Located in the heart of St. Louis, Forest park ranks in the top 100 (#75) Largest City Parks at 1,293 acres of land 1 , while some sources cite it as the U.S.'s second largest urban park2. The park itself offers a wide range of free features (Zoo, Science Center, Shakespeare in the Park, Yoga, etc), but my favorite is easily the multitude of meandering trails, both paved and rocked, that offer a wide number of combinations to achieve even the longest runs (so long as you aren't intimated by hills!). The outer perimeter trail is a roughly 50/50 mixture of transport by foot and bike, but the interior trails are dominated by dog walkers and joggers. The largest mistake you can make when enjoying the Forest Park trails is not to venture in to enjoy the beautiful wooded trails the Park has to offer. Given my close proximity to the park, it is the source of 90% of all my runs. Here is a 16 mile run from March that shows several of my favorite trails:
1.http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0933260.html
2.http://hematology.wustl.edu/stlouis/stlouis.html
Castlewood State Park
Castlewood State Park, located just south of Ballwin, is one of St. Louis County's best hidden gems. Boasting roughly over 15 miles of marked trails, it is a haven for the urban hiker, trail runner and mountain biker. However, given this wide overlap of trail users, certain trails can get congested in the middle of the day, so it is imperative to be courteous of those around you. Also, some of these trails do enter the realm of technical trail running, so be aware that the terrain will become rocky, steep and narrow at points.
Big River Running (http://www.bigriverrunning.com/) and The Alpine Shop (http://www.alpineshop.com/) regularly host trail runs over the Spring, Summer and Fall in Castlewood that are worth their weight in gold, offering not only a guided run through one of the best hiking trails in St. Louis county, but coupling that with the camaraderie of some of the friendliest runners St. Louis has to offer, both during the run as well as the ALWAYS fun after party (complete with free food and beer!). I am really looking forward to exploring Castlewood this summer. Below is my first independent trail run, completed with my gregarious pooch in tow.
Chubb Trail (West Tyson County Park/Lone Elk Park)
Chubb Trail may very well be the best trail run I have ever experienced in the St. Louis area. It may also be the worst.
Thursday was a day... that shall live... in infamy. My wife, a friend and I embarked after work to experience this popular mountain biking and trail running destination. The confusion in driving to the actual trail was par for the course, as it took us roughly 40 minutes to make it from downtown St. Louis to the West Tyson County Park (traffic, road closures, and a quick reminder from local law enforce that even adults have to follow "right turn only" lanes).
After taking I-44 exit 266 (Lewis Road Exit), we turned right at the stop sign. The sign to the right of the road for West Tyson Park is easily missed, so stay keen! We agreed in advance that this would be a "BYOP" run, ie "Bring your own pace!" so I embarked on this journey alone. The Chubb Trail marker is a blue tree and it unfortunately took me several miles to figure this important piece of information out.
Runner beware - the first mile of the Chubb Trail offers many opportunities to get turned around, confused and filled with doubt. Fear not, you will survive so long as you follow one simple rule:
Keep. Running.
Also, a word of advice: the "switchback" for this trail is easily overlooked! There is a small sign with a u-turn symbol, stating "Switchback" in blue. This sign is intended to convey a sense of understanding that one should immediately turn a hard left and ascend up the trail running parallel (but in reverse) to the one you were just on. This was information hard learned.
The first 3 miles of Chubb Trail (starting at West Tyson) offers a gauntlet of technical climbs and drops, complete with exposed roots and pitted sedimentary rock outcropping. The trail varied from wide track to single track within this zone.
Leaving behind the technical section, there is a railroad crossing (stop-look-listen!) serving as a gateway to a far mellower, soft, flat section of Chubb. The trail then comes to a fork; continuing forward leads to a "Low Water Section" following a mostly dry creek bed, while cutting to the right will lead to a nice prairie. I was still in a state of confusion at this point and ended up taking the "Low Water Section." DO NOT TAKE THE "LOW WATER SECTION." Does running next to a creek bed sound scenic? Why yes, of course it does. Does battling vicious horseflies for at least 3 miles, then waking up the next morning covered in poison ivy sound romantic? No, no it does not. Nor does it feel romantic. Again, DO NOT TAKE THE LOW WATER SECTION!
A second railroad crossing leads to an open trail that looks like it is was originally intended to be driven on. From this point on, it is pretty easy going, minus one last climb. The last climb offers one last hurrah to your heart rate, as it is long and fairly steep. There are not banners of congratulations at the end, though, just an opening to the large parking area used to access the trail head from Lone Elk Park. Turn around and enjoy the 7 miles you now get to run back ;)
All in all, an incredibly fulfilling run. I completed the 14 miles (+ some extra for getting lost at first) in a little over two hours and made it back to the car just in time for sunset. The memory of the trail will unfortunately be forever marred by the epic battle of the horseflies through the Low Water Section (don't take!), as well as the full body armor of poison ivy rash I am currently battling.
Spottings:
8 deer (7 doe, 1 buck)
1 raccoon
1 fox
LOTS of squirrels and rabbits
Lessons Learned:
-Always wear bug spray
-Bring a map
-Poison Ivy still exists...perhaps short shorts and a tank wasn't the best choice.
I will be back, Chubb Trail, stronger and with less exposed skin!
GORC Trailmap of Chubb
(Apologies for the lack of GPS and Elevation - my wife borrowed my Garmin for her run within West Tyson. I will update after the rash is gone and I rerun the route, albeit in long sleeves.)
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