- Joined
- Sep 30, 2009
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- 2,351
I went on our final trip to the St. Louis area for my son's H2O Polo practices and got a chance to take a hike for a couple of hours. I dropped him off at practice and took a short drive to the Mastodon State Historic Site in Imperial, MO. It is a very cool area, home of the Kimmswick Bone Bed, where the bones of Mastodons and other animals have been exhumed sincethe early 1800's. In 1979, archaeologists discovered a stone spear point made by hunters from the Clovis culture (14,000-10,000 years ago). The spear point was found close to mastodon bones and is regarded as the first solid evidence that man coexisted with the great Mastodon. There is a museum near the dig site that contains a full Mastodon skeleton, along with numerous other remains and artifacts discovered in the area. There is also a trail that leads you past the main dig site, with information about the digs and history of the site.
On our last trip, my wife and I hiked two of the trails, the dig site trail and another loop trail off of the picnic area. They were both enjoyable but fairly level and easy hikes. This time, my wife had to stay behind so I decided to try something a bit more challenging. There is a third trail, a little over two miles in length, that takes you along the side of a limestone bluff. It was just beautiful! You ascend the bluff on the front 1/3 of the trail, walk along the top and then descend for the last 1/3. It offered commanding views of the local area along with some interesting views of limestone formations. The trail got a bit dicey at times, fairly narrow with a substantial drop-off, and a combination of mud and wet limestone made it necessary to pay attention to your footing and take it slow at times. There were also some areas that had a fairly steep grade and I felt it in my calves several times (really need to get in better shape!). I snapped a few photos along the way.....sorry no knife shots.....but the blades of the day were my JK "Snubnose" and my Mora Bushcraft Triflex.
The trail...
The view...
The rock face
))...
After my three trips to St. Louis, I have really grown to enjoy the area. On the way down, I got a chance to stop in at a small knife shop called Grand Prarie knives. It's very cool to see so many knives that I have only seen in pictures "in the flesh". They had a great selection of different GEC knives along with Benchmade, Spyderco's, Boker, ESEE, etc...etc...etc... I picked up a flat ground orange Spyderco Endura, a Boker Plus Krein Pocket Bowie, an Old Hickory Butcher knife and a few other goodies. I also was able to show the guys there my JK which received excellent reviews. I picked up six different kinds of Schlafly beers, a Coffee Stout, Oatmeal Stout, Pale Ale, Winter ESB, Imperial Stout and Trippel Ale. These will come in handy next weekend in deer camp. All in all, a pretty great trip!
On our last trip, my wife and I hiked two of the trails, the dig site trail and another loop trail off of the picnic area. They were both enjoyable but fairly level and easy hikes. This time, my wife had to stay behind so I decided to try something a bit more challenging. There is a third trail, a little over two miles in length, that takes you along the side of a limestone bluff. It was just beautiful! You ascend the bluff on the front 1/3 of the trail, walk along the top and then descend for the last 1/3. It offered commanding views of the local area along with some interesting views of limestone formations. The trail got a bit dicey at times, fairly narrow with a substantial drop-off, and a combination of mud and wet limestone made it necessary to pay attention to your footing and take it slow at times. There were also some areas that had a fairly steep grade and I felt it in my calves several times (really need to get in better shape!). I snapped a few photos along the way.....sorry no knife shots.....but the blades of the day were my JK "Snubnose" and my Mora Bushcraft Triflex.
The trail...
The view...
The rock face
))...
After my three trips to St. Louis, I have really grown to enjoy the area. On the way down, I got a chance to stop in at a small knife shop called Grand Prarie knives. It's very cool to see so many knives that I have only seen in pictures "in the flesh". They had a great selection of different GEC knives along with Benchmade, Spyderco's, Boker, ESEE, etc...etc...etc... I picked up a flat ground orange Spyderco Endura, a Boker Plus Krein Pocket Bowie, an Old Hickory Butcher knife and a few other goodies. I also was able to show the guys there my JK which received excellent reviews. I picked up six different kinds of Schlafly beers, a Coffee Stout, Oatmeal Stout, Pale Ale, Winter ESB, Imperial Stout and Trippel Ale. These will come in handy next weekend in deer camp. All in all, a pretty great trip!
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