I am going to take a departure from strictly public health topics this month to share reflections on my past connections to St. Charles County. I didn't live in St. Charles County growing up but in Kirkwood Missouri, a City in St. Louis County. But I did visit St. Charles County on a regular basis over the years.
I suppose there is some connection to health since everything I'm going to talk about relates to enjoying the recreational resources of St. Charles County. Recreation relieves stress and the exercise associated with it promotes cardiovascular fitness. But mostly, this is just a reminiscence of pleasant times I spent in St. Charles County back then.
That "health" connection having been made, I now slide back into the mid 1950's when as a Boy Scout I hiked one of the most enjoyable trails in Missouri. The trail was named the Daniel Boone Trail and began at the "Daniel Boone home" (actually owned by his son, Nathan Boone) near Defiance in St. Charles County ( www.lindenwood.edu/boone ).The trail started with a quick guided tour of the home. We then went down Highway F to Femme Osage Creek Road, hiking down a beautiful valley of rolling hills, farms and woods next to a beautiful and scenic creek. At lunch we came to the small village of Femme Osage. We ate lunch at a genuine country store, lunch meat sandwiches made to order at the meat case and cold soft drinks. This morning walk was 6.5 miles. Refreshed we set off to our final destination, the cemetery where Daniel Boone and his wife Rebecca are buried. This is disputed by Kentucky and you can read about the dispute here: www.roadsideamerica.com/set/HISTboone.html. The afternoon walk was along roads with scenery ranging from farmlands to woods to the beautiful and interesting town of Marthasville. The small burial site is a few miles beyond Marthasville and our total hike that day was about 15 miles. It was a great day; exercise, sightseeing, camaraderie and a history lesson all rolled into one.
Another pleasant memory I have of St. Charles County is fishing with my father at the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area near Weldon Spring Missouri ( www.mdc.mo.gov/areas/cnc/busch/ ). This beautiful area has numerous lakes and ponds well-stocked with fish. We would arrive early in the morning and sometimes stay until dusk. When fishing was slow we would hike some of the trails. Back then, the trails were not well marked so there was a sense of exploration. Today there are 7 marked trails of varying lengths. Because of the large number of lakes, ponds and trails, the quiet solitude that I remember from those visits with my father is still present for anyone willing to walk to find it. For those who enjoy fishing and taking the catch home, an added bonus is a good meal. Fish is a healthful alternative to meat and poultry so add that to the benefits of exercise and relaxation already noted.
Finally, let's talk about sailing! Again, the Scouts play a role in this memory, in this case the Sea Explorers or Sea Scouts as they are commonly called. The St. Louis area boasted more than a dozen Sea Explorer "ships" in the late 50's and early 60's. At the time the St. Louis Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America operated a Sea Scout Base on Alton Lake just down-river from Portage Des Sioux. Immediately adjacent to the Sea Scout Base and harbor was the Valley Sailing Association, a very large and active association at the time. The Sea Scouts moved to the Bar S Bar F Ranch South of St. Louis in the mid-60's although the road leading from Missouri Highway 94 to the river is still named Sea Scout Road. The Valley Sailing Association (www.artwebworld.com/valleysailing.html ) is still active, although smaller in membership since many sailboat owners relocated to Carlyle lake in Illinois in the mid-60's when that lake was created and opened. Alton Lake is actually the Mississippi River upstream from the Alton locks and dam. It is almost a mile-wide and since the water level is controlled the current is usually gentle. Those who have sailed know the sense of exhilaration and the equal sense of tranquility that can be experienced during a day of letting the wind power your boat. When racing, there is also a sense of competition and accomplishment. Exercise was not absent since boats have to be maintained and when the wind fails, which happens regularly during the summer months, paddles become the means of locomotion. There actually was a public health connection to my Sea Scout days; mosquitoes. Periodically, each Sea Scout ship had to pull "duty" for a weekend. This including area clean-up, checking boats in and out of the harbor and registering cars at the main entrance gatehouse. Those pulling duty slept in tent cabins on Saturday night. Anybody who has lived near a river and in a flood plain knows just how many mosquitoes share the space and how important mosquito repellant is. Although West Nile Virus had not arrived on the scene back in the 60's, several varieties of mosquito-borne encephalitis caused periodic outbreaks in the St. Louis metropolitan region. Since our tents were open, we were also equipped with mosquito-netting. We will revisit the subject of mosquitoes next month.
In conclusion, the recreational opportunities in St. Charles County that I remember from my youth are multiplied many times over today. The County Parks and Recreation Department webpage can point you in the right direction. Visit www.saintcharlescounty.org and select the Parks and Recreation Department from the left side department menu. You can also take advantage of recreational opportunities offered by a number of municipalities in St. Charles County and the State of Missouri Department of Natural Resources KATY trail runs almost the length of the county along the Missouri River. Here's hoping that today's kids will build their own memories of outdoor fun in St. Charles County. Thank you for sharing mine.