Missouri Hiking Trails : mohiking.com
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It is organized by trail, so that it will be easy for people to find information.
Please read our usage notes before starting. You can read reviews without joining the forum, but you have to join if you want to post. Click here to register.
Castlewood State Park - River Scene Trail
Posted by: ladyalite (IP Logged)
Date: November 15, 2005 08:06PM
Distance: 3 miles
My Photos: [www.mohiking.com]
Official Site: [mostateparks.com]
This is a nice trail if you want to get out but not to far from home. This is the most popular trail at Castlewood. If you’ve never been there before, you needn’t worry about trail markers (they’re arn’t any), this trail is so popular you can’t miss it. It’s very well worn and you will most likely see several people out with their kids and dogs.
From the parking lot, this trail heads straight up to the bluffs above the Meramec, where it continues along the bluffs for a ways. The park did a good job of providing benches and look out decks here and there along the way for you to make the most of the view.
Between the bluffs and the river are some very active railroad tracks and you will likely see or hear a train while you are there. In the hour it took me to walk this trail, 3 trains came by.
At the end of the bluff view, where the trail descends down to the river, they also provided an very long stairway all the way down the bluff, complete with a couple of nice lookout decks. At the bottom of the stairs, there is a small tunnel that takes your under the railroad tracks, then the trail doubles back along the river.
When the trail peels away from the river and goes through a grassy area, make sure to hang a left when you come to a fork in the trail. This will take you up to the road. (The other way leads to another trail). Part of this trail is the road, you have to walk it back to the parking lot which isn’t very far, about 1/4 mile.
Some maps I’ve seen of this trail made it look like the trail is loop without having to take the road, and I thought I saw people on a trail up that way paralleling the road. However, before I started my hike I asked about this at the office when I was picking up a map. The reason I specifically asked about this, is one map I was just looking at made it look like a loop, but when I took that trail a few years ago, I came out on the road. The office said you have to take the road back, so today I just went with what they said.
Edited 2 times. Last edit at 11/16/05 08:25AM by Nick Kasoff.
My Photos: [www.mohiking.com]
Official Site: [mostateparks.com]
This is a nice trail if you want to get out but not to far from home. This is the most popular trail at Castlewood. If you’ve never been there before, you needn’t worry about trail markers (they’re arn’t any), this trail is so popular you can’t miss it. It’s very well worn and you will most likely see several people out with their kids and dogs.
From the parking lot, this trail heads straight up to the bluffs above the Meramec, where it continues along the bluffs for a ways. The park did a good job of providing benches and look out decks here and there along the way for you to make the most of the view.
Between the bluffs and the river are some very active railroad tracks and you will likely see or hear a train while you are there. In the hour it took me to walk this trail, 3 trains came by.
At the end of the bluff view, where the trail descends down to the river, they also provided an very long stairway all the way down the bluff, complete with a couple of nice lookout decks. At the bottom of the stairs, there is a small tunnel that takes your under the railroad tracks, then the trail doubles back along the river.
When the trail peels away from the river and goes through a grassy area, make sure to hang a left when you come to a fork in the trail. This will take you up to the road. (The other way leads to another trail). Part of this trail is the road, you have to walk it back to the parking lot which isn’t very far, about 1/4 mile.
Some maps I’ve seen of this trail made it look like the trail is loop without having to take the road, and I thought I saw people on a trail up that way paralleling the road. However, before I started my hike I asked about this at the office when I was picking up a map. The reason I specifically asked about this, is one map I was just looking at made it look like a loop, but when I took that trail a few years ago, I came out on the road. The office said you have to take the road back, so today I just went with what they said.
Edited 2 times. Last edit at 11/16/05 08:25AM by Nick Kasoff.
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