Shaw Nature Reserve

At the edge of an overlook

My hike for Saturday June 17, 2023 was the River Trail at the Shaw Nature Reserve in Missouri. The Nature reserve was roughly a 25 mile drive from my house and the day was warm; around 80 degrees. For this hike I was with Denise, Joe and Jenny.

The Missouri Botanical Garden founded the Shaw Nature Reserve, formerly known as Shaw Arboretum, in 1925 when coal smoke in St. Louis threatened the living plant collections at the Garden. The orchid collection was moved to the Reserve in 1926, but pollution in the city abated before it was necessary to move the entire plant collection. Conifer groves of the Reserve’s Pinetum area also date back to that time, when evergreens had become difficult to grow in the smoky St. Louis air.

The Reserve serves as an outdoor laboratory for the development of innovative outdoor interpretive programs. Since 1980, the Reserve has become a focus for native habitat management and restoration. There are 14 miles of hiking trails through an array of Ozark border landscapes, including floodplain, glades, tallgrass, oak-hickory and wetlands.

We hiked the River Trail which is a 2 1⁄2-mile loop trail. The trail was steep at times, passing through the state-designated Natural Area on the way to a large gravel bar on the Meramec River. The River Trail was a combination of dirt, gravel and mostly rock based paths and very easy to hike. The trail has many wildflowers which were nice to see and there are pictures of them in the gallery below.

There was not a lot of elevation gains on the trail (only 334 feet according to my watch), because you essentially drive to the top of the trail and hike down to the Meramec River gravel bar area. Nice spot for pictures and a selfie for sure. We took a trail down to the bottom of the gravel bar and it was well worth the view of the river.

Overall a nice trail and good hike. Nothing too exciting, but beatiful flowers along the way. This would be a good hike to bring children along since the path is easy and there are not much of an elevation gain.