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| This summer, find your perfect picnic spot and enjoy the outdoors. Try Forest Park in St. Louis (above). /St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission photo Alley Spring near Eminence (below) are options outside city limits. |
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The sun is shining, the sky is blue. It’s perfect picnic weather, and Missouri has wonderful picnic spots–in manicured city parks, next to gurgling streams or on mountaintops. Pack a paper sack with sandwiches and chips, lay out a gourmet spread or pick up a gourmet meal at the deli to take along.
While not a complete list, here are some favorite picnic spots in Missouri.
Watch geese and ducks in a pond while eating a sandwich on a bench in Loose Park in Kansas City. After lunch, walk on the path encircling the park, which is located on the site of the Civil War Battle of Westport. The rose garden, with a beautiful central fountain, is a romantic backdrop for an outdoor meal, especially when the more than 4,000 roses are blooming.
Weston Bend State Park offers secluded picnic sites, a shelter, panoramic views of the Missouri River and a three-mile paved loop trail. Located only 45 minutes from Kansas City, the park is near the quaint town of Weston.
Historic Forest Park in St. Louis, site of the 1904 World’s Fair, has numerous picnic tables scattered under the spreading branches of mature trees.
The park is home to the zoo, St. Louis Art Museum, the St. Louis History Museum, the Jewel Box, The Muny Opera, and the James S. McDonnell Planetarium that connects to the St. Louis Science Center.
Cycle or walk the paths through rolling grounds. A picnic in the middle of a full day’s outing will give you a chance to relax and catch your breath while in a beautiful setting.
Lone Elk County Park in southwest St. Louis County (Interstate 44 N. Outer Road west of state Highway 141) is home to elk, bison, deer, geese, wild turkey and ducks. When you spot a traffic jam, someone has likely spotted an animal or a whole herd. Just outside the park entrance is one end of the scenic Chubb Trail, open to hikers, horses and mountain bikers. There are two shelters and two picnic sites in the park.
Locust Creek Covered Bridge State Historic Site near Laclede preserves Missouri’s longest surviving covered bridge. Pack a lunch and walk about a quarter mile down a picturesque country road to this historic bridge that was built in 1868.
Picnickers can enjoy bluff-top views of the mighty Mississippi River at Riverview Park while visiting historic Hannibal. Tour Mark Twain’s Boyhood Home and other historic houses, visit Mark Twain Cave, or take a riverboat ride before breaking for a quick picnic lunch.
Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site near Lawson features a restored 19th-century textile mill. Set up a picnic in the ambiance of old orchards and period gardens on this once-bustling plantation, which preserves the Watkin’s home, a church, a school and other buildings.
The St. Joseph Parkway System stretches for 26 miles through St. Joseph. Drive or cycle the greenway, then picnic at tables in Krug Park. Or simply spread a blanket under the trees in one of the 47 other parks dotting the parkway. Afterwards, stroll on twisting paths and admire the beautiful stone architecture in Krug Park.
Travelers on the Santa Fe Trail crossed the Missouri River on a ferry to Arrow Rock, where they filled their water barrels at a spring before heading West. The Arrow Rock State Historic Site includes most of this small town’s 19th-century frame-and-brick buildings and an old-fashioned boardwalk. Spend a day touring, antiquing, learning about the history of the town at the visitors center, or attending the Arrow Rock Lyceum Theater. Take a break for a gourmet spread at the picnic area atop the river bluffs.
Katy Trail State Park, a linear hiking and biking trail, extends some 225 miles from St. Charles west along the Missouri River to Clinton. Pack a lunch in your bike bag or backpack and eat on one of the many benches, or pick up a deli lunch at an historic small town along the route. Stop at one of the wineries between St. Charles and Marthasville, many of which allow patrons to bring their own picnic supplies.
The castle-like ruins on towering bluffs at Ha Ha Tonka State Park have a magnificent view of the Lake of the Ozarks. The park is situated on classic karst topography, with sinkholes, caves, springs and natural bridges. Whether you come by car or boat (there are two docks), bring your picnic and set up at one of the tables in this hilly, wooded park.
Tables at Jolly Mill, south of Joplin in Newton County, cluster by a rushing stream near a covered bridge. Have a picnic, fish for trout and tour the mill, once a distillery, and a restored one-room schoolhouse nearby.
Picnic between the rushing spring branch and crystal-clear Jack’s Fork River at Alley Spring, park of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways near Eminence. The red mill in the park is one of the most photographed in the state.
Falling Spring in the Eleven Point Ranger District, Mark Twain National Forest, has only a couple of picnic tables, but the superb setting makes up for that. The site preserves a tiny mill accessed by a boardwalk, a pond and a log cabin near an old cemetery. The spring spouts from the rock midway up a cliff behind the mill. The forest, encompassing 1.5 million acres in the Missouri Ozarks, has many attractive picnic sites.
Picnic tables overlook a collapsed cave system in Grand Gulf State Park near Thayer. Explore this unique geological formation, created when a cave roof collapsed, by following paths above and through the resulting canyon, with walls that reach nearly 130 feet in places. A remaining bit of cave roof forms one of the largest natural bridges in the state.
A boardwalk winds through a remnant of the vast swamp forest that once covered Missouri’s Bootheel in Big Oak Tree State Park near East Prairie. Set up a feast near the giant trees and the swamp, the only one of its kind throughout Missouri’s state park system.
Wherever you go in Missouri, you’ll find scenic spots where you can stop for a bite or set up a barbecue. Look around. They’re just waiting for you to find them.
