Outing to Indian Camp Creek Park

July 1--Along with our friends Mike and Sandy, we took a "senior field trip" to the largest St. Charles County Park, located about an hour from home. It was a cool, cloudless day, welcome after the heat of late June, and we picked the middle of the week to avoid crowds and traffic. It was our Independence Day party, a few days early. The park comprises over 600 acres, much of it from a nineteenth century homestead for a family named Cannon. The park is beginning to develop an interpretive center about the area's history. This "ghost cabin" at the site of the original homestead is a start.

Part of the original homestead contains a restored grain silo, that has been recently opened as an observation tower. It is at one of the highest points of the park.


Norm and Mike took up the challenge of climbing the spiral staircase for about three stories to the top. Sandy and I cheered them on from below, content to listen to unusual birds and check out the many wild flowers blooming nearby.

We took a pot luck picnic lunch and ate in one of the park's many shelters. Actually these are supposed to be reserved in two-hour increments, but we found that out later. No one was using any of the several shelters that day. This one was down the hill from the homestead, and it overlooked the Indian Camp Creek valley, a playground, fishing pond, and the Cannon family cemetery.

Sandy brings everything one might want for a picnic, including a bright table cloth and soap and a towel for hand washing, plus a gallon of water in case potable water isn't nearby. We had ham salad sandwiches, chips, grapes and cherries, lemonade and Oreo cookies for dessert. Norm took this picture with his camera when I wasn't looking.

Our shelter had a playground in the woods nearby, and also adjoined one of the 10 miles or so of hiking and equestrian trails. We saw some horseback riders go by. Norm was armed with one camera and I had the other. That reminds me... I need to check out Norm's pictures. I found two and added them to the blog.

We drove down to the valley and parked near the fishing pond and Eco playground. Sandy took a book and settled in the gazebo, while Norm, Mike and I walked around the little lake. The playground features stone frogs and turtles made by St. Louis artist Robert Cassilly, as well as native wild plants and a small stream where a group of children were busy building a dam out of mud as we went by. A frog chorus could be heard from this batch of plants along the shore.

Here is one of Norm's photos showing the path between the pond and the small private cemetery on the grounds. It was in this area that we heard a song that we think was from a Baltimore Oriole in a tall tree. I caught a glimpse of something orange, but then it moved and not even Mike's powerful field glasses would bring it into range.

Another function of the park is as a nature preserve. We saw and heard many species of birds that are rare in town, such as Indigo Buntings (too fast for the camera) and a Baltimore Oriole, and some species of sparrow that had a rollicking song. The swampy east edge of the pond was full of darting dragonflies. This is the clearest shot I was able to get. The blue and brown double wings are very striking.

The park is named for Indian Camp Creek, which joins Big Creek in this far corner of St. Charles County. The photo is from an overlook on Big Creek. A park brochure says evidence has been found of a settlement of Mississippian Indians between A.D. 800 and A.D. 1400. More information will be added to the interpretive center in the future.

In addition to multiple sounds of birds singing, we saw various species of wild flowers. This clump of Queen Ann's lace was growing along the path to the creek overlook.










I think this is a variety of bee balm, but I couldn't find it in my Missouri Wildflowers book under either pink or purple flowers. The tall, showy flowers grew at the edge of the meadow near our picnic shelter. This was along the equestrian trail. One reason I had delayed posting this was to give myself time to identify all the flowers we saw, as well as some of the bird songs. But I decided I had better put this up or else it would be fall already.

Another very abundant flower was this small daisy. When I was a kid in Oklahoma, we called these flea bane daisies, but again, my Missouri flower book is silent. I am thinking about getting another flower book before we venture out again!


We saw black eyed susans all over the park. They grew beside the roads, beside the pond, and in open areas up on the hill not far from the homestead. We stopped to use a restroom (composting toilets, odorless!) and enjoyed this large array of them.