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Climb to Great Views at Salt Lick Point Trail in Illinois
Salt Lick Point is a favorite hike of ours on the Illinois side of the metro area. This hike is located on a former quarry site in Valmeyer, Illinois. In fact you can even spy interesting old remainders of this site’s former life. The preserve consists of three different trails. We like to make a loop by hiking a portion of the Salt Lick Trail along the bluffs, continuing along on a section of the Newman Trail, and then completing…
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St. Louis Area Summer Fun List 2019
Each year I put together a list of fun St. Louis area places to go with the kids in the summer including museums, playgrounds, and parks. I also search though hundreds of events to come up with a good list of family friendly local events as well as vacation Bible schools. This list includes both sides of the river but the events are more focused on the Illinois side. I want to share this list with anyone who is interested…
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Hike to Scenic Jackson Falls in Southern Illinois
Shawnee National Forest, Illinois We’ve done a lot of hiking and exploring over the years and one of our favorite spots to spend a day is in the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois. While we have visited many scenic spots including Bell Smith Springs, Garden of the Gods, and Ferne Clyffe, we somehow had never made it over to Jackson Falls. I can’t believe we had missed this awesome trail for so long! The trail starts at a parking…
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The Mighty Merc – 9th Off Road Trip At The Badlands 4/6/19 – Part 1
We’ve been a bit overdue for a weekend trip, so when the option for a trip out to the Badlands came up, the opportunity was seized to make a long weekend out of it. Coming off the high from finally get lots of things sorted on the Merc, we were ready to start putting some miles on it to find out what the next round of maintenance needed to be. I can safely say this is the nicest the truck…
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Cliff Cave County Park Trail in St. Louis County
Cliff Cave Park is a St. Louis County Park. The cave has a long and varied history of being used as a tavern in the 1700s, then part of the Cliff Cave Wine Company in the mid 1800s and finally used by Jefferson Barracks soldiers for recreation. In 1969 Cliff Cave was purchased by the county and opened as a park in 1977. Last year the park received upgraded trails and facilities. Two miles of trail extensions were added to…
