Sam A. Baker State Park is located in the Saint Francois Mountain

Saint Francois Mountains

The St. Francois Mountains in southeast Missouri are a range of Precambrian igneous mountains rising over the Ozark Plateau. This range is one of the oldest exposures of igneous rock in North America....

 region of the Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 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 5323 acres (21.5 km²) park offers access to the St. Francis River

St. Francis River

The Saint Francis River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, about long, in southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas in the United States...

 and Big Creek for fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

, canoeing

Canoeing

Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....

, and swimming. The park has 187 campsites

Camping

Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...

, half of them electric, and 18 rustic but air-conditioned

Air conditioning

An air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...

 cabins. A separate campground with 21 sites is available for use by equestrians

Equestrianism

Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...

.

The 14 miles (22.5 km) Mudlick Trail is available for hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

, backpacking

Backpacking (wilderness)

Backpacking combines the activities of hiking and camping for an overnight stay in backcountry wilderness...

, and horseback riding. The Mudlick has three stone shelters available for backpackers, and views of the 4420 acres (17.9 km²) Mudlick Mountain Wild Area and the 1370 acres (5.5 km²) Mudlick Natural Area. There is also the 1.5 miles (2.4 km) Shut-Ins Trail, the Hollow Pass Trail, and the nearby Wappapello Section of the Ozark Trail

Ozark Trail (hiking trail)

The Ozark Trail is a hiking, backpacking, and, in many places, biking and equestrian trail under construction in the Missouri Ozarks in the United States. It is intended to reach from St. Louis to Arkansas. Over of the trail have been completed as of 2008, and the estimated length when finished...

. The park also has a 2 miles (3.2 km) paved bicycle trail open to cyclists

Cycling

Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...

, hikers, skateboard

Skateboard

A skateboard is typically a specially designed plywood board combined with a polyurethane coating used for making smoother slides and stronger durability, used primarily for the activity of skateboarding. The first skateboards to reach public notice came out of the surfing craze of the early 1960s,...

ers and roller skaters

Roller skates

Roller skates are devices worn on the feet to enable the wearer to roll along on wheels. A first basic type of roller skate consists of a boot with four wheels with ball bearings, arranged in the same configuration as the wheels of a typical car.-History:...

.
The park has a stone dining lodge that was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps

Civilian Conservation Corps

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...

. The CCC also built most of the park's lodging cabins and the backpacking shelters on the Mudlick Trail.

The park was acquired in 1926 and is named for past Missouri governor

Governor

A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

 Sam Aaron Baker

Sam Aaron Baker

Samuel Aaron Baker was an American teacher and Republican politician from Jefferson City, Missouri. Born in 1874 in Patterson, Missouri, he served Missouri as the state superintendent of schools from 1919 to 1923 and was the 36th Governor of Missouri from 1925 until 1929...

 who encouraged the development of the park in his home county.