Another New Wooded Wonderland

Recently Kris and I walked at a place that was new to us.  West Tyson Park.  It's near Six Flags amusement park on I-44 west of St. Louis, MO.  There are several walking trails marked off in the park and we chose the intermediate length.  It was a lovely day, not too hot, not too humid.  The trail was rated a single diamond.

Well, the single diamond was not accurate.  While this is not the most rugged trail we had walked, it was certainly at least a 2 diamond trail.  It was almost all uphill - about 1.5 miles - full of stones, roots, washed out areas, and other trail hazards.  The downhill part was much less rugged.  We were glad we had not brought along the dog for this walk as there were several places that were not wide enough for both the dog and me.

Kris and I are used to walking single file on these wooded trails.  That's not a problem.  One nice thing about this trail was the lack of bicycles.  Lately we have encountered many ill mannered and ill behaved cyclists with whom we are supposed to share the path.  They are not following the posted rules of announcing themselves when the come upon us from behind.

As I have said many times, if a cyclist hits me, well, I'm fair game.  But, if a cyclist hits my dog who is walking, as trained, on my left, then I'm likely to stomp on that cyclist as he lies on the muddy ground.  No excuse for such lack of manners if they want to share the trails and roads. I give them wide berth when I'm in the car and I feel it's only fair that they behave politely on the trail.  More and more, Kris and I are migrating to trails with fewer cyclists - and Kris, herself, is a cyclist.

That said, this park is lovely.  The longer trail will take you to a site that overlooks the Meramec River as it turns from north to west on its journey to the Mississippi River about 12 miles east (as the crow flies).  The shorter trail is about one mile.  Great for beginners.  As you can see from the pictures, there was plenty of shade on the trail - and that's a plus!

Note:  The last picture shows a huge limestone boulder that has slid down the hill from up much higher.  It is retained only by the single tree you see.  A beautiful site.

Thanks to Kris for taking these pictures!


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