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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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| Trailhead for Red Trail |
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| Crossing Kelley Branch |
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| Turtle in the trail |
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| Bench at "overlook" |
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| Hiking the Red Trail |
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| Lake across the ORV trail |
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| Pump track near the trailhead |
