Rating: ★★★☆☆(3/5) - Decent Park
An hour and a half from St. Louis in southeastern Missouri, Elephant Rocks State Park is small but filled with interesting geology and history. Named for the gigantic granite boulders resembling a line of elephants, this park was previously the site of a quarry that provided stone for the streets of St. Louis. Hiking is the best way to enjoy the park, but there are also picnic tables and a playground. The park is too small to have a campground, but camping is available in the nearby Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park and Taum Sauk Mountain State Park.
The park only has two trails, the Braille Trail and the Engine House Ruins Trail, both less than a mile in length. The Braille Trail was uniquely designed to accommodate people with physical disabilities; as such the trail is paved, wheelchair accessible, and has interpretive signs with braille that are easy to find for those with visual impairments. The Engine House Ruins Trail is an unpaved spur off the Braille Trail and passes the ruins of a former engine house used by the railroad that transported stone from the quarry here.
