large elephant look-alikes, made up of coarsely crystalline red granite, Fat Mans Squeeze - Elephant Rocks State Park, Missouri weighs in at a whopping 680 tons.
     The one mile Braille Trail accommodates those with visual and physical disabilities and passes nearby the old Sheehan Brothers quarry, the park's quarry pond, and rock features called the Bird Baths and The Maze. The trail also leads through Fat Man's Squeeze (inset), a narrow vertical joint fracture in the bedrock.
      Elephant Rocks State Park is located in a part of Missouri's ancient Ozarks landscape known as the St. Francois Mountains. Containing some of the oldest exposed rocks in the state, Dr. John Stafford Brown donated this 120 acre parcel to Missouri in 1966. Brown served as chief geologist for the St. Joseph Lead Company for 30 years. Brown and his team were credited with the discovery of Viburnum Trend or Missouri's Lead Belt, one of the largest deposits of lead in the world.

    Area Map