I belong to a Meetup group called Let’s Hike and recently we went for a group walk at Carondelet Park, the third largest park in the City of St. Louis. The Village of Carondelet was founded in 1767 and was incorporated into the city of St. Louis in 1870. Carondelet Park was dedicated on July 4, 1876. To get to the Park from Route 66 if you are traveling East to West, take Gravois through the South St. Louis area. Shortly after turning onto Chippewa, make a left turn on Morganford then another left on Holly Hills Blvd. On the way you’ll pass through the Bevo neighborhood with the famous and historic Bevo Mill and across the street from the park you’ll see some really unique and beautiful homes. This Route will take you a little bit off of Route 66 but you’ll get a look at some really authentic living neighborhoods that you won’t see anywhere else.

The most iconic feature in Carondelet Park is the Boathouse overlooking a popular fishing lake. There is another lake plus interesting walls and other stone constructions here and there. There are recreational amenities such as horseshoe pits, ball fields, a playground and nicely paved trail for pedestrians and cyclists circles all. It took our group one hour to circle the park twice on foot. Apparently this is also a great spot for birdwatching – check out these photos! If you walk toward the recreation center on the East side of the park and cross the railroad tracks, you will see a very attractive bridge to the north.

Carondelet Park is being linked to the Great Rivers Greenway system via the new River des Peres: Carondelet Connector. This should be complete very soon and when it’s done you’ll be able to get on your bike at Carondelet Park and take the the River Des Peres Greenway all the way to Route 66 at the intersection of Watson Road and River des Peres Blvd. – the round trip would be formidable but doable for experienced riders.

There are plans for improvements at Carondelet Park that sound very interesting, including something very intriguing to me personally, bird habitat development. Get news about what’s going on the park from the Friends of Carondelet Park Facebook page.