The Magic Dragon: Eleven Hundred Miles of Shoreline
Near Lake Of The Ozarks, Missouri
Look at this lake on a map and you will understand its most famous nickname. Because the Lake of the Ozarks was not carved by nature but flooded up out of the winding Osage River, it does not sit in a neat round basin. Instead it twists and doubles back and branches into hundreds of arms and coves, exactly the way a river would.
That long, snaking, serpentine shape has earned it a name locals love, which is the Magic Dragon. Some also call it the Missouri Dragon. The scale is hard to believe.
Though the lake covers roughly fifty four thousand acres of water, its endlessly crinkled edges add up to about eleven hundred and fifty miles of shoreline. All of it wraps around a maze of coves, each with its own dock, cabin, and quiet cut of water. Boaters navigate by mile markers counted from the dam, and it is entirely possible to spend a whole summer exploring and never see the same cove twice.
The dragon shape even inspired local traditions, like the Magic Dragon car show that draws classic automobiles to the lake. So next time you round a bend, remember. You are riding the back of the dragon.
