Welcome to St. Louis.

Missouri has some wonderful state parks. In the St. Louis area some favorites are Castlewood in Ballwin. Nice bluff views of the Meremac River. Rockwood Reservations which is further out on Manchester and 109. Powder Valley is nice but has paved walkways. Further out there is Hawn State Park, Cuiver(sp?) River State Park, Johnson Shut In. That's just off the top of my head. If you do a search for Missouri Parks there are some nice websites that give alot of information about all the parks and even trails.

This is an old thread but I always have to put a plug in for Columbia Bottoms in North city/county. I grew up in Wyoming and need to get away from people as often as possible, preferably without driving very far. Columbia bottoms is super close and never, ever crowded. I love it. Another really great nearby place is the Lewis and Clark trails out in St. Charles county off 94. There is a 5 mile trail (with an extra loop to make 8 miles option) that is really only crowded on nice days during peak hours.

If you are looking for hikes, definitely buy the "60 hikes within 60 miles" of STL book. I have a goal of doing all the hikes in the book and after many years am almost there. I have gone on some incredible hikes that I learned about in the book, during peak season and seen *no one*. Hikes in the Taum Sauk area are my favorite.

For a lovely, peaceful but more developed trip head out to Shaw Nature Reserve. The front several acres are protected from deer by deer fencing so you really get to see the incredible diversity of plants that are native to MO.