If your Thanksgiving meal has you considering a brisk walk to burn calories or to escape some of the family togetherness, St. Louis County’s Buder Park near Valley Park provides plenty of distraction and a solid all-weather surface.
The original park property was divided by the construction of Interstate 44, so now there are two sections. The upper park, called Buder South, is on the hill above the highway and hosts a picnic shelter, playground and tennis court.
The larger portion of the park in the valley on the north side of the interstate offers a wide variety of activities, most notably an expansive tract dedicated to model airplane flights. With a large pavilion and long runways, the park is popular with plane operators, but the zooming models are a real attraction for visitors to watch as well.
An annual park-specific permit is required to fly a plane at the park and all owners are required to carry insurance through the Academy of Model Aeronautics. A beginning flier must be accompanied and instructed by an experienced airplane operator who also has a permit and insurance.
Segments of three roads create a paved walking trail, shared by vehicles, that encircles the park. Most of it is named Airplane Drive, but there are also sections dubbed Meramec Street and Larkin-Williams Road. In addition to the airfield, the trail passes several athletic fields and an archery range. There were no games in action when we walked the park, but the airfield was busy with a wide variety of model planes.
The lower park is all river-bottom land, so the trail doesn’t have any noticeable elevation change. Because there are no hills and vehicle parking options are ample along the paved route, it is accessible for people of all mobility levels. The full loop is about a mile and a half, but several side spurs can add length.
While the roadway walk does not present much for those seeking nature up close, a significant portion of the trail does follow the south bank of the Meramec River. The scars of industrialization are pretty evident along that stretch of river, but flowing water always provides some peace and calm to the experience.
Also featured at the park is a 1.8-mile segment associated with the Meramec Greenway Trail. A portion of Larkin-Williams Road was never repaired after being washed out during the floods of 1993 and 1994. The abandoned corridor provides some natural area for hiking, but a portion of the road closest to the river remains closed to keep people away from danger along the riverbank.
Future plans call for extending the trail from Buder Park into the Unger Park and Fenton Park trail system. Those parks are all on the south side of the Meramec River. The most significant completed portions of the Meramec Greenway Trail are on the north side of the river, including the segment from Valley Park east to Simpson Park and on to Kirkwood’s Greentree Park.
Other completed stretches of the Greenway extend from Castlewood State Park to Sherman Beach Park and along the river’s north bank to Lions Park in Eureka. On the south side of the river, the trail goes from Unger Park to Winter Park in Jefferson County. Other proposed and partially completed sections are near Arnold and Pacific.
Eventually the planned route would extend nearly 50 miles. River crossings will pose challenges, but a pedestrian bridge is planned as part of improvements to the I-44 crossing near I-270.
The grand plan is a long way from completion, but it has made real progress since 2002, offering access through a variety of natural areas that include river lands, bluffs, forests and fields on surfaces that include pavement, crushed stone and road right-of-ways.
John Winkelman is Marketing Director for Liguori Publications near Barnhart, Mo., and the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine. If you have story ideas to share for the Leader outdoor news page, e-mail ogmjohnw@aol.com, and you can follow John on Twitter at @johnjwink99.