Louisiana, Missouri, on the Mississippi River. Confused? Read On - Sunday, May 30, 2021

The Missouri Counties walking weekend continues - day 3: Louisiana, Missouri, and Cuivre River State Park.

Today's weather was nicer than Friday and Saturday and we had shade on parts of the walk. The previous walks were flat, but this walk was quite hilly. And, it's the first time we've seen the Mississippi River since we've been in the neighborhood of it!

Susan and I arrived at Veterans Park in Louisiana (Missouri, that is) at the appointed start time of 9 a.m. to do a 10k walk. The weather was warm and not a cloud in the sky. The walk started out along Kentucky Street and we zig-zagged our way down the hill to Georgia Street. Mansions and historic homes lined the neighborhood streets. 

Side view of a cute cottage-style home.

Front view of the cute cottage-style home.

Crawford-Stark home (Estab. 1891).

More homes on Georgia Street.

We then worked our way up the hill seeing more modest homes there. On 3rd Street, we saw this beautiful church. I forgot to get the name of it.

With one final push up a steep hill, we FINALLY got to see the Mississippi River and some of the grand homes overlooking the river!

Check out this view from the hilltop.

The mighty Mississippi.

At the top of the hill is Riverside Park. Our path followed the river downstream and down the hill.

The Champ Clark Bridge opened in 1928
and spanned the Mississippi River from
Missouri to Illinois.

The NEW Champ Clark Bridge (2019).

Henderson Park (erected by the 
Rotary Club of Louisiana in 1998).

Heading down the hill to the river level.

One of the homes on the hill.

At the bottom of the hill, we walked alongside the Mississippi River, a park, current businesses, and the ruins of earlier businesses. A few, high-level clouds rolled in, but they didn't provide much-needed shade. 

We then walked up and down the neighborhood streets which had a fair number of Victorian homes, murals, and the main part of downtown Louisiana.

A park at river level.

Mural of the Louisiana Boat Club, 1952.

Mississippi River access.

"Assisting the People of Pike County"
mural (2002).

An apropos sign for this business!

This building looks like it was 
destroyed by fire...

...and it was a total loss. The bricks
 are being collected for re-use.

Photographic impressions of downtown Louisiana, Missouri:

Beautiful home.

Livery mural.

13th Amendment mural.

A gorgeous Bank of Louisiana
clock.

Downtown Louisiana, Missouri.

Downtown Louisiana, Missouri.

Downtown Louisiana, Missouri.

Downtown Louisiana, Missouri.

The J. W. Fritz Building (1891).

Downtown Louisiana, Missouri.

Downtown Louisiana, Missouri.

Lousiana Fire Department mural.

A ditch for storm run-off.

Residences varied from street to street as you can see from the following photos. We finished our walk going a short distance on Georgia Street, past a nice park (with restrooms!), and then back up a short hill to our start point. 

This house was on Maryland
Street, I think. Very cute!

One of many luxurious homes
on Georgia Street.

Stunning home on Georgia Street. We
were drooling over it.

By the time we finished our walk, we were hot, tired, and hungry. There was a Dairy Queen in town and we couldn't wait to go eat. Their dining room was closed so we drove through and ordered. We took our lunch to the park we had passed earlier. We really saw a lot of the town of Louisiana, Missouri!

As soon as we finished eating, we headed to Cuivre (pronounced quiver by the locals) River State Park to do a walk there. Because we were exhausted and hot from the first walk of the day, we decided to do the 6k here. 

This is where our walk started. 

When we arrived, we were informed that the 6k walk route had a closure due to downed trees. Instead of walking around the lake on the Lakeside Trail, we were supposed to go the opposite way from the trail closure sign, walk 3k and return back. 

We had to drive to the lake and find parking near the trail, which we did. Where we parked was at least 1/4 mile from the trail start as there was limited parking in the boat launch area. Lake Lincoln is beautiful!

Lake Lincoln in Cuivre River State Park.

After hiking down the road to the boat launch, we found the trail closure sign. We turned around and saw the outlet for the lake and noticed we needed to get to the other side of it to cross the earthen dam. We didn't see a trail, but we did see a bridge across the water outlet. So we hiked down to the bridge. It was very hot with no shade

The hike down to the bridge.

The lake spillway as seen from the bridge.

Here's the path to cross the dam.

Wild bergamot.

Susan and I were getting hotter and hotter. The trees were drawing us near, we had to find out why. Oh, because that's where the trail is! 

The shade was cool, but it was buggy with mosquitoes, and there was poison oak. Both of us decided we had had enough and turned around to head back to the car. We only wrote 3k in our books for this walk instead of 6k.

As we were crossing the dam, we saw a gentleman with a walking stick struggling to get up the path to the dam. Susan asked him if he had bug spray and he didn't, so she sprayed him down. He looked really hot and spent. We asked him if he had any water with him and he did not. We suggested it might be better if he turned back, which he did. 

Once back at the boat launch (up a steep hill from the bridge), I was feeling pretty hot. We also wanted to make sure the gentleman made it back to the boat launch. I stayed in the shade of the trees and Susan went to change her clothes and bring the van down the hill to pick me up. 

For about ten minutes, I didn't see the gentleman come back. I walked from the trees to check for him. He was struggling to come up the hill and his arm was shaking on his walking stick. He almost fell. When he made it up to the boat launch, I gave him my bottle of water. His car was also parked at the top of the steep hill. I asked him if we could give him a ride up to his car and he gratefully accepted.

When Susan came down with the van, we made sure he got to his car okay. We knew he was fine when we saw him the next morning at the walk.

The Cuivre River walk was an adventure for a group of people who got there early and didn't know the trail was closed on one end of the lake. They went around the lake and had to get under or over the fallen logs. I'm glad we had information about the closure on the trail.

After our second walk of the day, we drove to our next destination, Wentzville, Missouri, where we have a hotel closer to tomorrow's walks. That's all for today.