One of my best friends lives in St. Charles and we usually walk a couple miles on the riverfront part of the Katy Trail when it’s nice out. I love the riverfront area here and how accessible this part of the trail is for anyone.

Rockwoods Reservation is one of our favorite hiking spots near the city because it’s much less crowded and subsequently quieter. 

We checked out the Rock Quarry Trail this time, taking the longer loop option of 2.1 miles. It’s still not a very long trail but does have some elevation. 

I liked this trail more than the others there since the path itself was less rocky. I like the challenge of rockier hikes but hate having to watch my footing constantly.  

This trail also has a few caves though they are fenced off. I still enjoyed passing them and you can get pretty close without going in or disturbing any wildlife inside.

I can’t wait to explore more hiking spots in the Midwest this Spring! 

We often take hikes at Castlewood as it’s only about 30 minutes outside of the city. The weekend we got back from Atlanta we went on a small hike to take advantage of the suddenly 60-degree weather. Any hikes with my boyfriend tend to be on the shorter side so I took the opportunity to bring our dog along. 

While Jack hasn’t gone on a lot of hikes, I wanted to start introducing them to him more. He’s always been more a city dog (through no fault of his own) and is about 8 years old so I wanted to start small with him. He was stoked to see some other dogs on the trail though I think we could have kept a better pace up somewhere less crowded. He was super worn out when we got home but in the best way!

“Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in an office or mowing the lawn. 

Climb that goddamn mountain.”

– Jack Kerouac