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America’s natural treasures: Ozark National Scenic Riverways

EMINENCE – The steep gravel road ends at the mouth of Bay Creek, which is hardly a creek at all. A child could leap across it. But like the river it flows into, its waters are spring-fed, clear as a freshly scrubbed window pane. And refreshingly cool.

A campground overlooks this pretty spot on the Jacks Fork River, which, along with the nearby Current River, form the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, the nation’s first national river park.

It’s a primitive campsite, deeply shaded and close enough to the water so that the pulse of the spring-fed Jacks Fork slightly tempers the unusually hot June weather.