This is a spectacular park! I wish I knew about it years ago. If you get a chance, check out the…read moreSt. Charles County Parks site and find a Ranger guided bird tour. Bring some water, save a map, note the restrooms. Plenty of trails, tables, trees. Parking is good. Be prepared for a 2-lane winding road to get here.

Great park for pictures. Go to the area with the bathrooms and two swings, walk down pavement to…read morethe sand area beautiful water and views! The bathrooms avoid, very gross and filled with wasps and stink bugs. So we changed in parking lot.

(AUGUST 2025) I'd never seen the sunflower fields that my friends post about with their children…read moreand families until recently. It almost seemed unbelievable some of the imagery stemming from these 7,000 acres of natural beauty and outdoor recreation in the heart of scenic Missouri wine county. Once you are off highway 40, it's 50-55mph WINE-dy back roads to get there. Once you get into the turn in, it's a graveled road with a trailhead to the Katy Trail. Do not even think about having a clean car upon entering this place. It will get dirty and dusty. There are also (surprisingly) random humans running in the middle of the narrow driveway leading up to the sunflower field and ending at a boat ramp. I never understood why people never stick to one side of the road while on foot amongst VEHICLES. I find my friend and we exit our vehicles to begin our mini photoshoot in the sunflower fields. I felt like Candy(wo)man as the bees tended to the sunflowers while I freaked out thinking they'd sting me with my bright yellow shirt on and black skirt. It was so blissful to see sooo many beautiful BIG butterflies fly around us. The caterpillars were on like every leaf just hanging out like the Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. It was nature at its finest. Sunflowers for as far as the eye can see. The sounds of bees (and flies) buzzing about. I tried to relax, and we got a few non-frantic pictures of me. I will wear pants next time and try to relax more. I was invading THEIR space, not the opposite.

Great hiking and bike riding location. Lots of trees and near Katy trail! Love this place!read more

This place is big. Has several like that you could go fishing at. I would recommend catch and…read morerelease the fish since I don't know how safe it would be to consume those fish. For those that like nature, it is quite a nice place to go to in order to enjoy nature.

Beautiful nature area right in St. Charles County! Plenty of lakes in which to fish, and many…read moretrails on which to walk/hike! This is part of the Missouri Department of Conservation. Enjoy the beauty of our area on any day, in any season!

I always have a great time coming here. Plenty of parking. Sometimes it can be busier but it's…read morenever been an issue. Benches and scenic overlooks galore. You will be going uphill a decent bit but nothing crazy and the top spot is beautiful and worth it.

One of the coolest nature experiences in the St. Louis area (Metro/Illinois side) lies in Valmeyer…read more The trail is about a mile long but plan to walk at least two miles. Starting at the parking lot, I highly recommend the Salt Lick Trail, which ascends to a hill (lots of steepness!). As you walk further on the trail, you get rewarding views. Near the end of it, you'll get a great view in which, on a clear day, you can see the St. Louis skyline. There are two other trails that link to the Salt Lick Trail. One of them starts at some church in Valmeyer.

Busy park and trails. Hiking for all levels. We make several trips a year from the Western burbs.read more

I mean. You can never go wrong when you visit this place…read more You think there's nothing more to life? Come here. You can think clearly up here just looking at that view. I had visited 5/18 with a few girlfriends. It had rained a day prior so there definitely were some muddy patches. We also encountered a black snake (too scared to take a picture- I ran away), a dead baby snake, a ton of cicada shells, spider webs in the way of our path, and some bees. We went around 11am and though the high was 84, it wasn't so bad since most of the trail is in the woods. I hadn't been here in a while but it seemed shorter than I remember. If you're looking for an hour-ish long hike, swing on by.

Broemmelsiek is a beautiful park. It is in a hilly and green area near O'Fallon, MO. The park is…read morelarge and has numerous picnic shelters, walking paths, hiking trails, kayak rental, catch and release fishing, lots of parking and a visitor center. The park is dog-friendly, as long as they are on a leash. But, they also have a pretty big dog park where they can run around unleashed. We will be here next weekend for our grandson's high school graduation party. The pavilions we will use are quite large, have lots of tables, ceiling fans, lights, a fire pit restrooms and a playground. This park can be enjoyed whether you have a group event or if you just want to chill out and soak in your surroundings.

Massive park with plenty of trails, green space, pavilions for rent! We went for a birthday party…read moreand had never been there before but found the park absolutely beautiful!!

For a raw nature experience Howell Island is one of the top spots in the St. Louis area. By "raw" I…read moremean undiluted by development. Except for a gravel parking lot and a few informational signs there's little human imprint to Howell. However, if you're a mall walker, bothered by insects, or fastidious this isn't the place for you. It is a natural area with little maintenance. And it is an island. A hundred yards or so from the parking lot a narrow causeway provides pedestrian access. When the causeway floods, which isn't unusual, Howell is inaccessible except by boat. Though technically in St. Charles County, access to Howell is from St. Louis County off Eatherton Road in west Chesterfield. At over 2,500 acres there's plenty of roaming room. Bicycle and walking paths are mapped. Other Howell activities include fishing, birding, trapping, and hunting. Because Howell accessibility can quickly change following upstream flooding or heavy rains, check the Missouri conservation website before visiting to ensure you can visit. No restrooms or other services here.

Rock Hollow trail is a 2.3 mile trail accessible from Ridge Meadows Elementary or via the Al Foster…read moretrail and Bluff View Trail. It is a wide, paved path meandering through the "hollow" between two ridges. From Ridge Meadows, the path gradually descends with many bridge crossings, benches, and rest areas located along the trail. The spring wildflowers fill the area with pops of color. We went on a weeknight and were practically the only ones on the trail, but I imagine it can get crowded with walkers, runners, and bikers on the weekends.

Paved shaded and a decent walk. Got to see a deer. Has a small waterfall. After a good rain the…read morecreek probably has a nice stream. Small view of the river at the end.

The features of this 90-acre park are its 3-mile hiking/biking trail and 15-acre fishing lake that…read moreborder Dardenne Creek. There's also a soccer/lacrosse field. Much of the greenway, however, has been left in a natural state with a restored wetland and native prairie.

Last weekend, it was such a sunny and warm-ish day for January, so we decided to take a little trip…read moreto Cliff Cave County Park with the pup. This was our first visit and so we parked in the lot that gps took us to and then followed the signs for the hiking trail. We were impressed with the number of hikers and mountain bikers out and about. What I really enjoyed about this park is that the trails are all easy to follow and loop around so that you can choose any direction to walk. We started with the shorter hike and walked to the overlook which was so pretty! We spent some time just watching the river and then decided to try another trail for a bit. Honestly, it was really nice to be outside. Baxter was so happy to be able to play in the leaves and we all got really excited because we saw a bunch of deer while we were out walking! Of course, when we saw them, we all stopped and just let the deer have their space to get where they were going. The loop that we completed was about 3 miles and I really appreciated how easy it was to navigate the park. We did not get over to the cave during this visit, but will plan to visit again on another warm-ish day so that we can explore the other trails.

I've been to this park before and like that it offers walking trails not far from the city. The…read morewalking trails offer out and back trails, so I definitely got a couple miles of walking in. Fir those who want more of a "nature" feel there are some hiking and biking trails tucked away near the walking trails, which in my opinion, could use better trail markers. The hiking trails are still close to the border if the walking trails, so you don't go far into the wooded areas. My favorite part of the park were the caves, as soon as you enter the bottom of the trail where the caves are you can feel the cool air from the caves. It was great to check out and I wish the trails offered more scenic views in addition to this.