[KBeal]

Finger Lakes State Park
located just north of Columbia on highway 63 has plenty of trails with $3.00 cover charge for the whole day.
http://www.mostateparks.com/fingerlakes.htm

I have never ridden before, yet my first time out, I did not the trails too difficult.

[chadman]

KBeal,

You should checkout St. Joe State Park. I like it much better than Finger Lakes. It is probley to long of a drive for you if you are already in Columbia. I live St Charles and drive to St. Joe even tho Finger Lakes is closer.

Thanks,
Chad

[WillCRF]

If you have not been, I would also recomend heading south to Chadwick. Like Finger Lakes, it is part of the Mark Twain National Forest. Over 100 miles of trails, each marked green, blue or black based on degree of difficulty.

Trails are rocky but helps to keep the mud to a minimum after a rain. There is something for all riding levels. My boys on their XR100's have a blast as well as me getting over my head on my 250x. Great campsites to make it a nice weekend trip.

[scottzx7rr]

KBeal,

I am from Fulton and moved to GA last year so I have been riding in MO/KS for many years. If you live in the Columbia area there is a day use area in Fulton that you can go to. It is ok for a day or half day. But nothing special. Flat River and Chadwick are the best places to ride in MO. Finger Lakes is a very bad place to ride when wet. It is an old Clay Strip mine so the ground is very clay based and cause you to have to be careful because you can lose a bike in some of the mud. There are a lot trails over by the lake and camping grounds that many people don't ever ride. It used to be great and I know they were putting in a plan to do trail maint. to get it back to that. I used to race there every year when MO had a race there and it was miserable. But Westphalia has a new riding area also that you can ride.

[WillCRF]

Scott,

Where is Flat River? Is that the same as St. Joe's. If not, how does that compare to Chadwick?

Will

[PGer555]

Looks like a sweet place to ride and fish...

[scottzx7rr]

Will,

Yeah that is St. Joe State Park in Park Hills. It used to be called Flat River and a good chunk of the older riders call it that. And got me calling it. LOL

It has 1000 acres of trails and 900 acres of Sand Flats(but not true sand but crushed gravel that is like fluffy sand, so it doesn't kill seals at all). There is a main trail that circles the riding area. There is a few fun hill climbs but not as steep as Chadwick. There is more dirt there than at chadwick. Both are great places to ride.

[WillCRF]

We keep talking about going over to St. Joe's to check it out. Seems like we always head to Chadwick since it is a few hours closer to KC. I think we made about 8 weekend trips this year to Chadwick. Probably would enjoy it more if I owned a ton of stock in Dunlop since we seem to go through the tires quickly at that place.

Will