Missouri Hiking Trail Review: Mastodon State Park… (and lunch at The Blue Owl!)

Mild, Missouri weather patterns in January means more hiking!!  With temperatures in the 50s, Mom and I decided to take advantage and check out the hiking trails at Mastodon State Park.  Mastodon State Park is located in Imperial, MO.

There are three trailheads at Mastodon State Park:  Spring Branch, Limestone Hill, and Wildflower.  None of these trails I would rate as “Hard,” nor are they very lengthy.

Spring Branch Trail

The Spring Branch Trail is a 0.8 mile, easy, loop trail that features a walk along the river.  The trail is wide and very well maintained.  I would say there is zero noticeable elevation gain on this trail.

When you first start your hike on this trail, you will actually be on both the Spring Branch and Mastodon’s other trail, Limestone Hill.  However, they quickly split.  Follow the trail to the left to stay on Spring Branch.  About halfway along the trail, you will come to the nice little river.  This is one of the best places to take a few pictures, unless you just want pictures with the trees.

This trail is an excellent beginner’s hike.  I would highly recommend this trail for families with small children as well.

Limestone Hill Trail

The Limestone Hill Trail has two trailheads.  One at the same location as the Spring Branch Trail and another one by the Mastodon State Park’s visitor center.  If you start at the trailhead by Spring Branch, the trail is 1.75 miles in length.  However, if you start at the Visitor’s Center, the trail is 2 miles in length.

Unaware of the second trailhead, we started by Spring Branch.  As already stated, the trails very soon split after starting.  To stay on the Limestone Hill trail, one will want to hang to the right and cross the nearby road to get to the loop section of the trail.

Once you cross the road, you must decide which way you want to hike the loop.  We chose clockwise after seeing several others going in that direction.  We figured maybe they knew something we didn’t.  I will just tell you now, I think we picked right.

Going clockwise, one will follow the road just for a little bit on a wide, well-maintained trail.  Then the trail turns sharply going up the hill.  This trail is rated as moderate, because unlike Spring Branch, this trail has a pretty steep incline with a few switchbacks.  Once you reach the top of the hill, you will be rewarded with several views.  That being said, those same views would not be the same if there were leaves on the trees.  The trail walks along the top of the hill for a good stint until it starts working it’s way back down the hill.

If taking the route clockwise, coming back down the hill becomes a little more technical, with a lot of rocks and roots to step on and around.  Also, the trail narrows quite a bit as you walk between an embankment with the road below and a rock wall.

Even with the 300 feet in elevation gain, I would still consider this a beginner hike for all ages.  Smaller kids may have a little difficulty on the rocky section, but nothing a little hand-holding wouldn’t help.  And there are several benches along the trail that can be utilized to rest if needed.

Wildflower Trail

The Wildflower Trail is a 0.6 mile loop trail that features limestone rock walls man-made by the local quarries and the Kimmswick Bone Bed which is the site that scientists first figured out that humans and mastodons coexisted tens of thousands of years ago.  The trailhead is by the park’s Visitor’s Center.

To start the trail, one will walk down a series of stairs behind the Visitor’s Center to a limestone wall that was created by the quarries popular in that area.  There is an informational sign that you can read with more information about the quarries.  You can clearly see the drill lines on the rock face.

As you continue walking down the trail you will come to a split in the route.  If you decide to go in the direction of the Bone Bed first (there’s a sign to direct you), you will get to walk down several flights of stairs to some more informational boards regarding the bone beds.  However, if you choose to go the other way, you will get to walk up those steps instead!  We chose to go down the stairs.

After reading about the amazing discoveries found in that area, we continued our walk in the woods.  As we came back up the hill towards the Visitor’s Center, the incline wasn’t as steep as that by the stairs to the Bone Beds so it was just a nice gentle walk up.

The trail is called the Wildflower Trail because supposedly there is an abundance of wildflowers in the spring and summer, so I will have to walk it again during those times.  This trail is rated as “Easy” even with the series of stairs.  Once again, I would recommend this trail for beginners and children

All Trails in One Day

It only took mom and I a short time to do all three trails in a single morning.  One could easily park their vehicle at the Visitor’s Center and get to all three trails.  I would actually recommend that.  The Limestone Hill trail runs right into the Spring Branch loop.  So you can easily do both of those loops and then throw in the Wildflower Trail either before or after.

If you do what we did, we parked at the other parking lot which is on another street before you get to the main entrance of Mastodon S.P.  From there we walked the Limestone Hill and Spring Branch trails, then drove over to the Visitor’s Center to hike the Wildflower Trail.

**One thing I want to make you very aware of:  If you are trying to get away from the hustle and bustle of city/town life, Mastodon may not be the best place.  It is located in a very populated area and you can hear the highway traffic from all the trails.  Plus your views will include roads and housing.  That being said, I didn’t think it was too distracting.

Visitor’s Center

The Visitor’s Center opened at Noon, so we hung around a little bit to go inside so I could get my Missouri State Park Passport stamped.  I had planned on looking through the Visitor’s Center for a bit, but we didn’t realize it cost $4 to do so.  So I just snuck a quick pic of some artifacts and the giant mastodon skeleton before I exited the building.

When you are done with your hike, a quick drive across the highway for lunch is a must!

The Blue Owl Restaurant & Bakery

The Blue Owl is home to the Levee High Caramel Pecan Apple Pie (my favorite!) and has been featured on Oprah and Travel Channel’s “Food Paradise.”

They’ve got pies and cakes of many different flavors.  Anything from meringues, cream pies, fruit pies, chocolate cakes, cheesecakes, and sooo much more!  But it’s not only about the pie.  Their home-style food is absolutely delicious as well.  They serve a lot of breakfast, brunch, and lunch items such as quiche, sandwiches, salads, soups, and dinner items such as Fried Chicken, Chicken and Dumplings, and a delicious looking Chicken Pie!

For this meal we decided to keep it light to save room for a piece of pie by ordering the Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed dressing and the Canadian Cheddar soup.  It definitely hit the spot!

Then came the hard decision as to which pie to order.  I already knew that I wasn’t going to be able to choose just one, so I went with the famous Levee High Caramel Pecan Apple Pie to eat there and chose the Hawaiian Coconut Cream pie to take home (which I’m currently eating as I write this!)  The look I captured on my mom’s face when they brought out that pie was priceless!!

So when you want to get out and adventure for half day, I would most definitely recommend hiking in Mastodon State Park followed by a bite to eat at The Blue Owl in Historic Kimmswick!