I had visited DeSoto Bend at least once before (that I remember) back in the mid 1970s. I'm not sure if it was a wildlife refuge at that time or not. It was autumn and all that I remember was driving over muddy dirt roads under tall, barren cottonwood trees. It's always amazed me how we so often neglect the natural wonders right in our own back yard, while striving to experience those so much farther away. I lived in Omaha, Nebraska for 29 years and only made that short trip north on that one occasion. And now, after driving over 900 from the west, I finally took in the whole DeSoto Bend experience.

Visitor Center and Museum

10:04 a.m.
There is a nice, paved parking area outside of the modern Visitor Center. On this day the outside temperature was 60 degrees and mostly sunny. We toured the Visitor Center and museum first. The Refuge, as a whole, is much nicer than it was when I last visited back in about 1975. The roads are paved, there is a nice modern Visitor Center, and there are several marked trails. The Visitor Center has a very nice museum which contains the tons of supplies that were salvaged from the steamship Bertrand that was excavated in the late 1960s. It was really amazing to see all that they had recovered and restored, including many bottles of food items and wines. We also collected some good information on the area, and several trail guides.

Missouri Meander Nature Trail

11:04 a.m.
We walked the Missouri Meander Nature Trail. This is a one mile long path through the trees and along DeSoto Lake. Part of is it paved. Of course, at this time of the year, the trees are all brown and leafless, but it was still fun to walk through the downed leaves and enjoy the quiet. I think we saw one other fellow along this walk. The path is mostly flat. We did see a heron or crane and several ducks and geese out on the water. We thought we heard an eagle call, but weren't able to spot it. I also saw a large, dark bird land along the edge of the trees surrounding a corn field, but, again, we weren't able to identify it.

There are also some old pilings among the trees, still wrapped with the old steel cables. It shows where the edge of the river had been at one time.

11:37 a.m.
We finished the Nature Trail. It was not windy, and it was a nice walk.

Missouri River Overlook

From there we headed down the paved road. Many of the locations within the Refuge are closed for the season (to protect the wintering birds), but we were able to stop at the Missouri River Overlook, which is, of course, right along the Missouri River. Anne was able to make her way down to the river and touch the cold, murky water for the first time.

11:59 a.m.
Shortly after we left the Missouri River Overlook we spotted a wild turkey taking its time crossing the road. Then we noticed a bunch more back along the trees at the edge of a corn field. We've always enjoyed the wild turkeys.

Wood Duck Nature Trail

12:11 p.m.
On the way to the Wood Duck Nature Trail we saw a large group of Canadian geese resting along the shore of a small waterway, near the South Gate Area. The road to this point is dirt and gravel.

The Wood Duck Nature Trail is a one mile loop trail that crosses a boardwalk over a marshy area of Wood Duck Pond, then circles back around through a wooded area. While out there we walked out across an open field. There was a cut area through the tall grass, so we took advantage to get closer to DeSoto Lake to see several large flocks of ducks and geese and some few sea gulls flying about.

We also spotted a white tailed deer and spooked up a couple of pheasants. We also spotted a couple of herons or cranes circling in the distance. The temperature was about 63 degrees while we were out walking. Just about perfect.

Wildlife Overlook

12:49 p.m.
We stopped at the Wildlife Overlook, at the north end of the lake. It’s a nice area that i’s set up as a bird blind, similar to what hunters would use. But there were no birds on the beeches on this day.

Cottonwood and Grassland Nature Trails

12:57 p.m.
Together these two linked trails are just over 1.5 miles round trip. There are restrooms near the trailhead for these trail, as well as picnic tables.

The Grassland Trail is, as the name implies, a walk through the tall grasses, finishing with a walk through the tall deciduous trees along DeSoto Lake. The two trails cross near the parking area, and the Cottonwood Trail loops through the tall cottonwood trees, back along the lake to the parking area. They are both easy, nice walks.

We noticed that many of the trees have vines climbing all over them. Probably some sort of parasitic plant. And there are signs warning of the presence of poison ivy, although at this time of the year everything has withered away, so we weren't able to spot any.

When we finished these trails the outside temperature was 63 degrees. Again, we had these trails to ourselves, although at one point we did see a family across the way on the nearby Bertrand Trail.

Bertrand Site and Nature Trail

1:52 p.m.
We made a quick tour of the Bertrand site, which has an observation deck (closed on this day) above a large water filled depression. The whole where they had excavated the Bertrand was much smaller than I had imagined it would be.

The Nature Trail is a .5 mile loop very similar to the other trails within the Refuge. However, it does cross a boardwalk in a backwater area, and, of course, it has the site of the Bertrand excavation. There were a few people in this area, but mostly we had the trail to ourselves.