Places To Go

Trail Guide

Hit the Trails at Busch CA

• Area Name: August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area
• Trails: Hiking, biking and auto tour, some wheelchair accessible
• Unique features: Fishing and wetland bird-watching

For more information: Call (636) 441-4554 or visit our online atlas, keyword "Busch".

More than 12 miles of hiking, biking and auto tour trails crisscross August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area in St. Charles County, providing access to 6,987 acres of forests, fields, lakes and streams. The Busch Hiking and Biking Trail is a 3.2-mile double loop that follows a natural-surface service road through woods and fields. Along the way it passes concrete abandoned munitions-storage bunkers dating to World War II. The Fallen Oak Nature Trail is a .7-mile asphalt loop, part of which is accessible to wheelchair users. This is a self-guiding trail, with an interpretive booklet available at the trail head. The Busch Auto Tour consists of 8.7 miles of graveled interior roads. This route also has a booklet explaining features of interest, available at the area office or tour entrance. The auto tour has five short nature trails. Birdwatchers can see shorebirds in the 3-acre wetland, and anglers can catch bass, bluegill, catfish and crappie in 32 lakes.

Quail Emphasis Areas

Hunt and learn what great quail habitat is

The Conservation Department is turning 19 conservation areas into bobwhite quail management showcases. Biologists use prescribed burning, edge feathering, managed grazing, food plots and more to create and demonstrate quail habitat for landowners interested in quail. These areas also are great hunting spots. Examples include Bois D’Arc CA in Greene County, Crowleys Ridge CA in Stoddard County, Happy Holler CA in Andrew County, William G. and Emma Parke White Memorial CA in Lincoln County and White River Trace CA in Dent County. For more information, visit the links listed below.

Conservation Camping

No-frills camping gets you close to nature.

Missouri has hundreds of campsites—and potential campsites—that almost no one knows about. That’s because they are not in state or national parks, national forests or commercial campgrounds; they are on conservation areas (CAs). CA camping is a different experience than most people are accustomed to. Where formal campsites exist they tend to be primitive. Some, but not all, have pit privies. Only a few have potable water. Some CAs permit camping beside parking lots or trails without so much as a clearing or a fire ring. This full-nature-contact camping is exactly the kind of outdoor experience that some people want. To learn more about camping on conservation areas, visit the online atlas and use the “detailed search” function to find camping in a particular county. You can search for camping in designated areas, along roads or walk-in spots for backpacking.