Carman Spring Trail is a 2.3 mile lightly trafficked out and back trail located near Willow Springs, Missouri that features beautiful wild flowers and is good for all skill levels. The trail offers a number of activity options and is best used from March until October. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
dogs on leash
kid friendly
birding
hiking
nature trips
trail running
walking
forest
views
wild flowers
wildlife
Civilian Conservation Corps campground from the 1930's. There is a legend at the parking area, but the feature locations are not marked. A good bit of history to view, plus the story behind the CCC & campground are posted. The trail continues past the campground for another 3/4 mile. Spring Creek is ~1/2 mile past the trail end, which you can follow west another 3/4 mile to get to Carman Spring.
The trailhead has a couple of informational signs that talk about the CCC and how this area used to be a CCC camp along with a diagram of where the camp’s buildings used to be situated. All that remains now are ruins. The trail itself is what appears to be an old forest service road. It leads out and back through a forest of Shortleaf pine trees.