Trails and Woods? (St. Louis, St. Charles, Ballwin: school districts, subdivision, live)

[torunlong]

I understand west of St. Louis is good for trails.

Looking for something that is close to trails for running / hiking and good school districts for kids. Ideally within 1/2 hour of the airport area.

Thanks

[flynavyj]

Have spent some time down at Creve Coeur Lake. There's a couple trails that go around the park grounds and surround the lake, they're also connected to a trail that parallels I-364 (Page Ave) and goes across the bridge into St. Charles connecting to the Katy Trail which you can take for miles and miles on end, even though i can't remember exactly how far it goes.

You could find something within maryland heights, creve coeur, unincorporated county, or st. charles which would keep you close to some of those point. If St. Chuck, i'd look at the desirable areas around old town (although that would limit the trail access a little, only leaving you the Katy and quite a long ride/run before you could link up with the creve coeur area trails) or i'd look closer to the junction of the Creve Coeur Lake Trails and Katy Trail close to the Family Arena (I-364 / Upper Bottom Road).

One thing i miss from where we lived in Kansas was the trail network. There was an awesome network of bike/walking trails that snaked its' way through the park systems, connecting just about every park in Johnson County, KS. It was great because you could park the car, hop on the bike, and ride through the wooded areas, pop out in a subdivision somewhere, then dip back into the woods until you'd finally arrive at a park of some sort, only to go back into the woods and come out a few miles away at the next park, subdivision, school, etc...was pretty neat, and very scenic with the streams, creeks, overpasses, tunnels, wildlife, and vegetation. It's something i really wish St. Louis County could have worked out, or several cities could work out between each other....

[torunlong]

Thanks!

Is Ballwin area pretty far out / long drive relative to Hazelwood during rush hour?

[billiken]

I'd say Ballwin to Hazelwood is just around a half hour--with no traffic. However, 270N is typically a bit clogged in the morning.

[flynavyj]

Yeh, Ballwin is going to be about 30 minutes (give or take a few). The difficult part of Ballwin would be the 2 Highway commute, I-64 + I-270. Going home, 64 can be a nightmare west of I-270, and going to work I-270 North can be difficult too (depending on the time of your travel). It is however a very nice area, and depending on what hours you work, you might not have much of a traffic problem. Basically, St. Louis has a pretty short rush hour.

[BoomBoxing]

Are you guys familiar with the river ring project? A good chunk of it is done.

The Great Rivers Greenway District | For a clean, green, connected St. Louis region

[moorlander]

check this out

//www.city-data.com/forum/st-lo...45-hiking.html

[torunlong]

Thanks all! Hoping to find <30 min. rush hour commute. Will check out the links, too.

[DinsdalePirahna]

Katy Trail State Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Walk, Run or Ride (although most parts are not suitable for road bikes). Very scenic.