When you think of Lake of the Ozarks, the first thing that comes to mind is likely boating on the extensive waterways or maybe exploring one of the many caves the state has to offer. What you likely didn’t know existed on Lake of the Ozarks is the semblance of European castle ruins. Ha Ha Tonka State Park looks like a scene straight out of Narnia; with stone ruins decorating the cliff’s edge and a windy river hundreds of feet below, you’d be surprised to find out this place isn’t in Germany. Well, surprise! Ha Ha Tonka State Park lies in the heart of Missouri, and it has a pretty intriguing story behind it.
History
In the early 1900s, a very wealthy businessman from Kansas City, named Robert McClure Snyder, visited the area. He bought 5,000 acres of land overlooking a small spring-fed lake and decided to build his dream home: a European-style “castle”. The castle was built from stones and other materials quarried and gathered from the property. In addition to the castle, Snyder also had a carriage house and stables as well as an 80-foot water tower built down the hill.
The construction of this large mansion was no small feat, and Snyder spared no expense. Not only did he employ local men, but he also hired stone masons from Scotland to supervise them. Talk about a deep pocket. In 1906, about a year after the construction began, Snyder died in a car accident. Considering the time period, Snyder was one of the first people to own a car in Kansas City, and, in a stroke of bad luck, he was also one of the first people to be killed in a car accident.
The castle remained unfinished until 1922 when his sons completed its construction. Unfortunately, its magnificence was short-lived in this form, and the castle and stable burned down in 1942. The impressive structures were burned down to the bones with just remnants of the stone walls left standing. The 80-foot-tall water tower was spared in this initial incident, however, in 1976, the interior was burned by vandals leaving the water tower standing as an empty shell.
Activities
One of the unique aspects of this park is that it is located on the southmost part of the Lake of the Ozarks, along the Niangua Arm just south of Camdenton, Missouri, so it is accessible by car or boat. Ha Ha Tonka is a large park with a variety of hiking trails that meander past points of interest and vary in levels of difficulty. The main point of interest in the park is clearly the castle ruins and other structures. These are easily accessible from a paved parking lot where the water tower resides to the left along a short trail and the castle and stables lie to the right. There is a paved walkway from the parking lot that hugs the fenceline that defines the limits by which visitors are restrained when viewing the ruins. In the past, visitors were allowed to walk through the ruins, but as the stone walls become less stable, the park has closed off access for safety reasons — but also to maintain the integrity of the historical structure.
Personally, we were a bit disappointed that we didn’t get the experience of hiking up to the castle, so we decided to create that moment of seeing the castle through the trees for the ‘first time’ ourselves. We enjoyed a short walk down to the boat docks where visitors can dock and hike up the hill to the castle. That’s pretty standard at the Lake of the Ozarks. Everyone gets around by boat, so lots of businesses and attractions on the water have docks for water transport. Pretty neat, it’s like the Venice of Missouri. Then we happily hiked up the hill to see the castle’s magnificence peaking through the bare spring branches.
After entertaining ourselves, we took another casual hike along the Quarry Trail which was a couple miles long and mostly wooded. This trail takes you past two small quarries where all the materials for the castle were mined. It is also a trail that is easily adjustable for a shorter or longer hike as there are two built-in connectors (White Connectors 5 and 6) that you can access to shorten your hike. After reappearing near the parking lot, we decided we weren’t quite done with hiking for the day.
We hopped on the Dell Rim Trail that leads to the water tower. While you can’t go inside the water tower, you can see its interior that was burned by arson. If you continue back on the Dell Rim Trail, it connects to the Spring, Colosseum and Devil’s Kitchen Trails. As tempting as it was to head straight for the spring, I’d highly recommend taking the long way around via the Colosseum Trail. On this trail, we hiked across the top of the natural bridge, then circled around and passed underneath it. The bridge is low hanging so some taller folks might have to duck down to get through. You can feel the temperature drop in the cave, which felt nice on a sunny day. Once you pass beneath the bridge, you enter a sinkhole valley. This area used to be part of the cave before it collapsed. Now it is a beautiful trail for hikers to pass through and enjoy budding trees and wildflowers. Personally, this was my favorite part of our hike. Even in the early spring before anything had bloomed, this area was beautiful. I can only imagine what it would be like in full bloom. Additionally, the steep hike up the rocky bluff was more stimulating than the rest of the trails which tended to be flatter or more gradual in incline.
Eventually, we came to the point where the Colosseum Trail and Spring Trail connected, so we branched off and followed the Spring Trail. This trail had a well-maintained boardwalk featuring many, many stairs leading down the bluff. On the way down, there were multiple viewpoints built in for those who wanted to take in the view without blocking the narrow staircase. There are some incredible viewpoints of the water tower from this trail; as you loop around a small arm of the river, the water tower will appear across the spring from you. We couldn’t go all the way to the water’s edge like we had hoped because they were doing construction to extend the trail, but it looked to be almost finished as of April 2023. If you’re lucky, you might even see otters playing in the spring. Eventually, you will follow the Spring Trail until it reconnects with the Dell Rim Trail which leads you back past the water tower and to the parking lot.
Final Thoughts
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this park, but I was pleasantly surprised by the extent of the activities and everything we were able to see in such a short timeframe. Whether you are into history, hiking, unique landscapes or wildlife, Ha Ha Tonka State Park has something for you. We expected this to be a short stop on our route for the day, but we ended up staying for hours longer than expected because there was so much we wanted to see. Again, I thoroughly enjoyed the Colosseum Trail and would highly recommend the loop we did on the Dell Rim, Colosseum and Spring Trails to get a well-rounded experience of some of the park’s neatest features. I highly recommend making the stop if you’re passing through and especially if you have an extended stay planned for Lake of the Ozarks. You can stay as long or as short as you like, and with so many wheelchair and stroller-accessible points of interest, there’s something for all ages and abilities.
kpctravels.com 