Meramec State Park

Meramec State Park

Saturday morning December 3, I drove to Meramec State Park in Sullivan Missouri, around a 1-hour drive from my house.  Once I entered the two-lane road off the highway there were good signs leading to the park and the main parking areas.  The day was sunny, but cold with a temperature of 35 degrees.  On this hike I was alone.  The park has a visitor center, but I did not go inside. 

From the parking lot, I had no trouble finding the trail head.  My hike for this day was to start out on the Wilderness Trail, which is the longest trail in the park.  This trail gives all hikers a chance to experience the great geological and natural features of Meramec State Park.  The Wilderness Trail has sections that were constructed by the Civilian Trail Conservation Corps as horse trails in the early 1930’s.

The North section of the trail took me through the heart of the Meramec Upland Forest Natural Area, which is the most rugged and remote area of the park.  I took pictures of the area and those are posted in the gallery below.  The Forest area is rich with tall, dense and diverse trees populations.  Views of the Meramec River can be seen from the hilltop.  The leaves had dropped from the surrounding the trees making the river view easier.  I also saw some cool woodlands with rocky glades on the hilltop slopes and at the peak of the ridge tops.  

The start of the hike basically runs along a creek bed that feeds into the Meramec River during the spring rains.  The trail surface is mostly dirt with some rocky areas.  I did cross over the creed bed 3 times before heading back up the hilltop. There were a couple of nice spots along the creek with water and nice scenery.  I did take pictures and posted those in the gallery as well.  That first part of the trail was not hard to hike nor hard to navigate.  It was well marked.   As I got deeper into the trail, the topography changed and there were some steeper grades and climbs. 

For the entire hike I saw only 3 other hikers, so the trail was not crowded.  There were many Chip Monks near the trail and the scurried about frequently as I walked past.  I saw a number of grey squirls and small blue birds as well. The whole hike took me about 3 hours 20 minutes.  I did not stop much, nor did I scramble off the trail very often. 

All in all, the Wilderness Trail at Meramec State Park was a lot of fun.  It was a good trail for the area and long enough to get some excellent sustained exercise and fresh air.  Not too difficult to hike nor hard to navigate as the trail was well marked.  This is one of those winter/fall trails I plan to come back and hike during the spring or summer.