Park Trails

at Mastodon State Historic Site

Limestone Hill Trail

  • Hiking

Length: 2 Miles View map

Trail Rating: Rugged

Limestone Hill Trail is a steep and rugged hike with challenging slopes and rough terrain. The trail leads along the base of a limestone bluff, up a hill through an oak, hickory and cedar woodland and across the hilltop with scenic views of Seckman valley. The trail is often shaded by a variety of trees such as honey locust, sugar maple, dogwood, white oak, hackberry and cedars. Among the deep ravines and rough, protruding boulders, wildflowers such as columbine and wild hydrangea can be found growing among woody vines and trumpet creepers. Small yellow and red funnel-shaped mushrooms may be spotted poking through the dark green mosses on the limestone boulders. There are several benches and overlooks along the trail. A secondary trailhead off Seckman Road provides a hike of 1.75 miles.

You may experience:

  • Natural surface, dirt, mud, gravel, shifting rocks, slippery surface, etc.
  • Rocks, roots and/or downed vegetation on trail        
  • Physically challenging obstacles
  • Steep grades and inclines more than 10 percent
  • Bluffs or drop-offs next to trail
  • Water/stream crossings without bridges
  • Road/highway crossing
Find the trailhead on the park map
Missouri State Parks Trail Rules and Etiquette
Length Estimated Hiking Time Type Blazes Trailhead
2 Miles 2 hours Loop Green By the museum parking area

Spring Branch Trail

  • Accessible
  • Hiking

Length: .80 Mile View map

Trail Rating: Easy

Spring Branch Trail offers a leisurely hike through a portion of the Rock Creek bottomland. The packed gravel surface is manageable for wheelchairs and strollers. The trail follows a small stream flowing from the Bollefer Spring past remains of the Bollefer springhouse, built in 1937. The Bollefer farming family stored perishables such as milk, eggs, fruits and vegetables in the spring before refrigeration was invented. Looping through a young woodland of hackberry and box elder trees, the trail winds through sycamores and cottonwoods along Rock Creek, a popular place for wading during the summer. The creek also hosts a variety of aquatic wildlife.

You may experience:

  • Natural surface, dirt, mud, gravel, shifting rocks, slippery surface, etc.
  • Rocks, roots and/or downed vegetation on trail        
  • Bridges and/or structural crossings
Find the trailhead on the park map
Missouri State Parks Trail Rules and Etiquette
Length Estimated Hiking Time Type Blazes Trailhead
.80 Mile 25 minutes Loop Yellow

Picnic area off Seckman Road

The Wildflower Trail

  • Hiking

Length: .40 Mile View map

Trail Rating: Moderate

The Wildflower Trail guides visitors down a series of stairs to Kimmswick Bone Bed, where scientists first discovered evidence that American mastodons coexisted with humans 12,000 years ago. The trail passes Callison Memorial Bird Sanctuary, which is a wildflower area, before crossing an old limestone quarry and going down a limestone bluff and talus slope to the bone bed. At the bone bed, an interpretive kiosk provides information about the Pleistocene deposits. At the end of the ice age, this area’s mineral springs and swampland were home to the American mastodon, Harlan’s ground sloth, Jefferson’s ground sloth, long-nosed peccary and stag moose. No excavations are going on currently and the remnants of the bone bed site remain safely buried for future generations.

You may experience:

  • Natural surface, dirt, mud, gravel, shifting rocks, slippery surface, etc.
  • Rocks, roots and/or downed vegetation on trail    
  • Wood or stone steps   
  • Bridges and/or structural crossings
Find the trailhead on the park map
Missouri State Parks Trail Rules and Etiquette
Length Estimated Hiking Time Type Blazes Trailhead
.40 Mile 20 minutes Loop Blue

By the museum parking area