Hughes Mountain and the Hughes Mountain State Natural Area are located in southern Washington County, Missouri

Washington County, Missouri

Washington County is a county located in East Central Missouri in the United States. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the county's population was 25,195. The largest city and county seat is Potosi...

  (Sections 28 and 33, T36N R3E) just south of the Big River

Big River (Missouri)

The Big River is a tributary of the Meramec River in east-central Missouri. The river rises in western Iron County, near the summit of Johnson Mountain and the locale of Enough; it flows through Washington County, Saint Francois County, and Jefferson County...

 and Highway M on Cedar Creek Road in the St. Francois Mountains range of The Ozarks

The Ozarks

The Ozarks are a physiographic and geologic highland region of the central United States. It covers much of the southern half of Missouri and an extensive portion of northwestern and north central Arkansas...

. The mountain reaches an elevation of 1,201 feet (366.06 m), rising 430 feet (131.06 m) above the Big River. The Hughes Mountain Natural Area of the Missouri Department of Conservation

Missouri Department of Conservation

The Missouri Department of Conservation and the Missouri Conservation Commission were created by Article IV Sections 40-42 of the Missouri Constitution, which were adopted by the voters of the state in 1936 as Amendment 4 to the constitution...

 encompasses 462 acres (1.9 km²) of the mountain, including the rhyolite

Rhyolite

This page is about a volcanic rock. For the ghost town see Rhyolite, Nevada, and for the satellite system, see Rhyolite/Aquacade.Rhyolite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic composition . It may have any texture from glassy to aphanitic to porphyritic...

 glade

Glade

-Geography:*Glade , open area in woodland, synonym for "clearing"**Glade skiing, skiing amongst treesPlaces in the United States*Glade, California, a former town in Lassen County*Glade, Kansas, a city in Phillips County...

 at its top.

History

The area around Hughes Mountain was first settled ca 1810 by John Hughes, his wife (Susannah) and their children, resulting in the mountain being named Hughes Mountain. The mountain itself remained public land until 1861 when purchased by John Hughes's son, Mahlon Hughes and afterwards remained in the Hughes family until it was purchased by the Missouri Conservation Commission in 1982. At that time it was designated a State Natural Area.

Hughes Mountain State Natural Area

The Hughes Mountain State Natural Area can be accessed by the public via a 1.4 mile (2.253 kilometers) linear/loop trail with the trail head in a small parking area on Cedar Creek Road. Within the Hughes Mountain Natural Area is a glade with an outcrop of Precambrian

Precambrian

The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...

 columnar jointed rhyolite

Rhyolite

This page is about a volcanic rock. For the ghost town see Rhyolite, Nevada, and for the satellite system, see Rhyolite/Aquacade.Rhyolite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic composition . It may have any texture from glassy to aphanitic to porphyritic...

 designated the Devil's Honeycomb. Devil's Honeycomb is listed in the book, Geographic Wonders and Curiosities of Missouri. The natural area is divided between forest land (about 2/3 the total area) containing three types of forests, and glades(about 1/3 the total area).

Flora and fauna

The forest contains mainly post oak

Post oak

Quercus stellata is an oak in the white oak group. It is a small tree, typically 10–15 m tall and 30–60 cm trunk diameter, though occasional specimens reach 30 m tall and 140 cm diameter. It is native to the eastern United States, from Connecticut in the northeast, west to southern Iowa, southwest...

s, white oak

White oak

Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak of the Fagaceae family, native to eastern North America and found from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been...

s, stunted blackjack oak

Blackjack oak

Quercus marilandica is a small oak, one of the red oak group Quercus sect. Lobatae, but fairly isolated from the others...

s, eastern red cedar, black hickory

Hickory

Trees in the genus Carya are commonly known as hickory, derived from the Powhatan language of Virginia. The genus includes 17–19 species of deciduous trees with pinnately compound leaves and big nuts...

, farkleberry, winged elm

Elm

Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...

, lowbush blueberry

Lowbush blueberry

Vaccinium angustifolium, commonly known as the Lowbush Blueberry, is a species of blueberry native to eastern and central Canada and the northeastern United States, growing as far south as West Virginia and west to the Great Lakes region, Minnesota and Manitoba...

, service berry, red elm, sassafras

Sassafras

Sassafras is a genus of three extant and one extinct species of deciduous trees in the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America and eastern Asia.-Overview:...

, winged sumac and aromatic sumac

Rhus aromatica

Rhus aromatica is a plant species in the family Anacardiaceae native to Canada and the United States....

. The glade flora includes rushfoil, rough buttonweed

Buttonweed

Diodia is a genus of flowering plants in the Rubiaceae family. It is native to temperate and tropical regions of North America and Africa.-Other Buttonweeds:...

, broomsedge, poverty grass

Poverty grass

Poverty grass may refer to:*Any of several grasses that grow in poor or sandy soil, for example:** Aristida dichotoma, Shinner's Three-awn** Eremochloa bimaculata** Sporobolus vaginaeflorus , Sheathed Dropseed...

, yellow star grass, little bluestem

Little bluestem

Schizachyrium scoparium, commonly known as little bluestem or beard grass, is a North American prairie grass. Little bluestem is a perennial bunchgrass and is prominent in tallgrass prairie, along with big bluestem , indiangrass and switchgrass...

, flame flowers, prickly pear

Opuntia

Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus , is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae.Currently, only prickly pears are included in this genus of about 200 species distributed throughout most of the Americas. Chollas are now separated into the genus Cylindropuntia, which some still consider...

 cactus, spider wort, wild hyacinth, lance leaf coreopsis, pine-weed and a variety of lichen

Lichen

Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic organism composed of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...

. Fauna species include two species of lizards, fence

Eastern fence lizard

The eastern fence lizard is a medium-sized species of lizard found along forest edges, rock piles, and rotting logs or stumps in the eastern United States...

 and collared

Common Collared Lizard

The Common collared lizard, Oklahoma collared lizard or collared lizard, Crotaphytus collaris, is a North American lizard that can reach a foot long in length , with a large head and powerful jaws. They are well known for the ability to run on their hind legs, looking like small dinosaurs...

, lichen grasshopper

Grasshopper

The grasshopper is an insect of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish it from bush crickets or katydids, it is sometimes referred to as the short-horned grasshopper...

s, and prairie warbler

Prairie Warbler

The Prairie Warbler, Dendroica discolor, is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.These birds have yellow underparts with dark streaks on the flanks, and olive upperparts with rusty streaks on the back; they have a yellow line above the eye, a dark line through it, and a yellow spot...

s.

Geology

Hughes Mountain is a peak in the St. Francois Mountains Range of southeastern Missouri. These mountains formed 1.485 billion years ago during the Precambrian eon when the area was volcanically active. Hughes Mountain is formed of intrusive rhyolite

Rhyolite

This page is about a volcanic rock. For the ghost town see Rhyolite, Nevada, and for the satellite system, see Rhyolite/Aquacade.Rhyolite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic composition . It may have any texture from glassy to aphanitic to porphyritic...

 which broke into vertical joints when it cooled, creating polygonal columns. These columns have from four to six sides and are up to three feet (0.91 m) tall. When viewed from above they resemble a honeycomb. The Devils Honeycomb is a smaller example of the sort of columnar jointing found at Devils Tower National Monument

Devils Tower National Monument

Devils Tower is an igneous intrusion or laccolith located in the Black Hills near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River...

 in Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

, Devils Postpile National Monument in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, and the Giant's Causeway

Giant's Causeway

The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles northeast of the town of Bushmills...

 near Bushmills

Bushmills

Bushmills is a village on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Bushmills had 1,319 inhabitants in the 2001 Census. It is located 95 km from Belfast, 10 km from Ballycastle and 15 km from Coleraine...

, Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

.

Location

Hughes Mountain State Natural Area's parking is located on Cedar Creek Road, 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Irondale on Highway M or 5 miles (8 km) easat/northeaston Highway M from Highway 21 at
37.8007°N 90.708°W

External links