John M Olin Nature Preserve (Nature Institute) — Attraction in Godfrey

Great place to do some walking and minor hiking just outside of St Louis. We walked the Beaver trail and some of it was old asphalt, some was gravel, and once you got farther it turned to smooth dirt. There were some steeper decents and a few ascents that were a little tough and would have been really hard if it was muddy. Beaver Falls wasn't flowing much but it was still neat and all the nature leading up to it was beautiful and we managed to see a couple chipmunks. One of the best parts is there weren't a lot of people there when we went so we got to enjoy the sounds of nature and...

This is an amazing park. With about 5 maybe 6 trails. We went on the beaver trail because we really wanted to see the falls. We were not disappointed. There were quite a few waterfalls. There were some areas the were more steep but me and my husband and our 3 kids ranging from 11-17 hiked it and made it out alive lol. We were all very tired but it was a very memorable day. We had so much fun. We finished beaver in about 2 hours. We can't wait to go back and try out a different trail. We live roughly an hour a way bit it's definitely...

The trails are very well maintained and the restrooms are clean. I love that they're restoring the land here and that it's open to the public. However, The onsite and online maps need to be updated as there is no longer parking allowed near the prairie apparently, though it's still marked as a parking lot on the maps. This makes it difficult for a disabled person to access now because it is quite a walk from the other lot. There is also a large possumhaw holly (Ilex decidua) labeled as "Swamp Privet", (Forestiera sp.) on a large...