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terrain March/April 2021
destination
OZARK- LIKE OASIS
Cuivre River State Park is a slice of the Ozarks in northern Missouri.
By Morgan Paar
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bout one hour northwest of St. Louis, in the Lincoln Hills, resides 6,394-acre Cuivre River State Park. Surrounded by flat farmland, this oasis of nature offers nearly 40 miles of dirt trails, primitive and modern camping, equestrian facilities, picnicking, water sports, wildlife observation, and prospects for on and off- road bicycling and running. The park's name is pronounced quiver ('kwiv r), similar in sound to an archer's portable case for holding arrows. It's thought to have been named after the French Baron Georges Leopold Cuvier, a naturalist and paleontologist who studied flora and fauna in the area after the French acquired the territory west of the Mississippi River. On November 8, 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed a letter transferring the Cuivre River Recreation Demonstration Area to the state, creating Cuivre River State Park. "I remember going to Cuivre River State Park as a kid, probably about 15 years old. Me and my older brother would camp at a primitive campground up on a ridge near the horse camps, and we'd look out over the valley, and it was really, really pretty. What I really like about the park are the wilder areas," Mark Thompson reminisced of his childhood in the 1970s and '80s.
Areas Within the Park
There are three Natural Areas within Cuivre River. According to Missouri State Parks, "the Missouri Natural Area System identifies and protects the highest quality remaining examples of the state's natural plant and animal communities." There also are two Wild Areas within the park, which the Missouri State Parks
TOP:
Cuivre River offers acres of undeveloped wilderness. (MORGAN PAAR)
RIGHT:
Big Sugar Creek. (MORGAN PAAR)
BELOW
: A wide range of camping opportunities exist at Cuivre River.
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