Grant's Trail #1 Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Brad9018: Time to free up this spot for someone else to hide a cache, especially since I am not able to maintain these caches anymore. Thanks to all of you have searched, and sorry for any DNF's.
Brad

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Hidden : 5/4/2013
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Trying to give everyone a few more reasons to get out of the house and be active along the Grant’s Trail. Filling in a few gaps along the trail, that way you have an excuse to push yourself a little harder and get just one more cache.

Please re-hide exactly as found. The terrain is fairly easy, the challenge is in the camo. BYOP



The Ulysses S. Grant Trail (Grant's Trail) is an 8 mile long "rails to trails" bike trail stretching through south and southwest St. Louis County, Missouri. As a former railroad right of way, Grant's Trail is flat and perfect for biking, running, inline skating, or walking.

The Grant's Trail (formerly the Carondelet Greenway Trail) opened as a rail-trail in 1994. This 8-mile trail, once part of the Missouri Pacific railroad line, enjoys very heavy use from runners, walkers, bicyclists, and rollerbladers.

In 1997, the trail was renamed Grant's Trail after President Ulysses S. Grant, who established the country's first National Park. The Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site is located in southern St. Louis County on 9.65 acres of land (between mileposts 5 and 6 of the trail). Trail users can visit the Gateway Trailnet's office (visit link) where Reavis Barracks Road meets the Grant's Trail (near mile post 1). The yellow brick building was formerly the Grasso Brothers Coal Company, a destination for the coal carried by the railroad's freight cars.

In Fall of 2006 the trail was extended another 1.8 miles and now ends into Kirkwood making Grant's Trail a total of 8 miles of continuously paved running, walking and biking path.

Grants trail is a safe haven from the roads and provides runners and walkers a relaxing environment to workout without worrying about traffic and numerous street crossings. The trail is well marked and allows you to track how far you have traveled in each direction. It is easily accessible from the South County area with numerous places to park. Parking can be found on Hoffmeister, Reavis Barracks Road, Union Road, White Cliff Park, and Tesshire Rd. 

The trail corridor runs through several neighborhoods, often just behind people's backyards. Other sections are more wooded with views of ponds, wetlands and Gravois Creek, which it parallels. And there is no shortage of unique sights: Grant's Farm is home to the 1850s four-room log cabin the famed general and president built. Also calling the area home is a host of animals in a special park, including bison, elephants, camels, peacocks and more than 100 other species. The park's most iconic residents, of course, are the Budweiser Clydesdales, since the Busch family of Anheuser-Busch brewing company fame once owned Grant's Farm. (visit link)

You'll find access to other historical sites along the trail, such as White Haven, another home owned by Grant and now operated by the National Park Service. (visit link) While at White Haven, Grant approved construction of the Pacific Railroad (later known as the Missouri Pacific Railroad) through his property. Ground was broken for the railway in 1851, and it was billed at the time as "The First Railroad West of the Mississippi." Grant's Trail is built on the former Kirkwood-Carondelet Branch of the rail line.

At trail's end in Kirkwood, you'll find remnants of the town's roots in mid- to late 19th-century buildings, including the refurbished 1893 depot still in use today as an Amtrak train station. An on-street connection, part of the Great River Greenways' Bike St. Louis project, takes travelers from the trailhead to downtown Kirkwood and the depot. In an effort to make the city more bicycle friendly, more than 80 miles of these signed on-street Bike St. Louis routes are available throughout the city.

Plans to extend the trail farther are continuing. Nestled between the Meramec River to the west and the River des Peres to the east, Grant's Trail plays an increasingly key link in the River Ring, a growing 600-mile network of interconnected trails and on-street bicycle routes throughout the St. Louis region.

The trail currently ends only a mile from the River Des Peres Greenway Trail, which, in turn, will one day reach the Mississippi River Greenway, a major component of the River Ring. (visit link)

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