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There are some places in nature that you just luckily stumble across. Places that are in the vicinity of your regular spots, that you finally take notice of, and are amazed that you could have missed them all this time. Castor River Shut-Ins Natural Area is not one of those places. It is tucked away inside the Amidon Memorial Conservation Area, down remote gravel roads, susceptible to wash outs after a heavy rain, that dead end at your destination. From St. Louis, it is also a bit of a haul (to be more precise, it is about the exact distance away as to necessitate ten or twelve “Are we almost there?!”‘s from a growingly impatient five year old). That said, it is totally worth all the effort.

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My son, Harper, and I

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Inside the Natural Area is a single dedicated hiking trail, and an additional access trail that just grazes in from the larger surrounding Conservation Area. The hiking trail is fairly short and unchallenging, though pretty, but it offers many spurs, including down to the shut-ins, which makes the trip worthwhile. It’s unlikely that you’ll get actually lost, however it is fun to test your map reading and compass skills by trying to pinpoint where the trail picks up again after you’ve wandered off for a ways along the shut-ins. Keep in mind though, if you are visiting with kids and planning to go off the trail a bit, that you may have to scramble over a few big boulders- nothing too tough for our five year old with parental help, but worth mentioning (also, actual rock climbing is prohibited).

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My wife, Mandi

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Missouri’s Natural Areas were established to protect and preserve natural landscapes and historic sites. Often, these landscapes represent what the land was like long before westerners arrived, so the best rule of thumb while visiting is to use the Leave No Trace approach. There is plenty of evidence that this can be a popular recreation spot when it’s hot and locals are looking to cool off, so try to use one of the well worn paths of these revelers and to not disturb the ecosystem by carving a new one. Unfortunately, we also found evidence of people abusing the Natural Area by violating some of its rules and regulations. Open fire and littering are both prohibited, and we encountered evidence of each (we checked that the fire was fully extinguished and removed the trash, including some really gross items that I’ll spare you the details of).

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Five-Lined Skink (possibly juvenile?)

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