Washington State Park

Earlier this year I made an excel spreadsheet (I'm a total nerd!) of all the trails in Missouri that I wanted to try out this year. I have my favorites and I'm getting tired of doing them over and over again. I want to try new ones!

On May 19, I decided to finally try out Washington State Park. I'd always avoided this one - I think I got it confused with Route 66 State Park, which is close to Washington, MO and which has paved trails (not my thing!). I was so wrong about this park - it's a great one!

I did two trails - Opossum Track and 1,000 Steps. They were both short (2.5 miles and 1.5 miles respectively), but were so steep and rugged! 

 

Looking up at the treetops

All the trailheads are near enough to each other that it's easy to do one right after the other.

Pretty flowers!

1,000 Steps has a neat little shelter about a half mile in that has a nice overlook. It overlooks farmland, but it's still pretty.

I had originally planned on doing the third trail - Rockywood Trail - while I was there, but about a half mile from the end of the second trail, I slipped and banged my arm pretty hard on a rock. :/  My first major hiking fall! It freaked me out enough that I decided to just go home instead of continue on. Got x-rays after I got home and showered and thankfully not broken! But 2 weeks later and it still hurts!

Have any of you ever had any major falls while hiking? Were you alone or with others?