Monday, January 16 (MLK Day)
Four hour hike at
St. Francois State Park right off of Highway 67 South, at the most 45 minutes to an hour outside of St. Louis. The Southern Loop of the Pike Run Trail is around 6. 25 miles long, but you can also hike down to the very spacious back pack camp. This park has lots of spots to camp (see photo). Hiked around 4 hours, saw only two people on horseback and two other hikers. Apparently moonshiners used to hide their stills in this area, which is now part of the Coonville Creek Wild Area. It was 67 degrees and windy.
One of the niftiest aspects of this park is that it is located on the Big River and their are many, many fairly spacious camping and picknicking spots on the river. Some of the picnic spots have very private access to the water and the beach.