Lost Valley: Eight Mile (Monday, April 30)

8.6 miles after school at Lost Valley.You can barely see the Dunlap Cemetery through the trees. Saw a doe, an owl, and a turkey.

2.8 miles through the John F. Kennedy Memorial Forest in Forest Park. This is a great walk that I used to do almost every day when I lived on Southwood across from the Park in '98--in my lush $400- dollar-a-month-including-utilities apartment, where, if you ran the hair dryer and the coffee maker at the same time, you would blow a fuse. Still, there was the "consoling proximity of millionaires"--and of course, the park.

The last tree--an Osage Orange inside of and tethered to a hollow red oak--was planted in 2004 to commemorate the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase.  It commemorates the Osage Indians who were uprooted from their land and then had to "reroot" themselves.

Lost Valley 8 Mile

Hiked one of the full Loops (the Short Loop) of the Lost Valley Trail. Traverses gravel roads past ponds and then ascends into the woods. The last one or two miles is just flat gravel again. Took about three hours.

Utah: Saturday, April 21st

Paul and I walked up and down Utah in Tower Grove South on Saturday, East and West of Grand. The tiles are on the wall of a city school East of Grand--and if you look close at the tile porch roof, you can see the tiny little downspout face that Paul spotted as we were walking

Forest Park: April 20

There are still hidden niches in Forest Park to discover. This waterfall is just off the golf course, behind some trees. If you don't look hard, you'll miss it.

Lewis and Clark Trail: April 16 (Monday)

Hiked after school. 8.2 miles in exactly three hours and four minutes. What was curious: hiked first three miles in an hour, then the next two in an hour and the last three in an hour. The two slower miles traversed muddy trail and climbed high bluffs, maybe that's why it took longer.

The river is really high after 3-5 inches of rain over the weekend--and I've never seen the creeks as full and rippling before. Saw three or four deer on the second loop of the trail, and heard frogs. I now have a literal experience to attach to the phrase "a chorus of frogs".

Gore Loop Webster Groves (Suburban Hike)

Hiked two miles with Paul in Webster. Lush gardens and lawns. Towering trees. Stories told by a native about the inhabitants and ex-inhabitants of houses.

Thursday, April 12/Lost Valley Trail

Stopped after school. Hiked across a field. Hiked to the Mades Cemetery and then crossed 94 to hike the trail past the Heck-Roth Cemetery to the Katy Trail. Blue sky. Majestic bluffs. Cool breeze. Sunny after a cloudy day. Hiked almost 5 miles.

Tuesday, April 10

About 4-5 miles after school. Took the old road that goes by the McRobert Cemetery to the the trail and then did a loop. (The access road is not shown on the map, but you take the first fork to the right and the old road shows up on your leflt. The road is getting starting to be too thick with foliage to hike enjoyably as ticks are rampant this Spring, but taking it was still interesting exploration.

April 8 Lost Valley 6 miles

Paul and I hiked 6 miles of the Lost Valley Trail. This was the first time at Lost Valley for Paul. No clouds. Saw a group of French speaking families hiking and picnicking by Femme Osage Creek. Perfect weather. 72 degrees--we did 20 minute miles and finished in two hours exactly.

April 6: Lewis Trail

Chilly morning. Fleece hat weather and great hiking. 5.3 miles because I had to get back to the city for lunch. Perfect hiking. An 80-something trail runner buzzed by me!

April 5: Rockwood Reservation

The Trail Among the Trees/The Rock Quarry Trail (about 3 and a half miles) Cool. 53 degrees. Light rain. Some slippery stairs. . . . Cool cave. No people. Would have hiked more but had to be home for the air conditioner maintenance man.

I also came very close to three deer. You can tell there isn't any hunting in this area because the deer were not skittish and let me get very close to them--unlike out in Weldon Spring where they bolt immediately upon sensing your presence.

April 4: Hutchings Cemetery

Hiked between 3 and 4 miles. This is the last "new" cemetery in the Weldon Springs Conservation Area that I'm going to discover--probably until next winter. The foliage off trail is getting too dense--and ticks are ubiquitous. Have to admit, though, I'm glad I went back to find the Hutchings Cemetery with its odd medieval-like stone enclosures. It's just behind (maybe 100 feet) the tree line at the edge of a field--no longer visible because of tree leaves and brush. Seventy degrees and damp today--cool and windy at times, muggy and humid at others.

April 3: St. Francois Park and the Pike Run Trail

Hiked the North and South Loops of the Pike Run Trail--11 miles. St. Francois Park has always had, to me, a very mysterious atmosphere. Even when the sun is out, the sky seems low and close. And I've rarely seen people on the trails although there are always campers and horse trailers on the main roads. Today, a trail runner came up from behind, startling me. She was friendly but seemed to come from nowhere--on the farthest part of the 11 mile loop.

Knowing that moonshiners hid stills in this area--and that Civil War battles were fought here--plus the atmosphere of the park in general--made me think of Ambrose Bierce's story Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.

During the last three hikes I've been on, I've noticed turtles sunning themselves on the trails. I saw probably seven turtles today, three yesterday and three on Sunday.

April 2nd: Chubb Trail

Chubb Trail: I don't know what Wallace Shawn's look-a-like was doing on the trail this morning, but I accidentally steered him (and myself) into hiking the wrong way on a switchback, sending us both back to the parking lot--where he ended up leaving.

I did have to do a double take--was this Wallace Shawn himself, saying, "Hey! What are you doing messing up my hike on this beautiful morning?" Or, "I thought you'd steered me in the wrong direction so you could hike the trail yourself!" (Which I did--but not on purpose--it was an honest mistake). Or, "Lucky I'm very forgiving!" Wallace Shawn has to be in his seventies by now, and I'd guess the little, slightly beer bellied bald man on the trail this morning was probably around fifty. A cousin? Nephew? Neurotically obsessed fan?

Anyway, I ended up hiking up to the first picnic spot and then down to the back pack camp. Found a cool overlook and bench I'd never known about before. Hiked about 4.92 miles. Wrapped up just as it started to get really warm--around 82 degrees.

April 1st: Lost Valley

Hiked 6.8 miles on the Lost Valley Trail, to the Dunlap Cemetery via trail. It was 60 degrees when I started, 80 degrees when I finished. Saw bicyclists and bird watchers.

These flowers are part of a field of flowers next to the Dunlap Cemetery. They were planted by J. Hodgen Bates around his homestead. Check out this excerpt that describes him:


"In his book The Rape of Howell and Hamburg: An American Tragedy, Donald Muschany described Hodgen Bates: '[T]here was one genius I shall never forget, Hodgen Bates. Bates was a bachelor who built his own log house, dug his own cistern, and, get this, slept in the shell of a grand piano. . . . He played almost flawless chess, and knew just about everything worth knowing about nature. I spent many a Sunday afternoon talking with Hodgen, sometimes walking through the woods, while he identified this tree or that tree, birds, rocks, and soils. . . . Hodgen truly loved animals and never as much as killed a snake. . . . And he was an artisan and a voluminous reader, who remembered what he read. Our uncle, Karl, has a fine hexagonal tapered walnut cane made for his by Hodgen Bates. It is an exhibit of superb craftsmanship. . . . After thirty-five years, I was privileged to visit the old homesite of Mr. Bates. Of course, the house and he were long gone, but I felt his presence as I recognized many signs of the past. Along the hillside the flowering iris, or flags, continued to bloom where this good old man, Hodgen, had planted them.'"