Ha Ha Tonka Castle Ruins

Kansas City businessman Robert Snyder Sr. began construction on the mansion in 1905, envisioning a European-style castle with some 60 rooms and a central atrium rising three and a half stories to a skylight. He was killed in one of Missouri's first automobile accidents in 1906 before seeing it completed; his sons finished the structure in the early 1920s. In 1942, sparks from a chimney ignited the roof and gutted the building. The stone walls were left standing, and the state acquired the property and established it as a state park in 1978.

Today the ruins sit on a bluff roughly 250 feet above Ha Ha Tonka Spring and the Niangua arm of the Lake of the Ozarks, and the walk from the parking area to the overlook is short and paved — accessible to most visitors. Keep in mind that portions of the ruins have been closed off due to ongoing mortar and stone deterioration, so you view the walls from the outside rather than walking through them. That constraint aside, the bluff-top perspective over the lake's coves is the payoff, and the park surrounds the ruins with a geologic landscape that includes sinkholes, caves, a natural bridge, and Missouri's 12th-largest spring — all reachable on the park's trail network.

All Missouri state parks are free to enter, with no parking fee. The park visitor center operates on a seasonal schedule, roughly spring through fall, so pick up a trail map at the trailhead kiosk if the office is closed. State Road D, the main approach from Camdenton, threads through Camden County's wooded hills and makes for a worthwhile ride on its own before you even shut the bike off.