A Free Staircase Up a Cleanup Hill: Scenic Drives Near St. Louis

Revised October 11, 2026

Flat, they say. Every recycled top-10 list treats St. Louis like a parking lot with an Arch on it, then tells you the pretty drives start three hours south in the Ozarks. About 30 miles west of downtown, on Route 94, a free staircase climbs a 75-foot hill that didn’t exist until 2001. From the platform on top you can see across two counties.

Here’s the turn the roundups skip: that hill is a lid. Sealed inside one engineered structure is what was left of a World War II explosives plant and a Cold War uranium plant. Then the Department of Energy built a staircase up the side, laid a crushed-gravel walkway along the top and put a viewing platform at the summit, with viewfinders mounted in four directions. Your legs feel the climb first. Then the gravel crunches, the viewfinders swing, and a planted prairie runs out below you to the wooded hills. Plenty of people heading out to the Augusta tasting rooms pass it every weekend without slowing down.

The staircase is free, and the cell is open from dawn to dusk, about 45 to 50 minutes from the Arch. The interpretive center at the bottom closes at 4 on weekends and 5 on weekdays, so aim for about 2 p.m. on a Saturday and you get the exhibits and still have daylight for the platform. The site’s number is (636) 300-2601.

This page is about the roads, not the towns at the end of them. The small towns outside St. Louis have their own town-by-town guide. Here you get the driving: three routes within about 80 minutes of the Arch, the hour to arrive, what closes when, and one afternoon pick for each. Every drive time is an estimate from the Arch, so add a cushion on a fall weekend.

What are some scenic drives around Saint Louis, Missouri?

Three, plus the Great River Road you already know. What sets them apart from the Ozarks-or-nothing lists is that each hands you something free to stand in front of: a staircase over a sealed cleanup site on Route 94, a 1939 gas station turned interpretive center on old Route 66, and carvings about a thousand years old off Highway 21. The longest of the three is about 80 minutes from the Arch, and Missouri color usually peaks around mid-October.

Past the staircase, Route 94 becomes the bluff road, winding west along the north side of the Missouri River. A few minutes from the stairs, the Busch Memorial Conservation Area holds about 100 old TNT bunkers, and in October the woods around them crunch with leaf litter underfoot. Farther on, Klondike Park sits in a former sand quarry, where a fishing lake has a pale, sandy shoreline that looks wrong for Missouri. Busch is open from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m., which makes it the easy late-light fallback. Klondike is about 65 to 70 minutes from the Arch and stays open until half an hour after sunset, with Augusta wine country about 70 to 75 minutes out. An afternoon that starts around 1 p.m. covers the stairs, Busch and Klondike.

Cross into Illinois and old Route 66 turns playful. In Mt. Olive, about 55 minutes from the Arch, a gas station a former coal miner opened in 1926 is still standing. In Livingston, about 45 minutes out, the antique mall parks a giant pink elephant out front, and the soft-serve comes out of a building shaped like an ice cream cone. Eat it standing up and it’s cold, sweet and already running down your wrist. Start in Edwardsville, about 30 minutes out, at the West End Service Station, a 1939 gas station. It’s open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, so be there by about 2:30. Then finish with a cone, because the Livingston antique mall stays open until 7.

The quiet one is south. At Washington State Park on Highway 21, you follow a level paved path, step under a covered shelter onto a wooden deck, and the carvings sit in the stone in front of you: birds, arrows, footprints, all about a thousand years old. Your boots knock on the boards once, and then you stand still. The park is about 80 minutes from the Arch, and the grounds and both petroglyph sites are open from 7 a.m. to sunset, year-round, so arrive with at least two hours of daylight. With only an afternoon, leave by noon and spend it at the main site and on the stone 1,000 Steps Trail.

One honest caveat. None of these are mountain roads. What makes them work is the water. The Missouri and the Mississippi cut limestone bluffs along their banks, and the old roads hug the rivers because that’s where the towns were. Drive one in mid-October and you’ll stop believing the flat line.

No full afternoon? An hour on the grounds at Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center in Kirkwood puts leaf litter underfoot and fall color overhead, about 25 minutes from the Arch. The grounds are open daily from 8 to 6. The building is closed Sundays, Mondays and federal holidays, so don’t count on going inside on a Columbus Day drive.

Then there’s the Great River Road, the drive every St. Louisan already knows. Step out at the first bluff-top pull-off and the river air reaches you before the view does. The road starts in Alton, where the parks in Alton, Illinois give you those pull-offs, and runs under the limestone to Grafton, about 60 minutes from the Arch. We mapped the best stops along the Great River Road from Alton to Grafton separately, so the eagles and the ferry stay there and this page spends its time on the other three.

Is there a scenic drive along the Missouri River near St. Louis?

Yes, and the best hour is the last one of daylight, when the prairie below the Weldon Spring platform goes gold. Route 94 leaves St. Charles, climbs into the hills around Weldon Spring, then winds west along the bluffs on the north side of the Missouri River toward Augusta and Marthasville. The stop sits about 45 to 50 minutes from the Arch, and the Department of Energy keeps the climb free from dawn to dusk.

The bluffs, the river bottoms and the little wine towns are why people drive it. The stop almost nobody makes comes first.

The Weldon Spring disposal cell. From 1941 to 1945 the Army made TNT here, on 17,232 acres the government acquired in the early 1940s, displacing 576 residents of three small towns. From the late 1950s until 1966, the Atomic Energy Commission refined uranium on part of the same ground. The cleanup took years. When it wrapped up in 2001, the waste went into one engineered structure: 41 acres at the base and about 75 feet tall.

Then the Department of Energy did something you wouldn’t expect from a federal cleanup site: it invited the public up. From the platform you look out over St. Charles and St. Louis counties, the 150-acre native prairie the government planted around the base and a long line of wooded hills.

The site is free and open to the public, and the cell itself is open from dawn to dusk. It’s monitored, groundwater and all, and inspected every year, and in 2020 the EPA gave it a national award for site reuse.

The interpretive center at the bottom, 7295 Highway 94 South, tells the TNT years, the uranium years and the cleanup in a 4,500-square-foot exhibit gallery. It’s open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It closes on federal holidays, New Year’s, Easter and Christmas, so call (636) 300-2601 if you’re unsure. Leashed pets are fine on the grounds but not inside the buildings. A 6-mile multiuse trail built on an old haul road starts here too and links to the conservation land next door and on to the Katy Trail.

That’s the myth-bust in one stop. St. Louis has no views? Stand on a hill built to hold the cleanup from World War II and the Cold War, and count the counties.

August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area. It has no street address. Find Route D and drive 1.5 miles west of Highway 94, about 50 minutes from the Arch. The Missouri Department of Conservation keeps it open daily from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. with no entry fee, which makes it the easy late-light fallback after the stairs. The area holds about 100 old TNT bunkers from the plant years. The Lake 34 north area is closed for now, so call (636) 441-4554 or check MDC’s page before you go.

Klondike Park. Keep going west on 94. At 4600 Highway 94 South, just east of Augusta, St. Charles County runs a park built in an old silica sand quarry, where for most of the 20th century miners dug sand for glass. What they left behind is a fishing lake and a pale, sandy shoreline that looks wrong for Missouri. Leave the swimsuit home: swimming isn’t allowed, and neither are glass containers.

There are more than 4 miles of paved and natural trails, plus kayaks and paddleboards on the lake. Cabins run $65 a night with a two-night minimum, and tent sites are $10. The shower house closes from November 1 through March 31. The park opens at 7 a.m. and closes half an hour after sunset. Call 636-949-7535 to confirm rates, and expect about 65 to 70 minutes from the Arch.

Augusta. A few minutes on, Augusta holds a title most Missourians have never heard of. On June 20, 1980, it became the first American Viticultural Area in the country, the first wine region the federal government ever recognized. The tasting rooms are the obvious stop, and they fill up fast on fall weekends. I could not confirm their hours, so call ahead. Plan on about 70 to 75 minutes from downtown.

The loop home. Stay on 94 to Marthasville, pick up Highway 47 and cross the Missouri River bridge into Washington. That bridge was rebuilt in 2018, and the town on the other side earns a stop of its own; our guide to things to do in Washington, MO covers the Amtrak run, the walk across the river bridge and Lions Lake. From there, Highway 100 brings you east through Gray Summit on the south side of the river, so you never repeat a mile. Shaw Nature Reserve sits on that stretch, and its last entry is 4:30 p.m., so don’t linger over lunch.

If you only have an afternoon: leave downtown around 1 p.m. and be at the Weldon Spring stairs by about 2, while the interpretive center is still open. Walk up, then drive to Busch, which stays open until 10 p.m. If daylight is left, push on to Klondike Park for the last light.

Can you still drive old Route 66 near St. Louis?

Yes, and the first thing it hands you is cold and sweet. At the cone-shaped Twistee Treats building in Livingston, about 45 minutes from the Arch, the soft-serve starts running the minute it’s in your hand, and that’s the playful end of old Route 66. The Illinois side is the best-kept stretch near St. Louis, and it runs north out of Edwardsville.

Start in Edwardsville at the West End Service Station, 620 St. Louis St., a 1939 station the city reopened as a free Route 66 interpretive center. It’s open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, and it’s one of the free things to do in Edwardsville that earns the stop by itself. Spaces beside the station are for Friday, Saturday and Sunday only. Other days, park near West and Schwarz streets. I could not confirm a phone number for the station itself, only city hall’s. Then head north through Hamel toward Livingston.

The Pink Elephant Antique Mall, 908 Veterans Memorial Dr., fills the town’s old high school with dealers’ booths. The mall is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily and the diner from 11 to 7, until 8 on Fridays and Saturdays. Holiday hours may vary, so call (618) 637-2366 on a holiday weekend. It’s a photo stop first and a shopping stop second, which is exactly how Route 66 was supposed to work.

Mt. Olive is the payoff. Stand in front of the Soulsby station and you’re looking at what the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway calls the oldest, most original station on the Illinois route that hasn’t been completely rebuilt. Henry Soulsby followed his father, an Irish immigrant, into the coal mines until an injury in the mid-1920s forced him aboveground. He put most of his life savings into two lots at the edge of town, and in 1926, the same year Route 66 was designated, he opened a gas station there. It stayed in business for years. It has been on the National Register since 2004 and now works as a visitor center and museum at 710 W. 1st St. I could not confirm its hours or admission, so call ahead through the regional tourism line, (800) 258-6645.

Then drive across town to Union Miners Cemetery. Mother Jones, the labor organizer, is buried there, and in 1936 coal miners raised a monument over her. They paid for it mostly in small donations during the Depression and dug the site themselves. The Mother Jones Museum, in City Hall at 215 E. Main St., calls it the only Union-owned cemetery in the United States. I could not confirm the museum’s hours. City Hall is open 8:30 to 4:30 on weekdays, and the museum’s number is (217) 999-4261. A gas station built by a miner, a monument built by miners. That’s the whole drive.

On the Missouri side, the old road’s best-known stop is in Eureka, where the Route 66 State Park visitor center picks up the story. It’s about 35 minutes from the Arch at 97 N Outer Rd, and it’s free. The grounds are open from 7 a.m. to half an hour after sunset. The visitor center runs 9 to 4 daily from March through October and closes November through February, except the second week of December. Call 636-938-7198.

If you only have an afternoon: be at the West End station by about 2:30, before it closes at 4, and give the exhibits half an hour. Then roll on to Livingston, where the mall stays open until 7 and a cone is waiting. Save Mt. Olive for a day when you’ve called ahead and can give the cemetery a quiet half hour.

Every drive ends at a table. Find where St. Louis locals eat.

Is there a scenic drive south of St. Louis that ends at a thousand-year-old carving?

Yes, and the first sound is your own boots on a wooden deck. A level paved path leads to a covered shelter and that deck, and from it you are looking at figures cut into stone about a thousand years ago, no scrambling required. Washington State Park is about 80 minutes from the Arch, not the hour people guess. Admission is free, and both petroglyph sites are open from 7 a.m. to sunset, year-round.

The road starts as one you only know as a commute. Inside St. Louis County, Highway 21 is Tesson Ferry Road, named for the man who ran a ferry across the Meramec in the 1800s. Keep going past I-270 and it opens up into Jefferson County, past Barnhart and Hillsboro, into the first folds of the Ozarks. For the park itself, the Missouri Department of Conservation’s directions say to travel west on Highway 21 about 8 miles from De Soto. The address is 13041 State Highway 104, De Soto.

Washington State Park protects the largest group of petroglyphs found in Missouri, almost three-quarters of all the ones known in the state. Mississippian people, related to the builders of the great mounds across the Mississippi in Illinois, carved them roughly a thousand years ago. The two sites hold more than 350 symbols: birds, arrows, footprints, turkey tracks, human figures. Guided tours run only from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, usually Saturdays at 2 p.m. Call 636-586-5768 to confirm.

The other reason to go is the stone. In the 1930s, Company 1743, an African American unit of the Civilian Conservation Corps, built much of the park by hand. They called their camp Camp Thunderbird after the symbols in the carvings, and they carved a thunderbird into the chimney of the stone dining lodge they built, now Thunderbird Lodge. They laid the stone 1,000 Steps Trail and the octagonal lookout shelter, so when you climb those steps you are standing on stone set by hand in the 1930s. Come for the petroglyphs. Stay for the steps.

People ask which is the most beautiful state park in Missouri. That’s subjective, but this is the strongest case within an easy day of St. Louis. Fall is the time, and from November through March, roads to some areas close to vehicles and you go on foot. There’s camping if you want the morning there too. Check Missouri State Parks’ advisories page for closures before you drive.

The other southern run is I-55 to Ste. Genevieve, about 80 minutes from downtown. Established by 1750, it was the first permanent European settlement in Missouri, and on October 30, 2020 it became the 422nd unit of the National Park Service as Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park. That makes it the closest national park to St. Louis after the Arch. It’s fee-free. Stop at the Welcome Center, 66 S. Main St., (573) 880-7189, to sign up in person for the free house tours: 15 people at most, same-day signup only. Our guide to things to do in Ste. Genevieve covers the town once you park.

If you only have an afternoon: leave the Arch by noon, reach the park around 1:20, and give the main site and the 1,000 Steps Trail two unhurried hours before the sunset closing. Heading to Ste. Genevieve instead? Get to the Welcome Center early, because the house tours depend on same-day sign-up.

Where can you see fall colors on a drive near St. Louis?

The bluffs along the Missouri turn from solid green to red, yellow and orange, and a Saturday either catches it or misses it. The Missouri Department of Conservation says peak color in Missouri is usually around mid-October, when the maples, ashes, hickories and oaks turn together. Its fall color reports post weekly from the second half of September to about mid-November, usually by Thursday evening. Read the latest one before you spend a Saturday on it.

Illinois peaks later. The Enjoy Illinois fall color tracker typically puts Southwest Illinois, including Alton and Grafton, in the last week of October. If you missed Missouri’s peak, the Great River Road may still be worth the gas.

MDC’s advice on where to look is blunt and useful: pick routes along rivers with views of forested bluffs, or along ridges with long views over wooded hills. For color drives, it names state highways 94 and 21, two of the routes on this page. Statewide lists send you to the Ozarks for the most scenic drive in Missouri, but the state’s own conservation department points you to roads inside 80 minutes of the Arch.

The department also names its own St. Louis-area color spots, and several sit right on these drives:

• Busch Memorial Conservation Area, off Route D beside the Weldon Spring site. Open daily 4 a.m. to 10 p.m., no entry fee, a few minutes from the staircase.
• LaBarque Creek Conservation Area, in northwestern Jefferson County, about 50 minutes out. Sandstone bluffs, narrow wooded valleys and a trail about three miles long where the creek pools reflect the color. Open 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, no fee. Camping is prohibited, and hunting season applies. The lot is in the valley off Doc Sargent Road; from Eureka, take Highway 109, then Route FF, then Route F. Call (636) 441-4554.
• Shaw Nature Reserve at Gray Summit, about 60 minutes out, right on your way home if you loop Route 94 back through Washington on Highway 100. Open 8 to 5 with last entry at 4:30. Admission is $5 for ages 13 and up and free for ages 3 to 12. It closes Mondays in January and February. Call (314) 577-9555.
• Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center in Kirkwood, about 25 minutes out, for an hour of leaf litter underfoot and color overhead when you can’t take the whole day. The grounds are open daily 8 to 6. The building is open Tuesday through Saturday, 8 to 5, and closed Sundays, Mondays and federal holidays, Columbus Day included. No pets. Call (314) 301-1500.

For a view down onto the color instead of up into it, time your drive around one of these overlooks. The top of the Weldon Spring cell, with a planted 150-acre native prairie below. The octagonal stone lookout the Civilian Conservation Corps built at Washington State Park. Go on a weekday if you can. Route 94 is a two-lane road shared with cyclists, Katy Trail traffic and the wine-country crowd, and October weekends fill it.

What are some beautiful places to visit near St. Louis?

At Lone Elk Park the windshield is the viewing glass. St. Louis County keeps 546 acres near Valley Park where bison, elk, deer, wild turkey and waterfowl live, and you drive the park road through their range, about 40 minutes from the Arch. The park opens at 8 a.m. and closes at official sunset.

The name is the story. The land was part of a World War II ammunition plant, and the county started elk and bison herds there in 1948. When the federal government took the land back, the herds were destroyed for safety reasons, and county history dates that to 1958. One bull elk survived. The park opened to the public in October 1971. Same arc as Weldon Spring: military ground turned into a wildlife drive anyone can take. Give the bison room, and leave the dog home, because pets aren’t allowed here, even inside a vehicle. I’m working from the county’s own summary, so call 314-615-4386 to check before you go.

Bluff Road in Columbia, Illinois. The Illinois side has a second bluff drive most people never try, about 25 to 30 minutes from the Arch. The official Great River Road listing says Bluff Road runs along the bluffs from Palmer Road in Columbia. It’s a quiet back road, so drive it slowly.

Pere Marquette State Park. The Great River Road ends its run at Grafton, and the park sits there at 13112 Visitor Center Ln, about 60 minutes from the Arch. From November through March its visitor center is open Monday through Saturday, 8 to 3:30, and closed Sundays. Call 618-786-3323 for the rest of the year. Our guide to things to do in Grafton covers the town.

How do you turn a scenic drive into a cheap weekend getaway near St. Louis?

The cheapest weekend is a campsite and a full tank. Klondike Park sells tent sites at $10, and Washington State Park has a campground, so Saturday can be Route 94 and Sunday can be Highway 21. The Weldon Spring platform and the petroglyph deck charge nothing. What you actually spend is gas and lunch.

Looking for good places to take a road trip from St. Louis? Pick by direction. Which city is an hour away depends on where you point the car: Mt. Olive is about 55 minutes north, Grafton about 60 up the river, Augusta about 70 to 75 west, and Ste. Genevieve about 80 south. Of the prettiest towns in Missouri within that circle, Augusta, Washington and Ste. Genevieve are the three I’d drive to first.

Next time someone tells you St. Louis is flat, you’ll know about the staircase, the miners’ monument and the carvings off Highway 21. Check the MDC report Thursday night, pick a direction Saturday morning and go find the view the lists missed.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most scenic drive in Missouri?

Statewide lists send you to the Ozarks, and those drives are lovely. Inside about 80 minutes of St. Louis, though, the Missouri Department of Conservation names state highways 94 and 21 for fall color. Take Route 94 west from Weldon Spring toward Augusta in mid-October, climb the free staircase first, and finish at Klondike Park, which closes half an hour after sunset. MDC posts its color reports weekly, usually by Thursday evening, so check the latest before you pick a Saturday.

What is the closest national park to St. Louis, Missouri?

Gateway Arch National Park, on the downtown riverfront, is the closest. Next is Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park, about 80 minutes south, which became the 422nd unit of the National Park Service on October 30, 2020. It protects the French colonial houses of Missouri’s first permanent European settlement, established by 1750. The park is fee-free. Free house tours take 15 people at most, with same-day sign-up in person at the Welcome Center, 66 S. Main St.

What are some good places to take a road trip from St. Louis?

Start with the four runs on this page: Route 94 to Augusta, old Route 66 to Mt. Olive, Highway 21 to Washington State Park and the Great River Road to Grafton. Each has a stop worth the gas, and all sit within about 80 minutes. If you’ll drive farther, our roundup of the best day trips from St. Louis within two hours covers the longer runs. Leave early, though: the Weldon Spring interpretive center and the West End station in Edwardsville both close at 4 on weekends.

What are some cheap weekend getaways near St. Louis?

Build one around a campsite. Klondike Park near Augusta has tent sites at $10 and cabins at $65 a night with a two-night minimum, and Washington State Park has a campground. Missouri state parks charge no admission, and the Weldon Spring platform is free too. Your real cost is gas and lunch. Klondike’s shower house is closed from November 1 through March 31, so plan around that, and confirm rates with the park before you book.

What city is 1 hour away from St. Louis?

Pick a direction. Mt. Olive is about 55 minutes north on old Route 66, Grafton about 60 minutes up the Great River Road, and Augusta about 70 to 75 minutes west on Route 94. To the south, Washington State Park and Ste. Genevieve each run about 80 minutes. Each sits at the end of a drive on this page, which is the point: make the road the trip. Those times are free-flow estimates from the Arch, so add a cushion on a fall weekend.

What are some of the prettiest towns in Missouri?

Close to St. Louis, start with three on these drives. Augusta sits in the wine-country hills on Route 94 and was the first federally recognized American Viticultural Area, on June 20, 1980. Washington has a working riverfront across the Highway 47 bridge, and Ste. Genevieve still has French colonial houses from the late 1700s. Drive the bluff road between the first two and judge for yourself. Plan on about 70 to 75 minutes to Augusta, and call ahead for tasting-room hours, which I could not confirm.

What is the most beautiful state park in Missouri?

It’s subjective, but close to St. Louis the strongest case is Washington State Park near De Soto: the largest group of petroglyphs found in Missouri, Ozark overlooks and stone buildings laid by an African American CCC company in the 1930s. It’s about 80 minutes south on Highway 21, free to enter, and open from 7 a.m. to sunset year-round, with camping if you want to stay over. Guided petroglyph tours run only from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, usually Saturdays at 2 p.m.

Can you walk on top of the Weldon Spring disposal cell?

Yes. A staircase climbs the roughly 75-foot cell to a crushed-gravel walkway and a viewing platform with viewfinders. The Department of Energy says the site is free and open to the public, and the cell is open from dawn to dusk. The interpretive center at the base is open weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Keep dogs leashed, and out of the buildings.

About the Author: The St Louis Near Me Directory Team
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.

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