THURSDAY MORNING DOG HIKE is cancelled DUE TO ICE & SNOW STORM

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Really hoping to get this hike in, if weather permits, CABIN FEVER has set in!

TRAIL IS LEVEL, GRAVEL, & AS PRETTY AS IT GETS.

GOOD FOR BEGINNERS & ALL DOGS - LARGE AND SMALL

Our "beaches" will be frozen, so bring water for your dogs to drink. They still get thirsty in this cold weather, and the river bank is frozen solid.

TRAILS DON'T GET ANY PRETTIER OR EASIER THAN THIS. Plus, almost no other PEOPLE!Trail goes between towering bluffs on one side, and the Meramec River on the other. On Thursday mornings, it is EXTREMELY quiet, so dogs can have a lot of freedom to just run and have fun. We might pass 4 or 5 people on a 5 mile hike!!!

DRIVING DIRECTIONS....if you don't read these carefully, you will go to the wrong place!

OLD STATE ROAD is about halfway between Hwy 44 and MANCHESTER ROAD off HWY 109. Take Hwy 109 about 2 miles from either end to stoplight at OLD STATE ROAD. Turn on OLD STATE ROAD, then IMMEDIATELY RIGHT ON WASHINGTON.

Go all the way to the end of the road, past the RR tracks. Your GPS will send you to a different parking lot inside the park, just keep driving until the road ends. Map above is very good, use it if you don't know the area. Very easy to find this one, if you follow these directions.

Meet at the LAST PARKING LOT on the road, PAST THE RR TRACKS !

No bathrooms here, only at the first 2 parking lots, and they're kinda nasty.

Also, no water in this park, bring some to drink. More important, BRING SOME FOR YOUR DOG, or plan to let your pup drink from the river.

NO RETRACTABLE LEASHES ALLOWED unless you keep them shortened! When we walk as a group, they are a danger and, at the very least, A HUGE AGGRAVATION, to the rest of us.

We walk at a reasonably brisk pace, and this will be about 2 hours of actual walking. However, we will not be trying to set any speed records, we stop when we need to.

We have a planned stop at Sherman Beach (BELOW) after about 1 hour of walking. It's not fancy, but it's a very quiet and safe gravel bar and the dogs can play and just be dogs here. We will spend a little "stop-n-play" time at Sherman, then head back to Glencoe Beach.

Allow 2 hours for this 5 mile hike.

Please be on time, we hit the trail promptly at 10:00.

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