While hiking is a great activity in any season, the spring and fall are by far the prime times for discovering the wonders of the great outdoors on foot. Your personal pace is one of the key features that make a walk in the woods enjoyable.
The Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit introduced the 2024 version of its hiking club in January, but the public and especially Missouri Botanical Garden members are welcome to join the group anytime. The goal is to complete 40 hikes in the park within the year. With 17 miles of trails throughout its 2,441 acres, the seasonally changing landscape serves up rich natural variety.
Each Monday a new hike is posted that features areas of the nature reserve with bountiful blooms or wildlife-viewing opportunities. The hikes don’t have to be taken on Mondays, nor do they need to be completed weekly. Previous hike maps are available at the Visitor’s Center along with the new one each week.
To become a member of the hiking club, participants sign up at the visitor’s center when they pay the daily admission. Club members who complete 40 hikes in the year receive a badge to signify their accomplishment.
Maybe you have noticed, with all the warm late-winter days we’ve enjoyed, a few daffodils and other spring bulbs peeking out their green leaves and colorful flowers. Soon they will be out in their full glory in flower beds, fields and even highway medians.
But if you really want to see a boom of blooms, take the easy hike around the two-acre Cypress Lake at the Shaw reserve. Just minutes from the Visitor’s Center, the rolling hills around the lake form a 50-acre meadow with thousands of daffodils that will put on their sunny show this spring. As its name implies, the lake is surrounded by cypress trees dotting the waters’ edge.
Two of the most popular trails begin at lakeside. Wolf Run Trail is a one-mile loop that originates and ends at the parking lot for Cypress Lake. The trail leads to another lake that makes for a rest area or an obvious halfway mark for the hike, which is classified as moderate-difficulty with some hills and varied terrain, including prairie, savanna, and woodlands.
The three-quarter-mile Brush Creek Trail begins at the south end of Cypress Lake and crosses Brush Creek prior to reaching the Maritz Trail House. The hike also passes the Whitmire Wildflower Garden and its maze of walking paths amidst native flowers and plants. The Whitmire District includes historic Bascom House, Carriage House and Glassberg Family Pavilion.
The Maritz Trail House is the starting point for three different routes to the southern corner of the property, including the opportunity to explore a Meramec River gravel bar. The Rus Goddard River Trail is a 2.5-mile loop that winds through rocky glades and woodlands.
The Wildflower Trail and the Bluff Overlook Trail are both three-quarter-mile linear trails that bisect the Goddard Loop and are rated as challenging. Both offer views of glades, their unique flora, woodlands, and a wide vista of the Meramec valley.
Four other hiking trails at the nature preserve explore other natural and historic features. The Prairie Trail is three-quarters of a mile and goes from the Brush Creek Trail to the Civilian Conservation Corps stone bus stop.
The bus stop also marks the beginning of the Wetland Trail, which is more than a mile long and includes an elevated observation blind, viewing scope and a 300-foot boardwalk that allows observation of wetlands plants and animals.
The Harris Hollow loop trail is one mile long and connects to the Dana Brown Overnight Center used by school groups. The Hidden Valley Trail is 1.5 miles and lives up to its name as one of the least-traveled areas of the property.
Admission to Shaw Nature Reserve is $5 per person for ages 13 through 64, $3 for seniors 65 or over, and free for children 12 and younger. Missouri Botanical Garden members get in free.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine. If you have story ideas for the Leader outdoor news page, e-mail ogmjohnw@aol.com, and you can find more outdoor news and updates at johnjwink.com.