Saturday 4-26-25 Hiking at Meramec State Park, Camping & Reading

 

Overcast Day

 

We had an overcast day with a lite breeze. The morning temperature was 52 degrees.

I crawled out of bed at 7:15 and got dressed. Then we had  bowl of oatmeal for breakfast.

After breakfast we went on a 4 mile hike for about three hours. We started from the campground and walked to Fisher Cave, which was right across the street at the entrance. Fisher Cave was closed for the season. It will open May 18th for tours and closes on September 8th. We climbed stone stairs to get to the cave entrance. I looked at the entrance of the cave. Then we hiked the Fern Loop Trail, which was .5 mile around the cave and through the trees. At the beginning of the loop we climbed a steep hill to the top of mountain. Once on top we got a pretty view of the campground. When we got back to the cave we picked up the Deer Hollow Trail, which was 1.25 miles one-way. We hiked it to the parking lot of the store, restaurant and cabins. We walked to the trailhead of Bluff View Trail, 1.5 mile loop. We only hiked part of it about a mile. This trail was challenging because you weaved through the trees and had rocks, loose gravel, under trees and creek crossing. It was challenging but it had switchbacks to help. We got where it Y'd off to get back to store or campground. We took the campground way. At that point we saw a beautiful gazebo made by the CCC, it gave you a great view of the Meramec River. We hiked this trail until it got to another gazebo, from there we picked up the river trail to the left. This section of the hike was very narrow and at places there was a big drop off. You had to be very careful. It also was muddy at places due to the flooding. The trail ended at the Group C camping area of the park. The rest of the hike was down the campground road about .5 mile. We had a super hike and perfect weather. 

 

 

Campground from Fern trail

 

 

Staircase from Fisher Cave

 

First overview gazebo

 

Gazebo for the River trail

 

Fisher Cave is open for guided tours by a naturalist. It cost $14 for adults, $12 for teenagers (13 to 17), $10 for children (6 to 12) and free for children under 6. The tour takes you through the cave, it has low, narrow streamside passages to huge rooms filled with calcite deposits.

 

Fisher Cave entrance gate

 

What I saw at the gate to Fisher Cave

 

We spent the rest of the day relaxing with a book. Larry started a new book and I continued reading Guncle Abroad.

I played games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Spider and 5 Free Cell). It took me 1 hour, 6 minutes and 14 seconds, which put me in 18th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

About 3:00 I went for a 50 minute walk around the campground, two laps. I ended up doing 1.75 miles. 

For dinner I barbecued sausage links. We also had chips and a flour tortilla. After dinner Larry and I walked around for a half hour. When we got back we put the grill away. 

By the end of the day I had done 21,000 steps. I know it's a lot of steps but I needed to do something besides sitting.