Tag: Outdoor

Pickle Springs Natural Area, Highway AA Ste. Geneviève, MO 63670 Call us at 573-883-3603 Pickle Springs has been designated a Natural Landmark by the National Park Service for its biological and geological values as an undisturbed site. A two-mile trail named the “Trail Through Time” winds through the park and guides the visitor through 500 million-year-old geologic wonders carved in sandstone. The trail features clear streams, cool canyons, spectacular bluff views, and “The Slot,” a crevice marked with holes, pockets, and ridges. Visitors must climb through the ”Keyhole” to descend to the creek below. Twin footbridges cross Bone Creek and pass Mossy Falls. The park is a primitive natural area and does not have services. Be sure to bring a camera and plenty of liquids before hiking the trail. Read more…

Ste. Genevieve – Modoc Ferry For well over two centuries, a ferry crossing has connected the Missouri and Illinois shores of the Mississippi River near Ste. Genevieve, making it one of the oldest continuously operating transportation routes in the American Midwest. Today’s Ste. Genevieve – Modoc Ferry carries on a tradition stretching back to the very earliest days of European settlement in the region—a living link to the frontier era when the Mississippi was both highway and boundary. Now operating Wednesday through Sunday, the ferry provides reliable access to historic sites on both sides of the river, carrying vehicles and passengers across approximately 10-15 minutes of pure Mississippi River experience. The crossing represents more than transportation; it’s a step back in time and a connection to the river’s enduring power and presence that hasn’t fundamentally changed in over 200 years. A French-Language Petition: 1798 The story of this ferry crossing begins in 1798, when residents of Ste. Genevieve formally petitioned for ferry service across the Mississippi. The petition itself was written in French—the language of commerce, government, and daily life in this thriving French colonial river town. At that time, Ste. Genevieve was already a well-established community, one of the Read more…

Ste. Genevieve Dog Park At 264 North 3rd Street in downtown Ste. Genevieve sits a half-acre oasis for canine recreation—the Ste. Genevieve Dog Park, a safely fenced community space where dogs of all sizes can run, play, socialize, and work off energy while owners relax and watch their pups enjoy freedom. The thoughtfully designed space features multiple fun areas encouraging different play styles: open running zones for full-speed gallops, play equipment for climbing and jumping, shaded areas for temperature relief, and water access during warm months. The park operates on a honor system of community care: provided waste bags and convenient trash cans eliminate excuses for leaving messes, while regular community maintenance keeps the space clean and welcoming. Whether you’re a Ste. Genevieve resident needing daily exercise outlet for your dog, a visitor traveling with a furry companion, or someone passing through wine country wanting to give your pooch a break from the car, the Dog Park delivers what dogs want and owners appreciate: safe, fenced space where pets can truly run free. As one regular testified: “Finally, a place where my dog can burn off energy safely while I don’t have to worry about traffic or lost dogs.” Safe, Read more…

Ste. Genevieve Levee Wildlife Refuge: Where Flood Defense Becomes Eden Between downtown’s brick facades and the Mississippi River’s dark embrace, more than 200 acres of bottomland forest, wetland, and open field transform a massive levee—built in response to catastrophic flood—into sanctuary where white-tailed deer browse at dawn, great blue herons hunt the shallows with patient stillness, and bald eagles perch through winter within towering cottonwoods overlooking the great river itself. Dedicated in 2021 after seven years of collaborative vision between the City of Ste. Genevieve, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, both levee districts, Missouri Department of Conservation, and Army Corps of Engineers, this refuge embodies something rare: infrastructure born from disaster transformed into blessing, flood protection reimagined as habitat, human engineering serving wildlife rather than dominating it. Here, along levee-top pathways and primitive trails descending toward the river’s edge, visitors encounter what 290 years of Ste. Genevieve’s relationship with the Mississippi has always offered: simultaneously magnificent and terrible beauty, bounty and threat, the particular romance that emerges only when human communities accept their genuine dependence upon landscape that doesn’t care about human comfort. The Levee: Monument to Resilience Understanding this refuge requires understanding the earthen barrier itself—massive, unglamorous, completed in Read more…