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Knob Noster State Park

3.9 (14 reviews)
Closed • 8:00 am - 4:30 pm

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Clearfork Lake
Cecelia S.

This is a very pretty park. It was a nice place to relax and chill for a bit.

Site 35 close to second bath/shower combination.

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3 years ago

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4 years ago

Beautiful walking trails. Many different routes to take. Definitely for beginners. Lake are extremely peaceful. Nice place for a picnic!

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8 years ago

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6 years ago

A beautiful park with very friendly staff. We enjoyed seeing many types of unusual mushrooms while hiking. They also have a nice playground.

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6 years ago

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17 years ago

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15 years ago

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5 years ago

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8 years ago

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11 years ago

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9 years ago

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9 years ago

Very fun. This is a state park though so bugs, animals, and other potential wildlife are to be expected.

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10 years ago

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10 years ago

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Monkey Mountain Nature Preserve

Monkey Mountain Nature Preserve

3.9(8 reviews)
36.3 mi

This area was called "Monkey Mountains," because early settlers deemed the river bluffs too steep…read morefor even monkeys to climb. This place is as close to being out in the wild as you can get in the KC area. A little bit of a drive but worth it if you want a rugged terrain. It's perfect. Reaching the open meadow at the top is wonderful. Use bug spray and check for ticks.

Monkey Mountain is an 855 acre nature preserve in Eastern Jackson County, halfway in-between Grain…read moreValley and Oak Grove. The address I listed is the approximate address of the south entrance to the park, there is another entrance a little over a mile north off Old US 40 Hwy next to a softball field. The park is mostly undeveloped, which is what I love about it. You get to experience nature instead of a sanitized version of nature. There are two primary loop trails, one measuring 3.5 miles and one measuring between 2-3 miles depending on the route taken. Numerous smaller trails criss-cross between these main trails and branch out forming various side loops. You can spend hours hiking here and not see everything. The park caters to hikers and equestrians. I usually encounter a few other people at the park but only between long stretches of complete isolation. The elevation ranges from about 780 feet on the banks of Sni-a-Bar Creek to about 950 feet at the summit. There is a wide variety of terrain in the park: marshy lowlands in the north and northwest, thick woods and steep terrain covering most of the western half, limestone outcroppings along the ridge and at the south end of the park, a huge roiling meadow in the center, and farmed land along the eastern edges. Several ponds dot the landscape, and numerous tiny streams feed into Sni-a-Bar Creek along the western edge. There is even a waterfall in the park, but I will not reveal the location since it is both a fragile and a dangerous feature (especially in winter). Finding it can be part of your adventure. In the spring and early summer the park's meadows are filled with a wide variety of wildflowers, and wildlife can be spotted year-round. I've seen deer, foxes, turkeys, tortoises and turtles, all sorts of birds, and even evidence of some sort of wildcat. In the first half of the 20th century, much of what is now Monkey Mountain Park was part of a show farm called Sni-a-Bar Farms, owned by William Rockhill Nelson. The hillside and meadow were used for grazing sheep. Evidence of that can still be seen today in the form of farm remnants such as an old boundary fence running east-west through the middle of the park. If you hike the park, don't do it alone until you are familiar. Even though there are trails they are not always easy to see, and some portions of the trails can be treacherous. If your hike takes you through the northwest portion of the park you can expect to encounter mud pretty much year round so wear appropriate shoes. You will also need to carry your own water, there are no facilities at the park except at the softball field and an outhouse at the south entrance.

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Monkey Mountain Nature Preserve
Monkey Mountain Nature Preserve
Monkey Mountain Nature Preserve

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Stark Caverns - The darkest part of the cave lot up with a black light flash light

Stark Caverns

4.9(124 reviews)
62.4 mi
Locally owned & operated
Established in 1950

Stopped here during a weekend trip near Lake of the Ozarks. Missouri has so many caves and I'd been…read morewanting to do one, so glad we picked this one. You can grab tickets online or in person, and they have a really cute gift shop with fun little trinkets worth browsing before or after your tour. Our tour guide Lee was so amazing! He's been there for years and years and you can just tell. Great stories, super personable, the kind of guide that makes the whole experience way more memorable. We even spotted a bat hibernating which was such a cool unexpected moment! The cave itself is fascinating and I loved that it was great for all ages. Our group ranged from little kids to people in their 70s and everyone was into it with no problems. A few spots can get slightly slippery so just watch your step, but there are handrails throughout so nothing felt unsafe. Also found out they host events here too like a black light event and even concerts inside the cave which sounds incredibly cool. Definitely want to come back for one of those. Overall I was really impressed and would highly recommend adding this to your Missouri road trip list.

What was nice about these caverns is that they are almost entirely wheelchair/stroller accessible…read moreand we were able to take our one-year old daughter on the tour in our stroller. That's pretty rare with cave tours. This was the only cave tour we did during our week-long family summer vacation in Missouri and we enjoyed it. Our guide, Maddie, was wonderful and very enthusiastic. The tour was an hour and we had a smaller group who were wonderful and I enjoyed learning about the cave, the history of the cave, and walking all around. It was fun and well done. If you are nearby, this is something I think you should do. They have plenty of parking, nice grounds, a penny press souvenir machine, a nice gift shop and are great with kids with some other interactive things to do before or after the tour.

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Stark Caverns
Stark Caverns - Entrance to cavern

Entrance to cavern

Stark Caverns - Minerals that glow under a blacklight that you can see while taking the black light tour.... Hands down WORTH IT!!!

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Minerals that glow under a blacklight that you can see while taking the black light tour.... Hands down WORTH IT!!!

Knob Noster State Park - parks - Updated May 2026

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