We found it the way we find most things now — by googling “hiking near St. Louis” on a Saturday morning when we didn’t quite want to waste the day.
Don Robinson State Park came up. Thirty minutes away, free to visit. Neither of us had ever heard of it.
By 9:30 we were on the trail. By early afternoon we were back home, tired in the good way, already talking about going back.
A Place With a Story
Before it was a state park, Don Robinson was a man.
A quirky St. Louis-area businessman who spent decades quietly buying up parcels of Jefferson County land — more than 800 acres of it — with the goal of matching the exact acreage of Central Park. He lived modestly on the property in a cottage built in 1928, one room heated, the rest left to the elements. He described his living conditions, in a 2009 interview, as “a cut above camping.” That was exactly how he wanted it.
When Robinson died in 2012 at 84, he left the land to the state of Missouri, along with a trust to manage it. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources opened it as a public park in 2017.
What he left behind is something worth finding.
The Best Hiking Near St. Louis Might Be Closer Than You Think
There are two main trails at Don Robinson — the Sandstone Canyon Trail (3.9 miles) and the LaBarque Hills Trail (2.4 miles). We did the Sandstone Canyon Trail, which starts with about half a mile of paved path before it turns into a footpath that drops down toward the canyon.
And when you get to the canyon, you understand why someone spent his whole life acquiring this land.
Forty to fifty foot sandstone bluffs dropping down to a stream running through the bottom. The kind of quiet that feels ancient — old and unhurried and completely indifferent to your Tuesday. We stood there longer than we planned. Nobody rushed.
The trail has real elevation changes too — from around 550 feet in the valley to 820 feet at the hilltops. It’s not casual, especially in August. We were warm. We were glad we’d brought water.
The Thing About Hiking With Tom
I want to tell you something that will be immediately recognizable to anyone who has ever hiked with a partner.
Tom is a hiker who is also getting in a workout. He moves fast, stays focused, and is generally a quarter mile ahead before I’ve finished noticing whatever I stopped to look at. Sam (our son) and I have the same pace — which is to say, we have no particular pace. We notice things. We take photos. We stop when something looks interesting and look at it for however long it takes.
Tom circles back. Then he goes ahead again. By the end of a hike, he has done approximately twice the mileage we have, and he is fine with this arrangement.
What I love about it is that it means we’re all having the same hike in completely different ways. Tom gets his workout. Sam and I get the wildflowers and the weird rock formations and the photos. And at various points along the trail we find each other, compare notes, and keep going.
We laughed a lot. We were tired when we left. That’s the whole review.
A Few Practical Things
Don Robinson is a day-use park — no camping for individuals, though groups like scouts and nonprofits can reserve the camping area in the southwest corner.
The first stretch of the Sandstone Canyon Trail is paved and accessible regardless of fitness level — there’s a shelter with picnic tables at the end of it, a good spot to rest before the trail goes vertical.
Go after a rain if you can. The water running through the canyon makes the whole thing feel like a different place — quieter, more alive, the stream audible before you see it.
The park also has a sunset viewing platform near Don Robinson’s former residence at the top of the hill, overlooking the LaBarque Creek watershed. We didn’t make it there this trip. We’ll be back.
Address: 9275 Byrnesville Road, Cedar Hill, MO Distance from St. Louis: About 30 minutes southwest Trails: Sandstone Canyon Trail (3.9 mi) · LaBarque Hills Trail (2.4 mi) Dogs: Welcome on leash Admission: Free
The Part That Stayed With Me
We drove past the sign for months before we stopped.
That’s the thing about living somewhere long enough — you stop seeing what’s there. The sign becomes part of the road, and the road becomes part of the commute, and the commute becomes something you navigate automatically — the route blurring into the background.
One Saturday morning Google suggested we stop. So we did.
That’s what we are aiming for this year — treating our own city the way you’d treat somewhere you were visiting. Showing up curious. Going to the places we’ve been meaning to go. Noticing what’s been there the whole time.
Don Robinson State Park has been thirty minutes from our house for years. It took one August morning to actually find it.
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