60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: St. Louis: Including Sullivan, Potosi, and Farmington - Softcover

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Steve Henry grew up on a farm in the rolling hills of central Kansas, spending much of his youth working under the blue skies of the plains. After earning bachelor’s degrees in marketing and agricultural economics at Kansas State University, he served a sentence of seven years in the offices of a large insurance company. Missing the outdoor life, he left the corporate world in 1985 to cycle across the continent twice, including one trek from Alaska to Key West. Since then he has led bicycle and backpack tours, contributed articles to outdoor publications and websites, and written Mountain Bike! The Ozarks and The Best in Tent Camping: Missouri and the Ozarks. He heads for the mountain and desert West whenever he can shake himself loose from the Midwest, and he always looks forward to fall and winter hiking, camping, biking, and canoeing in the Ozarks. When not roaming the outdoors by foot, bike, or canoe, Steve sees the country from the driver’s seat of a Peterbilt 379.

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LONE ELK COUNTY PARK

Key At-a-Glance Information

• LENGTH: 3.25 miles, with optional 0.5-mile hike at the World Bird sanctuary
• CONFIGURATION: Loop
• DIFFICULTY: Easy
• SCENERY: Wooded hills and deep hollows around a small lake
• EXPOSURE: Shady throughout
• TRAFFIC: Medium
• TRAIL SURFACE: Packed earth and gravel
• HIKING TIME: 1–2 hours
• DRIVING DISTANCE: 6 miles west of the I-44/I-270 interchange
• ACCESS: Park open from 8 a.m.– sunset; World Bird sanctuary open 8 a.m.–5 p.m.
• MAPS: Manchester USGS topo; online map available at www.stlouisco.com/parks/trailmaps
• WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBILITY: No
• FACILITIES: Restrooms, water, picnic sites, picnic shelters
• SPECIAL COMMENTS: No pets―they’ll chase or spook the elk and deer. Nor should you closely approach these unpredictable wild animals.

GPS Trailhead Coordinates

UTM Zone (WGS84) 15S

Easting 714111

Northing 4267614

Latitude N 38° 31' 52.2"

Longitude W 90° 32' 37.3"

DIRECTIONS

From I-44, take exit 272 for Valley Park– Fenton–MO 141. Access the North Outer Road and drive 2 miles west to the park entrance.

IN BRIEF

While exploring Lone Elk Park on the White Bison Trail, you’ll probably hike right past the park’s elk and deer herds; in the neighboring World Bird Sanctuary, you’ll see eagles, owls, and myriad other birds. Bring your camera and binoculars!

DESCRIPTION

Lone Elk County Park, where you’ll hike past elk and deer and view bison from the park’s scenic drive, wasn’t always such a peaceful place. During World War II and the Korean Conflict, property that’s now within Lone Elk and the neighboring Tyson Research Center and West Tyson County Park was an ammunition storage and testing site. Earth and concrete bunkers held munitions, armed guards roamed the area, and the hills echoed with the sound of gunfire from ammo testing. Between the wars, St. Louis County bought the land, and elk, bison, and deer were introduced to the area as part of the short-lived Tyson Valley Park. The Army reacquired the land during the Korean Conflict, removed the buffalo, and left the elk and deer to roam the landscape. When a bull in rut rammed one of their vehicles, though, the Army decided to shoot the elk herd.

Even with all that ammo at their disposal, the Army missed one elk. And when the county bought the land in the early 1960s to again develop a park, employees spotted a majestic bull living secretively in the park’s hollows. Unseen by humans for nearly ten years, he was named the Lone Elk, and he eventually became the park’s namesake. Students in the Rockwoods School District, fired up over the sad plight of the lonely elk, teamed with the Lions Club to raise money to buy additional elk for the new park. In 1966, a half-dozen elk imported from Yellowstone National Park were released in the park, and a bison herd was added to St. Louis’s new wildlife park in the early 1970s.

Elk, bison, and deer aren’t the only wildlife on display for your visit to Lone Elk. The World Bird Sanctuary, an educational organization dedicated to rescuing and preserving threatened species and their habitat, is on Lone Elk’s entrance road. The sanctuary has restrooms, water, cold drinks, and a fascinating visitor center where you can closely observe raptors, tortoises, and several species of snakes.

The sanctuary has an easy half-mile hike that’s a perfect warm-up for the trail in Lone Elk. It begins at the end of the pedestrian-only gravel drive leading from the parking lot past enclosures housing eagles, owls, and other birds. If your timing is right, you can watch the owls chow down on mice too. This easy trail wanders a quarter mile to the Meramec River bottomlands, passing bird-feeding stations along the way. One of the stations has a photography and viewing blind, so bring your camera and binoculars. You can make this one-way hike into a loop by following the gravel road at the bottom of the hill back to the sanctuary entrance. Whatever option you choose, you’ll hike just over a half mile. On a winter hike on the sanctuary’s trail, I once spotted an eagle perched above the Meramec―quite a contrast to the injured and recovering eagles in captivity back up the hill.

The 3.25-mile White Bison Trail in Lone Elk is longer and tougher but even more packed with wildlife. You’ll probably hike within a few yards of deer and elk, and during mating season, you’ll hear the bulls bugling. On your way to the trail, stop at the observation tower near the park entrance to survey the landscape you’ll explore on the White Bison. The trail starts from either end of the parking lot at the Lone Elk visitor center west of the park lake. Marked with brown signs bearing white bison silhouettes and the word “trail,” it’s a singletrack path circumnavigating the lake. You’ll often hear the lake’s geese and ducks honking and quacking as you wander the surrounding hills. White Bison Trail is a hilly path. But because ascents are gently graded, hikers of all fitness levels will enjoy this easy trail.

For no particular reason, I prefer hiking the White Bison clockwise. Starting from the north end of the old visitor center parking lot, look for a White Bison Trail sign at the base of the hill overlooking the picnic area. Cross a little bridge past the sign and start climbing gently northeast. There are nice vistas of the lake along the trail, especially during winter when the trees are bare. From several high points you’ll catch glimpses of the Meramec River bluffs far to the north. As you wind through the hills and hollows above the lake, you’ll soon notice the trail surface on north- and east-facing slopes is packed earth that gets sloppy when wet, while south- and west-facing slopes are gravelly and offer firm hiking surfaces in all kinds of weather.

The first 1.25 miles wind over the landscape between the old visitor center and the Whitetail Shelter. At the 1-mile point there’s an easy place to lose your way. You’ll have just completed a looping turn on a short stretch of old road that leaves you heading west toward the boundary fence. Just after a trail marker the path breaks north off the old road and swings back east. Because there’s no arrow on the marker, it’s easy to miss this turn and continue hiking the road to the park boundary, where you’ll mistakenly follow an unofficial path north along the fence, cross a dry wash, then follow an open meadow to the Whitetail Shelter. If you do make this mistake, just follow the paved road south 100 yards from the shelter, and you’ll rejoin the White Bison where it hits the paved road just south of the dry wash.

The trail turns south and follows the shelter access road 0.1 mile to the park’s loop road, then crosses the loop road next to the lake’s dam. Here you’ll see another path breaking right to follow the water’s edge. While not an official trail, it’s a nice lakeside shortcut that rejoins the White Bison after a quarter-mile hike along the lake. The White Bison ascends from the road crossing, passes through a small boulder field, and loops around a thumb of the lake below the observation tower. After intersecting with the shortcut trail, it crosses the park road and enters Elk Hollow.

The remaining 1.5 miles of the White Bison Trail are my favorite part of the hike. Though you can see and hear park roads from most parts of the White Bison, this last stretch is, with a few exceptions, farther from park roads and feels more isolated. The trail wanders up and down the sides of several deep, forested hollows and crosses intermittent streams. Because elk and deer often hang out on this side of the park, you may get to hike with the wild critters on this last stretch of the White Bison. The deer often won’t move until you’re within five yards of them. Don’t approach any of the animals too closely....