Discover a New Park Sunday

St. Louis is a big city and the suburbs around it radiate out in a huge fan to the north, west, and south. The local wisdom says that if you live in south St. Louis, you never go to north St. Louis, and vice versa. Well, I have always lived in the inner suburbs to the southwest. I rarely go to the north side except when I go to the airport as I get ready to leave. Going to north county for me is like visiting a different city.

Today, I made an exception. I made a trip to north county. There is a very large park in northwest county called Creve Coeur Park, that is, Broken Heart Park. It lies between the bluffs overlooking the Missouri bottom land and the Missouri River. It has two lakes, one medium sized lake and one huge lake. There are paved and unpaved trails all around the two lakes, which provide for a really good long hike. Today Burnie and I did a little more than two hours on yet another beautiful and clear fall day. Here is an inlet off of the smaller lake.

Walking along the trail, the bluffs on the right…

bottom land on the left.

The trees on the bluffs were still in high color.

An old fallen dead tree sported a fancy coating of multi-colored fungi.

The Page Avenue extension rides above the park between the two lakes.

Creve Coeur Lake

The rowers were out on the lake today. These two guys got in trouble for being in an “off limits” section of the lake.

This guy is often seen on the trails of St. Louis. He rollerblades with his skiing poles. And he sings at the top of his lungs.

Here are the rowing teams.

Burnie and I did another six miles today. I think I will have to come back here again. The park also has a new concession. I don’t know whether I am brave enough to try it. It is called Go Ape, and it is an a treetop adventure course with several ziplines. If I go, that will be another post.

Just a Walk in the Park

This was a beautiful fall Sunday to enjoy a long (two hour) walk in Forest Park. I’ve visited there a lot lately, so I began in a different section, the eastern part which abuts Kingshighway and the Barnes-Jewish Hospital complex. There is a paved bicycle path that circles the park, and it is accompanied by a gravel path for walking. Most of the time the paths are separate but they do join from time to time, especially over bridges.

The grasses are a lovely neutral against the backdrop of the oranges and golds of the trees.

This eastern end of the park really reminds me of Central Park South in NYC.

Just a lazy day fishing in the lake.

That is Barnes-Jewish Hospital, where both of my kids were born some years ago. It was busy today. The helicopter kept coming and going.

Our iconic planetarium.

Burnie and I walked almost all the way to Skinker Boulevard at the west end of the park, but we pealed off the gravel path and went through Kennedy Forest where we were literally surrounded by color: right, left, front, back, up, and down.

Here is a movable sculpture outside the new wing of the Art Museum.

And the facade of the Art Museum with the avenue of trees.

What could be more relaxing than enjoying the park while boating on the canals.

Six miles we did. My pedometer passed 15,000 steps.