Klondike Park – Hogsback Trail (1.5 miles)

Hiked September 12, 2010

  Klondike Park is one of my favorite parks in St. Charles.  I’ve hiked and camped there, and I discover something new every time.   The park boasts many diverse trails; from trails that wind over glittering sand and beneath bluffs to wooded trails high above the Missouri river.

The Hogsback Trail is a wooded trail with awesome  views of the Missouri River.  We began our hike by climbing the paved path past the Conference Center and up to the overlook.  The overlook area provides great views of the  Missouri River.  You can see sandbars and bottomland fields.  There is also a display of how the river looked when Lewis and Clark camped along the river’s edge. 

From the overlook, we found the trailhead for Hogsback Trail.  It began in the woods with overlooks of the river below.  A wooden fence lined the trail to prevent hikers from falling below.  At one spot, we were right above the Katy Trail and had spectacular views of the Missouri River.  This part of the trail was lined with tall cedars.

After a while, we came to a switchback in the trail that began a descent down the bluff.  There were several switchbacks during this part of the hike.  At times, the trail became very narrow and slanted, so we had to make sure the kids stayed on the higher part of the trail; away from bluff edges.  Again, they had fun  asking, “What if you fell down THERE!?”  There were rock outcrops to explore along the  trail.  After a while, we  came to a tall, mossy rock  wall.  The trail meandered past the rock wall and back into the woods.   There were a variety of pretty wildflowers that made me wish I knew what they were.  We also viewed many orb weaver webs in the trees that glistened in the sunlight.  At one point, as Scott was walking, he ran  into something dropping down from a web.  It landed on the ground and we inspected it.  I had to look up what it was.   Turns out, it was a Banded Tussock Moth Caterpillar  (not to be confused with a Yorkshire Terrier).  Other than a toad, some spiders and the caterpillar, we didn’t see much wildlife on the trail.   However, the trees, flowers and ground cover were pretty cool.  I took a picture of some orange mushrooms because I had never seen orange mushrooms before.  I tried to identify them by searching online and I believe they were Orange Mycenas.

As we descended lower into the forest, the trail ran perpendicular to highway  94 and we could hear the highway traffic.  It wasn’t too long before the trail ended along the main road in Klondike Park.  So, we had to hike along the rode back to the parking lot.

Overall, I really enjoyed this trail.  Abraham fussed a bit and the kids whined a bit toward the end, but it was another trail that had plenty of views, cool rock outcrops and little  discoveries along the path.  The map of the trail at Klondike Park was a bit confusing.  It wasn’t clear where the trail began and ended and the map was hard to follow when we came to an intersection along the trail.  Having a good sense of direction helped at that junction. 

After our hike, we ate lunch in the park and then drove about 3 miles to Augusta and picked apples at Centennial Farms.  It was the perfect ending to our  morning of hiking.