The Jay Nixon Backcountry, formerly Jay Nixon State Park, is 1231 acres of mostly undeveloped block of land in the Ozarks, adjacent to Taum Sauk Mountain State Park. It joins part of Ketcherside Mountain Conservation Area as being accessible only via the Ozark Trail.
Missouri State Parks currently lists the area as closed.
Firepit Lake
There is a small lake formed by a dam. Gaia calls the dam Perdido Dam. Google Maps calls the dam Firepit Lake Dam. Neither of them call out the name of the lake, but we can infer from Google’s name for the dam that maybe it is called Firepit Lake.
Road
The property is fairly close to Hwy N, and there is a gravel road from Hwy N into the property. However, this road crosses private property, so the road is gated and not open to the public.
Trail
There is, or will be, a three mile trail that connects to the Ozark Trail. The trail starts where the lake and road meet, climbs over 500 feet to cross the top of Proffit Mountain, then continues on to meet the OT.
I am told that this trail exists, that it was pre-existing double-track, and that it is now blazed. I’d like to see this myself.
The Ozark Trail Association may have agreed to maintain this trail, although I don’t see how it is feasible without access from the road.
Controversy
This park is one of four that were bought using money from the ASARCO lead smelting lawsuit settlement, and there have been tenacious disagreements about how that money should have been spent. The politics around this disagreement have motivated some to invent or exaggerate other controversies, including the naming of this park.