Rockwood Reservation - Trail Among the Trees

Trail Among the Trees – 1.5 miles
This trail is one of the easier trails in the park and usually has the most traffic but don’t let that stop you. Much of the trail is paved but that’s not to say it is wheel chair or stroller accessible as there are places that neither of those will go.
The trail head (if you are hiking CW) is across from the visitor’s center. You start by crossing over a bridge and parallels a creek. You can see signs of the old quarry operations on both sides of the trail for the first half mile. As you cross the creek again, there is a stairway that brings you up to an area where you can see some more of the quarry. At the top of the stairs the trail heads to the right but if you go straight you will see one of the many places where rock was cut out of the side of a bluff.
As you continue on the trail, you’ll see many bluffs and open areas. This section of the trail is where much of the traffic starts to drop off. It is also a great place to take kids where they can get outside, climb on rocks and enjoy the outdoors without taking them long distances.
As you pass this area you come to another bridge. Once past the bridge you are back into a hardwood forest setting. The trail is still paved here but the grade is steep enough to give you a good workout. The trail has many switchbacks as you wind your way up to the top. It will then level out and follow the top of a ridge. Once over the top of the ridge, the trail starts to wind and descend. At one point there is a bench situated at a nice overlook. This is best seen in the winter when the leaves are off the trees or in the fall when the leaves are turning (is there any place that is not great when the leaves are turning?)
The trail then finishes its downhill wind until it crosses the road (right by the bathrooms and drinking fountain). Once you cross the road the trail levels out and parallels the road back to the starting point.
We like to combine this trail with the Rock Quarry trail for a nice 3.5 mile loop.

Rockwoods Reservation - Turkey Ridge Trail

Turkey Ridge Trail – 2 miles
The trail head for Turkey Ridge is on the east side of 109. From the parking area, if you hike the trail CCW, you head up the south face of the hill. There are a number of switchbacks and many interesting rock outcroppings that give this area its name. As you reach the top, the terrain levels out and travels along the top of a ridge.
As you get to the end of the ridge, just before you start heading back downhill, close to the half-way point, there is a well place bench on the side of the trail. It’s a perfect place to stop for a picnic (you did bring the wine, cheese, fruit and crackers didn’t you?)
After you leave the bench the trail turns to the southwest and starts heading down hill into a hollow. As you come back to the bottom you leave the hills and hardwood forest and meander through a grove of pines. The rest is an easy, level stroll back to the starting point.

Rockwoods Reservation

Rock Quarry Trail: 2.2 miles difficulty 3-4 beauty 5

We started this trail from the north end and hiked it clockwise. The first part of the trail parallels the road and leads to the visitors center. There are some very pretty rock outcroppings on the right. We then picked up the official beginning of the trail at the south end of the field just past the visitor center. The trail starts to ascend the south side of a ridge and continues around to the north with several switchbacks until it reaches the top of the ridge. Shortly after you reach the first summit you come to the junction of the short loop that goes back to the visitor center for a 1 mile loop. We took the long loop that stays on top of the ridge for a nice easy hike through some beautiful woods. Following the ridge, the trail turns south-west then north-west. Once it leaves the top of the ridge it descends steeply to the hollow. What makes this trail a 3 instead of a four is at the steepest parts, where the trail could get technical, there are stairs. Once in the hollow, we passed a rock bluff off to our right. At the bottom of the bluff is a cave that I would suspect is part of the old rock quarry. The rest of the trail follows the creek bed and you can see many signs of the quarry operations that used to dominate the area.








































Lime Kiln Trail: 3.2 miles difficulty 3-4 beauty 5

The Lime Kiln trail is another one of the really nice trails in Rockwoods Reserrvation. The trailhead is at the same place as the Prarie Trail trailhead. As you leave the field and enter the woods you see the forty foot tall namesake lime kiln. Interestingly, this kiln was built for amnufacuring the motoar one single building residence. They would dump the limestone into the top from the hill side above, fire the unit with a wood fire, and heat it until it was a powder and ready to use for mortar.

We hiked the trail counter clockwise. The first part of the trail heads east then switches back and forth until you reach the top of a ridge. This section contains many of the rock outcroppings that are so prevalent in Rockwoods and has sections that are a bit technical, that is you have to watch where you place your feet rather than just watching the scenery. As the trail starts to level out, it follows the top of a ridge heading in a north-westerly direction. The first summit of 755 feet is passed shortly thereafter. The trail them paralels the south side of the ridge heading in a north easterly direction. At any time along this part of the trail it appears that you are about to reach the second summit but just like a line at Disneyland, you only see the next section that looks like the summit is up ahead.. This part of the trial has a gradual rise and covers some really beautiful woodland. The second summit of 804 feet is also passed to the south. The ridge continues on in a more northerly direction until the third summit of 807 feet is reached. At this point is a well place bench place there as an Eaglescout project.

The trail then takes a turn to the south and starts swithing back down a loow until you reach the bottom of a three way hollow. The trail them ascend along the south side of the hollow. As you rise, you watch the creek bed drop off to your right. The trail then drops very quickly where again there are places that are slightly technical and comes to the bottom close to the road. The rest of the trail heads southwest passing a spring to your left. You use several well placed stepping stones to cross the water flowing from the spring then cross a wooden walkway where the soil is probably very wet in the springtime. The trail then goes through a stand of pines where you end up back at the kiln and your car.










Prairie Trail: 500 yards difficulty 1 beauty 4

The Prairie Trail is an interpretive trail of restored natural prairie. When we were there in late September, the grasses were as tall as us. Mixed in with the grasses are wildflowers including thistle and large stalks of dried mullein. Throughout the trail, you could see places where animals, presumable deer, have trailed and bedded down

LaBarque Creek CA

LaBarque Creek conservation area is an out of the way conservation area of rugged forested hills, steep valleys, canyons, bluffs and shelter caves carved into St. Peter sandstone. The trail there is a 3 mile loop with a short spur that is travelled enough to keep the trail from becoming overgrown but not much more. The day we hiked it was a Saturday in September that was clear and 70 degees. You know, one of those perfect days for hiking. During the several hours on the trail we ran into 3 sets of hikers (actually one was a runner). Its narrow path winds through a variety of unique natural communities including hardwood forests, cedar forests and glades.
You start the trail crossing a bridge over LaBarque creek and winds its way up the side of a hill. It runs parallel to the river until you come to the loop. We went right and hiked the trail CCW. That brought us back down the hill along the river again until the trail turns south and climbs a ridge. It doesn’t take long to notice how often the trail seems to change. You will go through forest so thick that there is very little undergrowth then it will open up to savannah type habitat that is open enough for grass to be growing under the trees. You will also walk through areas that are glade-like where the bedrock is exposed and the main growth is mosses and lichens. For all the hiking we’ve done, I don’t think we have seen so many great expanses of moss like those on this trail.
The surface of the trail also changes. It starts out your basic brown clay soil. I’m sure it would had been slippery if it had just rained. It changes to chert covered with rock outcroppings a few feet high. Some of the trail follows the top of bluffs though it is so thickly wooded you would hardly notice unless you are looking. Later on the soil turns to red clay.
As you reach the highest point, the trail turns to the north-east and goes downhill a bit to follow the top of a ridge to the next high point. Along this stretch is a very interesting set of rock outcroppings that could easily join the multiple geological features in Missouri named “Devils backbone”.
I’m sure it was the time of year but we saw a myriad of colorful mushrooms from bright orange to red to brown, flat topped, round topped and even stag horn shaped.
There is a little more up and down after you pass the second highpoint which brings you back down to the beginning of the loop.
It’s a very interesting and unique trail close to home.

MDC Brocure:http://extra.mdc.mo.gov/documents/area_brochures/200608.pdf
MDC Map:http://extra.mdc.mo.gov/documents/area_brochures/200608map.pdf