Pickle Springs Natural Area is a 256.5-acre park location within Ste. Genevieve County in the U.S. state of Missouri. The site, a National Natural Landmark, is protected by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
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We loved this place & so did our 8 yr old daughter. Be sure to dress appropriately. There's a lot of poision Ivy around the trail and the sign with their map when you begin mentions that. Definitely want to wear hiking boots/shoes or tennis shoes with good grip. Don't were you're new shoes. Your shoes and legs will probably get a bit dirty of course bring sunscreen for certain areas and bug spray. Most areas are shaded from the woods but it's still hot from all the hiking up and down. There are NO bathrooms but the outdoors so prepare for that. Don't forget your water bottle or drink. There's no fountains or anywhere to refill your bottles. You may get a tiny bit wet at a few drippy areas possibly. Respect the trail etc and dont walk all over off path or get in the water or Springs as its a nature reserve. Read the cool. Info on the sign with the map at the beginning. It's millions of years old. If you love to take outdoor pics this is a great place for it with different shades of light in different spots. Says it's 2 miles but I walked 6 miles the day before and this place did not feel anything like 2 miles. It felt more like the 6 I had walked. It seems to continue on and on and we were like its great but are we at the end yet. Said it takes an hour to go through it took us much longer and you're going to want to stop at several spots going through. The trail is marked but you've got to look for the white markings or arrows. In some places not so well marked but if you look for those arrows or white markings and a few man made parts of trail it's really no issue. There's such a nice mix of things to see here. We want to go back. Great little work out hike. Definitely a hike and not just a walk. There can be some slick spots and up and down various terrains. Well worth the visit and makes for a nice roadtrip for a few hrs of a day that can plan along with seeing and doing other activities as it won't take up the entire day unless you plan to stop often for longer periods during the hike then it could be a great little day trip. Definitely a great place for the family or...
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About an hour south of St. Louis, so an easy trek for a beautiful hike. GPS directions through Google Maps are accurate. Parking lot is small and fills up quickly on beautiful days. There is no overflow parking and no parking allowed on the grass. The lot is regularly patrolled by park rangers (they were present the 2 times we have been) so don't try to get away with breaking the rules.
The path is about 2 miles long and will take about an hour if you aren't stopping. With stops to catch our breath and impromptu photo shoots, it took about 1.5 hours. The trail is one-way clockwise. The first part of the trial is flat and downhill. There are 4 back-to-back sites of interest within the first half mile: the cauliflower rocks, the slot, the double arch, and the terrapin, it addition to some wooden steps and ramps. You can climb on an around all these structures. It was fun to get as high up as possible on the rocks.
I hesitate to mention that we brought our dog. The sign at the trailhead says dogs are NOT allowed. The brochure at the trailhead says dog ARE are allowed on leash. Both times we have hiked here, we have seen other dogs. Our dog loved hiking on the rocks and had no issues with the terrain.
The 2nd half of the trail is a gradual to steep uphill. There are benches to stop along the way or even some very flat bounders to sit on. All is rewarded when you get to the overloook. There's not much to see except for more woods, but you'll be above the tree line and can...
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Edit: Me and my date both got poison ivy in little places all over, so is prolly recommend long sleeves that go directly in the wash after. I visited in summer though, so long sleeves wasn't an option 😅.
I was told there were lots of "small waterfalls".. and there were maybe 3? And they were 2-3 ft drops? 😅 I'd probably call it a nice hike through the woods with a few water trickles of water 😁. And if you think of it that way, it was very nice. Pretty shady most of the time, some cool rocks - rocks were cooler than the water. Barely saw people, but heard them a few times.
Definitely requires a bit of careful foot placement. The sign said it takes 1 hours, but we eneded up taking 1.5 - both from being a little slow and sightseeing/getting...
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