Saw deer and heard over 15 bird species in the first 3 minutes of the hike.
Deer hollow trail is an old paved road that had not been maintained so it is easy to hike. I then hiked along Spur 185 to reach the wilderness trail that leads into the Meremec Conservation Area. This was scenic and peaceful. Despite the popularity of the park, I hiked on and back the same four over 4 hours and didn’t see anyone else.
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★
Saw several wildflowers but not as many as I thought we’d see. The woods to the south of the park store had a prescribed burn and the trail was very good but steep in places. The river trail was very wet, muddy, and weedy. Not much of interest except the CCC shelter which was near where the bluff view trail met it. The river part of the bluff view trail was rocky but beautiful with another CCC shelter.
★
★
★
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