Just a short distance off of Manchester, or easily accessible from highway 44 is Rockwoods Reservation in Wildwood, MO a suburb in the St. Louis metro area. The park is part of the Missouri Department of Conservation and features an education center for visitors to learn more about plants and wildlife. The park is primarily known for their hiking trails and educational classes; however, the park also offers places to picnic and a winter festival – Winter in the Woods. There is an assortment of trails throughout the park of varying lengths that wander throughout the park and the different topography. Although we have visited the majority of the trails over the years, we recently hiked the Lime Kiln Loop Trail.

We arrived around 10:00 a.m. in the morning and the small parking lot was almost nearly full; however, we only passed a few people on the trail. We went to the right first, which we were glad we chose that way first because it was immediately a steady climb up the top of the ridge. Afterwards, you wander along the top of the ridge and then have a slow descent downward and begin to follow along a stream. The presence of water created a little oasis tucked into the hills and as we walked further the stream grew in size and provided a beautiful rushing noise to walk along. The loop and the variance in topography provided a great morning hike.