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12 Great Day Trips from St. Louis
Looking for a quick escape from the St. Louis area without a long day of travel? Whether you’re a nature lover, history buff, or simply in search of new adventures, there are great opportunities for exploration within a 2.5-hour radius of St. Louis. To make your travel plans easy, I’ve narrowed down our top day trip destinations to give you twelve different ideas for the perfect adventure journey. Load up the kids, pack all the snacks, and head out to…
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View Missouri’s Best Swimming Spot from the Johnson’s Shut-Ins Trail
The scenic and popular Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park is well known as a great spot to cool off on sticky summer day. This park in southeast Missouri features a section of dramatic rock gorges and chutes carved out by the Black River. Visitors climb over and along the rocks looking for the perfect natural water slides and swimming holes. Park History Three generations of the Johnson family once farmed this area. in the 1800s. By 1900, most of the area…
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Don Robinson State Park LaBarque Hills Trail
Don Robinson State Park has quickly become a popular hiking destination due to its proximity to St. Louis. While most people tend to explore the Sandstone Canyon Trail, the LaBarque Hills Trail is also worth a hike. While the LarBarque Hills Trail does not have the dramatic canyons and waterfalls on the Sandstone Trail, it has it’s own sense of beauty as the trail passes up and down hills and around a scenic creek. If you visit at the right…
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Explore a Box Canyon Waterfall at Hickory Canyons Natural Area
Located near other spectacular hiking areas in Missouri such as Pickle Springs and Hawn State Park is a less well known hidden gem. Hickory Canyons Natural Area shares some of the the same scenery with dramatic box canyons, dripping waterfalls, and lush vegetation. This area is beautiful in all seasons. Spring and summer bring waterfalls and lots of green. A cold enough winter means dramatic ice formations are possible. A dusting of snow can turn the area in a winter…
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Explore an Ancient Civilization at Cahokia Mounds
Long before Europeans arrived to America, the area just east St. Louis was home to an ancient culture. Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in southern Illinois preserves the central section of the largest prehistoric Native American city north of Mexico. The city grew to cover 4,000 acres with a population of between ten and twenty thousand at its peak around 1100. Today the site preserves 70 of the original 120 earthen mounds built by pre-historic Native Americans. Dominating the site is Monks…
