Daniel Boone Conservation Area - September 2008 Hike

September 26, 2008
11:00 am
Weather: Clear, 73F
Daniel Boone Conservation Area

We attempted to hike the 5 mile multi-use trail in the Daniel Boone Conservation Area on Sept 20. This trail is only a 15 minute drive northeast from Hermann Missouri, so we decided to give it try on our way back to St.Louis after a 2-night stay at the Hermann Hill Cottages.

The first obstacle we ran into was finding a trailhead near the south-most parking lot. We walked the gravel road south approximately an eighth mile and never saw a trailhead or the crossover as indicated on the MDC map. We headed back to the car and decided to follow the road deeper into the park to see if we could find a suitable place to jump onto the trail. I didn't notice any signs of a trail to the west of the gravel road and can only surmise that the road and trail are one and the same when entering the conservation area.

We eventually entered the trail at marker 1221 the horse staging area/parking lot. There are still many areas of the trail competing with tall grass this time of year and still more areas with serious erosion issues. This leg of the trail slopes gently downward towards a dry creekbed before reversing back uphill towards the main road at #1218. Most of this leg is heavy wooded with occasional clearings that allowed ample sunlight. There are also several wildlife watering holes along the way.

The flying bugs were unbearable, so we decided to end our hike once we reached the rock road at #1218. I suppose we might have been the only creatures emitting CO2 within a 5 mile radius and were ripe targets for pestering. I also collected my share of chigger bites on my ankles despite a good spraying of OFF before the hike. I need to check percentage of Deet used in this particular product, but it certainly wasn't in the 20%+ range.

I would like to hike this trail again during the cold weather months. There seems to be several parts of the trail that traverse high ridgelines, potentially offering scenic views. Unfortunately the campsites we saw looked less than ideal. I enjoy primitive camping and privacy, and although each of the campsites are spaced far apart, they're all in very close proximity to the main road.