Valley View Glades Natural Area

Valley View Glades Natural Area is one of my favorite St. Louis area hikes.  The 225 acre natural area is home to some very large dolomite glades as well as a neat mix of oak, hickory, and cedar woodland areas with a series of wet-weather creeks running along side the trail.  For just a short 2.8 mile loop trail, the variety of terrain and plant life is impressive.  Shortly after arriving at the empty parking lot, I began walking the trail clockwise and was temporarily disappointed that I had not waited another month or two to take this hike in order to catch to wildflower bloom on the open glade.  But the view is still beautiful, even on this misty and cool early spring evening.

The first mile of the trail is an up and down journey over rocky terrain following the edge of the open glade and sliding in and out of the mixed woodland, crossing a few small creeks.  Then the trail flattens out on top of a ridge, and allows you a moment to catch your breath as it follows a fairly straight path for about 1/2 mile.  In the past this has been a great location for migrating songbirds, but the Woods were quiet today with nothing ornithologically noteworthy.

Now as soon as the trail turns left and starts going downhill again, things get interesting.  I was still 50 yards away and could hear the water rushing in one of the many wet weather creek crossings and I was reminded why I wanted to walk this today.  St. Louis has again received several inches of rain this week and it has rained or snowed the 3 of the past 4 days.  This precipitation made for some excellent  waterfalls and for a scenic walk on the latter third of the hike, erasing any dissapointment I had been feeling about the lack of wildflowers that I felt earlier on.  Here is one of my favorites:

The trail runs parallel and crosses back and forth over this rocky, clear creek several times allowing ample opportunity to appreciate the sound of running water and to take it all in.  Several photo opportunities presented themselves today, and I almost felt guilty that I had the whole trail to myself.

There are more that I could show you, but you get the idea by now.  Go for yourself and see the rest of them.  By summer the creek is totally dry so try to schedule a visit after a rainfall.  If you don’t have the time or don’t want to walk the full 2.8 miles, just take the trail to the left when it forks shortly after leaving the trailhead and you will find the creek pretty quickly.  Take the time to explore the open glade areas a bit, especially if you are into snakes and lizards as the area is home to some species unusual for the immediate St. Louis area.

For more information on Valley View Glades, check out this link:

https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/places/valley-view-glades

Thanks for reading!