CityTracs

Fossils All Around

By Nick on EMSP

St. Louis sits at the confluence of the Missouri and the Mighty Mississippi Rivers.  You would expect that somewhere through the ages something might have fossilized around here, and sure enough.  You can find all sorts of petrified little creatures if you know where to look.

My oldest son, he’s almost a whopping and sagacious 5 now, is something of a rock hound.  It’s quite tough to get him to leave people’s gravel in their driveways.  If you put him on some actually interesting rocks, he’s entertained for hours.  I’ll try to document the places that we have luck around here.  But to get you started, check out his gem of a list provided by the Eastern Missouri Society for Paleontology:  fossil sites.

More to come!

The Rocky Mountains National Park is absolutely stunning! The mountain scenery and wildlife are among the best in America. The park offers plenty of fishing, hiking, camping, climbing, and driving sight seeing. There is a plethora of information on their website.
Photos By Jerry Suchman

Located in Destin on Florida’s panhandle, Henderson Beach State park has beautiful white, wide beaches and gorgeous dunes dotted with clumps of sea oats and the ever so popular prickly pear. Over a mile of beach! The water is clear enough to snorkel, but no reef nearby. Surfing, boogie boarding, sunning, and beach combing are highlights here. One of the best state parks in Florida.

Where two mighty rivers meet. This state park is rather small as state parks go, and is more notable for its history and geological significance than its beauty. Driving from St. Louis to Alton, Il, you’ll come to a great area for eagle watching in the winter. You’ll have to drive a ways off the road, and then a long ways down a dirt road through fields to actually get to the park. There is a nice write-up on the different indian nations that lived in the area, as well as a nice monument for the meeting of the Missouri (aka the “Big Muddy”) and the Mississippi. This also marks the launching point for Lewis and Clark on their great expedition. Worth seeing if you’re in the area and are out sight-seeing.

Really cool place to take the kids and pick your own fruit. Check out their website for a list of what’s in season so you can make plans to go. Make sure and grab a bite at the country restaurant while you’re there.

Their website has a schedule showing when the fruits are ripe for picking.

Here’s what you can pick:

• Strawberries – May
• Blackberries – mid-July thru August
• Peaches – mid-July thru mid-August
• Apples – September thru October
• Mums – mid-September thru mid-October
• Pumpkins – October
• Christmas trees – mid-November thru December

They’ve also got corn, tomatos, plants and flowers, and other seasonal items. The Belleville location has everything except for Mums.

You might want to call their hotline (618-233-0513 ext. 1) before going…just to be sure.

What else do they have?

• Country store and Restaurant (Belleville)
• Custard shop (May thru Oct)
• Bakery (Belleville)
• Hay rides (seasonal)
• Wine tastings
• Tons of other events!

Be sure to check out their Jumpin Pumpkin Jamboree in October…it’s a great Pumpkin Patch event!

At Grant’s Farm, children can see and pet many different types of animals. You can walk around the park or catch the train. Grant’s Farm is also home to the famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses the world has grown to love.

I am an educator and our first graders make this trip every year. They go and pick apples and other goodies in the fall.

Eagle Fork is a farm that allows parents and their children to pick pumpkins, walk through giant cornfield mazes, take relaxing hay rides, and more.

This is a great place for school field trips and for families!

The shut-ins are a really cool area of the Black River where incredible rock formations form a virtual bridge across the river. “Water-borne sand and gravel cut deeply even into this erosion-resistant rock, swirling, churning_carving potholes, chutes and spectacular canyonlike gorges,” is the description for the website. A favorite swimming spot, the water can be crystal clear and 15 feet deep or more in the swimming hole. Jumping from the 30 ft high cliff is banned (and not to mention dangerous)…additionally, the Taum Sauk Resevoir broke in December of 2005, flooding much of the valley. The park is undergoing a massive recovery, so swimming is out for a while, but you can still hike. I recommend you check the Recovery Info site.

Elephant rocks is basically a great hiking trail with some good scenery. The rocks really do look like a line of huge elephants walking trunk to tail. The park is not huge, but the hike is nice for the family. A pretty good day trip from St. Louis if you enjoy a good drive.
Located on Highway 53 outside of Pilot Knob.