Heading west through the rugged beauty of the Ozarks, this 20-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 160 from Rueter to Forsyth in south-central Missouri delivers a scenic and serpentine ride through some of Taney County’s most rural and wooded terrain. We begin our journey at the intersection with Missouri Route 125, just east of Rueter, a quiet outpost near the edge of the Mark Twain National Forest. From here, US-160 initially takes us north before bending westward to enter Rueter itself. This brief junction marks a transition point — MO-125 peels away to the north, while we continue along US-160 deeper into the Ozark hills.
As we push northwest, the landscape reveals a peaceful mixture of forested hollows and open ridges, a signature trait of the southern Missouri highlands. The curves are constant, and the elevation shifts subtly as the route meanders through the sparsely populated countryside. This part of the drive is less about towns and more about terrain — it’s the kind of road that makes you appreciate the engineering required to carve a highway through such rugged topography. Just east of Kissee Mills, we reach a key junction with Missouri Route 76, where the two highways merge. This marks the beginning of a short concurrency that will carry us the rest of the way into Forsyth.
From Kissee Mills, US-160 and MO-76 head westward together along the northern shore of Bull Shoals Lake’s Taneycomo arm, though you won’t see much water from the highway itself. As we approach Forsyth, the terrain levels out and we enter a more developed zone, where residential neighborhoods and small businesses start appearing along the roadside. The drive concludes at a modern roundabout on the eastern edge of town, where US-160 continues west toward Branson and MO-76 splits off to serve as Forsyth’s main east-west thoroughfare. It’s a modest but meaningful end to a beautiful stretch of Missouri backroad — one that balances wild Ozark scenery with small-town charm.
🗺️ Route Map
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