Eagle Bluff Conservation Area - Day 2

So last week, I wrote about the first day of our 3 day hiking adventure at Eagle Bluff Conservation Area over Memorial Day weekend. On Sunday, we actually had plans for a cookout at a friend's house early afternoon. But the second we woke up, we could not wait to go back out on the trails. So we packed up early and headed back out.

We started out back in the actual conservation area because there was one road we had missed the day before and we wanted to see if we could spot any eagle nests (we didn't). 

Lucky for us, it was another beautiful day in the low 80's.

We found this little secret spot to explore.

Looks like a secret hideout, right?

As it turned out, it was actually a duck blind with this quiet view from the inside.

The boys of course had to check it out.

We were chased out by a wasp, so we decided to go back down to the river to see how much the water had risen.

Another view of the area.

And finally, because we came to hike, we headed down the road a bit, and found a Katy Trail entrance. If you aren't from around here, here's a link to all the info you need to know about the Katy Trail. In short, the Katy Trail is more than 200 miles of bike trails that stretches across a lot of state of Missouri. It was formerly a railroad and is now America's longest "rails to trails" project. A large section of it actually covers the Lewis and Clark trail. It passes right past lots of quaint little towns, the Missouri River, and many scenic areas. If you are a cyclist, you can't beat this trail. 

That being said, since we consider ourselves, hikers, not bikers, we don't go on the Katy trail much. There are other hikers out there, but for the most part, you see people on bikes. On this day however, we wanted to explore the outer edge of Eagle Bluffs, and this seemed like a good place to start. It went right through the wetlands and we saw a lot bluffs and wildlife.

The first part was mostly in the sun, but it did get shadier.

We went .7 miles in, then turned around and came back.

One of the many turtles we spotted during this weekend.

The boys and I along the bluffs.

Another attempt to capture the massive rocky cliffs. They really are so beautiful close up.

The one nice thing about the Katy Trail is that it does offer an extremely flat easy hike. It was perfect for us on this particular day when we had other places to be. We were in and out in no time.

Stay tuned for our last but best day of hiking! You are not going to believe the views we found on our final day of Memorial Day exploring!