Guernsey State Park: North Bluff Trail (Blog Hike #1129)

Trail: North Bluff Trail
Hike Location: Guernsey State Park
Geographic Location: west of Guernsey, WY (42.32125, -104.78330)
Length: 2.6 miles
Difficulty: 5/10 (Moderate)
Date Hiked: September 2026
Overview: A loop hike partly along the rim of the canyon containing Guernsey Reservoir.
Park Information: https://wyoparks.wyo.gov/index.php/places-to-go/guernsey
Hike Route Map:

On The Go Map

Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: (coming June 18, 2027)

Directions to the trailhead: From the intersection of I-25 and US 26 in southeast Wyoming, take US 26 east 14 miles to SR 317.  Turn left on SR 317.  Drive SR 317 north 1 mile to the park entrance on the left.  Turn left to enter the park, pay the entrance fee, and follow Skyline Drive a total of 3.8 miles to the parking lot for The Castle.  Skyline Dr. is paved at first but eventually turns to gravel.  Park in the lot beside The Castle and the restroom building.

The hike: Established in 1925, 6000-acre Guernsey State Park is one of the oldest state parks in Wyoming.  The park overlooks Guernsey Reservoir, which is formed by an earthfill impoundment in the North Platte River.  The reservoir was built by the United States Bureau of Reclamation in 1927 for irrigation and hydroelectricity purposes.  The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked to develop the park between 1934 and 1937, and today the park is considered one of the finest examples of the CCC's work in the Rocky Mountains.  The park and reservoir are named for the nearby town of Guernsey, which in turn was named for cattle rancher C.A. Guernsey.

            Though rural in location, Guernsey State Park features a wide array of amenities including the usual aquatic recreation on Guernsey Reservoir, several campgrounds both developed and primitive, a yurt area, a CCC and area history museum, and many miles of trails.  The hike described here explores this park's famous blufftop views that overlook the reservoir.  Even better, it starts at a CCC-built picnic shelter known as The Castle, thus letting you sample this park's impressive architecture and history as well as its scenery.

The Castle

            Either before or after your hike, you will want to check out The Castle.  The stone picnic shelter is impressive as a structure, but perhaps more impressive is the stone spiral staircase that leads to The Castle's roof.  The rooftop overlook provides a great view north over Guernsey Reservoir.  The reservoir sits in a rock-walled canyon over 200 feet below you, and the rooftop vista over the reservoir is one of the best views on this hike.

Main trailhead at The Castle

            When you are ready to start the hike, find the main trailhead at the north end of the small parking loop; this trailhead is marked only by a brown carsonite post.  A paver treadway leads to a rusty chainlink fence and another fine blufftop reservoir view.  Trails depart both left and right from this point.  Turn left to begin heading northwest on the North Bluff Trail with the reservoir to your right.

Guernsey Reservoir near The Castle

            The somewhat narrow dirt trail goes more down than up as it heads first behind The Castle and then through a shallow ravine.  There is minimal shade anywhere on this hike, so prepare for a very warm and sunny hike in the summer.  Great views across Guernsey Reservoir remain to the right.

View from northern-most point

            At 0.4 miles, the trail curves left to pass the northern-most point on this hike, which is also your closest approach to the reservoir.  An interesting canyon rising north from the reservoir can be seen across the lake.  Soon the trail curves left again to head away from the reservoir and trace around a larger ravine.  This ravine has impenetrable cliffs near the canyon rim, but soon the cliffs yield to more gradual terrain that allows for easy crossing of the normally dry streambed.  The streambed and some deer paths look somewhat like trails, but a few brown carsonite posts keep you on track.

Canyon across the lake

            After getting out to the canyon rim one more time, the trail curves left to put the reservoir at your back for good.  A gradual to moderate climb through sunny and somewhat rocky grassland comes next.  Part of this climb will be done on what appears to be an old dirt road.  Some cactuses and yellow wildflowers that I could not identify dot the grassland, and I saw some vultures and a grey catbird while hiking this trail.  Solitude is a real selling point of this hike: I was the only person in this part of the park when I came here on a warm mid-September afternoon.

Climbing through the grassland

            At 1.75 miles, the North Bluff Trail ends at the park entrance road.  You could retrace your steps for the entire distance of the North Bluff Trail, but a shorter option is to turn left on the gravel park road and walk the road back to the parking area.  The road is just as hot and sunny as the trail, but the grassland and Guernsey Reservoir views are just as good.  After returning to the parking lot, make sure you check out The Castle if you didn't do so at the start of this hike and/or stop at the CCC museum on your drive out.

Finger Lakes State Park: Red Trail (Blog Hike #1128)

Trail: Red Trail
Hike Location: Finger Lakes State Park
Geographic Location: north of Columbia, MO (39.08633, -92.32083)
Length: 2 miles
Difficulty: 3/10 (Easy/Moderate)
Date Hiked: September 2026
Overview: A gently rolling loop through an old strip coal mine.
Park Information: https://mostateparks.com/park/finger-lakes
Hike Route Map:

On The Go Map

Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: (coming May 21, 2027)

Directions to the trailhead: From the intersection of I-70 and US 63 in Columbia, take US 63 north 9 miles to Peabody Road and turn right on Peabody Rd.  Drive Peabody Rd. east 0.8 mile to the signed park entrance on the left.  Turn left to enter the park.  Drive the main park road north 0.9 miles to the stop sign at the picnic area access road.  Turn left on the picnic area access road, which dead-ends at the picnic area parking lot in 0.3 miles.  Park here.

The hike: When most people think of the Finger Lakes, they think of the grand north-south glacier-created lakes in central New York.  Yet central Missouri has its own Finger Lakes, and while they are not as grand or natural as New York's version, they make for an interesting recreation destination near Columbia.  Missouri's Finger Lakes have a very different origin than New York's.  In the 1960s, over 1 million short tons of coal were strip mined from this site; the gouges from that mining form the lakes we see today.  Peabody Road, which you drove in on, is named for Peabody Energy, the company that mined that coal.

            In 1974, Peabody Energy donated the site's 1139 acres to the State of Missouri, and the park was developed using a federal grant designed to show the potential reclaimed strip mines have for recreational use.  Today the park's lakes are a major paddling destination, and the park offers 4.5 miles of water trails.  Also, Finger Lakes State Park is one of only 2 Missouri state parks that offer ORV trails: over 70 miles of vehicle trails lace the park.

            Sometimes lost among the paddling and ORV trails are the park's 3.8 miles of trails open to hikers and mountain bikers.  The park's hiking trail system consists of two main loops: a 2 mile Red/West loop and a 2 mile Yellow/East loop.  Both loops start at the park's main hiking trailhead, which is near the picnic area and pump track (a constructed obstacle track mountain bikers use to test and hone their biking skills).  This hike features the Red Trail.  The Red Trail offers an interesting loop that explores the park's ridges and creekside areas, and I had a pleasant hike here on a sweltering late-summer morning.

Trailhead for Red Trail

            The Red Trail starts at the far/north end of the parking lot; look for the information kiosk, the stile in the wooden fence, and the park sign with a red square and the words "West Loop Entrance."  The trail curves left to cross Kelley Branch, the main stream in this ravine, without the aid of a bridge.  When I came here, this stream was dry and I walked directly across the rocky streambed, but this crossing could be a problem if it has rained recently.  If the water is too high and/or fast for safe crossing, turn around and save this hike for another day.

Crossing Kelley Branch

Turtle in the trail

            Now on the west side of Kelley Branch, the trail begins a short climb on a moderate grade toward its highest point.  I passed a box turtle on the trail in this area, and the trailhead for the park's ORV children's riding area comes into view on the right.  At 0.3 miles, you pass a bench near this trail's highest point.  The park map calls this point an overlook, but the vegetation is sufficiently dense to provide no view whatsoever.

Bench at "overlook"

            A moderate descent comes next, and just past 0.4 miles you reach a trail intersection.  A white-blazed connector trail exits left and provides a route directly back to the parking area.  I turned right to continue my counterclockwise journey around the Red Trail.  The Red Trail is marked with plenty of red plastic diamond trail markers in addition to carsonite post mile markers in 0.25-mile increments.

Hiking the Red Trail

            The trail undulates gradually as it heads south, and soon one of the park's ORV trails starts paralleling our trail closely on the right.  The ORV trail's metal guardrail makes for an unusual sight in the woods, and I did not pass any traffic on either my trail or the ORV trail.  In fact, my hike broke a large number of spider webs that had been weaved across the trail.  Some hikers call breaking spider webs "silk blazing," and it indicates that this trail is seldom-used even though it was wide and well-maintained on my visit.

Lake across the ORV trail

            Just shy of 1 mile, you pass over a small hill as you round the southern end of the loop.  If you look to the right across the ORV trail, you can see one of the lakes for which this park is named.  This lake is small by this park's standards: the largest lakes are in the eastern part of the park, as are the park's paddling trails.  You can see the big lakes on the drive out, but they are not visible from either of this park's hiking trails.  I did see a woodpecker and some butterflies while hiking this trail.

Pump track near the trailhead

            The eastern half of the loop heads north through streamside forest.  The terrain is flat, and the going is easy.  Soon Kelley Branch comes in view on the right, and at 1.9 miles the white-blazed connector trail enters from the left.  Turn right to re-cross Kelley Branch, again without the aid of a bridge, and quickly arrive back at the parking lot to complete the hike.