Springfield Parks, Greenways, and Outdoor Spaces

4/9/16
Today we explored the Rivercut area and visited the Missouri Institute of Natural Science at River Bluff Cave. We marked four more facilities off the list and walked a couple of trails. We had never been to any of these places before. All of these facilities are just southwest of Springfield near the intersection of Farms Rds 141 and 190.

#47 River Bluff Cave House/Missouri Institute of Natural Science 2327 W. Farm Road 190
River Bluff Cave House is the name on the list of Springfield-Greene County Park facilities and the Missouri Institute of Natural Science has the same address so I'm not sure if these two facilities are the same. There is another, smaller building at the site which had a couple of chunks of rock and excavating tools outside so that could be the River Bluff Cave House possibly. The MoNatSci technically closed an hour before we got there but the volunteers were rearranging things with the doors open and invited us in. The cave was discovered in 2001 and is not open to the public and is the oldest Ice Age cave in North America. There were multiple cases of rocks/minerals/fossils, and some large fossils on display. The volunteers were very nice and informative. The hours are 8:30-4:30 Mon-Fri and 10-2 Sat. There was a nature trail on the grounds that led up to the top of the bluff. There were steps down to some huge boulders along Farm Rd. 141, benches, and several trees had identity markers. There was also a clearing with a couple of fire pits(for day camps?) Just below the museum was a trailhead for the Ward Branch Greenway. Including the time in the museum and walking both trails, we spent about 45 minutes and walked 1 1/4 miles.

#11(continued from 3/21)Ward Branch Linear Park/Ward Branch Greenway
We walked one section of this trail on 3/21 and this is a different, unconnected section. We have never been on this section before. This 2 mile section runs from Missouri Institute of Natural Science/Rivercut Park to Wanda Gray Elementary School. We walked about 1/2 mile along the creek which was very pretty with running water, tiny fish, and sycamore trees. This section was much more visually appealing than the section near Cox Hospital.

#48 Rivercut Park 2320 W. Farm Road 190
This park has no sign and its only listed amenity is a natural area. The best we could tell(from the GPS address), this is a green space along Farm Rd. 190 between where Ward Branch Creek joins the James River and Rivercut golf course. We parked at the golf course and walked down to the bridge. The area is not very exciting, just grass and a tree line, but the river is pretty. At the entrance to the Rivercut Community there is a really pretty waterfall. Manmade, I'm sure, but it just as pretty as many of the natural ones we've hiked to. Including the walk around the golf course area, we spent just under an hour and walked 1 1/2 miles.

#49 Rivercut Golf Course 2850 W. Farm Rd 190
The grounds at the entrance were very nice and there were signs indicating the course had been named outstanding municipal golf course. We walked up to the clubhouse and looked out over the course. There is a driving range and a pro shop.

#50 Connie Morris Golf Learning Center 2846 W. Farm Rd. 190
This is right next Rivercut Golf Course and is home to the Rick Grayson Golf School with clinics and lessons. There is a children's play structure shaped like a golf bag and called The Clubhouse here.

Davis House Archery Range 5780 S. Farm Rd. 141
This facility is right around the corner from the Missouri Institute of Natural Science but there was a chain across the drive so we couldn't see anything. The description states there are indoor and outdoor archery programs and that archery is one of the four Community Olympic Development Programs in the Springfield-Greene County Park system. The hours are listed as 2-7 Mon-Fri.

Rex P. Krieder Park
This park is labeled on the Springfield-Greene County Park facility map right next to Rivercut and is listed as a future park without any address in the Jan-April 2016 Park Bench. Since I don't know exactly where it is, I don't know if we "visited" it but we walked around in the area described. I found a reference to the park being dedicated in 2007 and it was listed in proposed planned budget for 2011-2016 for development as a trailhead, linear park and additional amenities but is still listed as a future park.

So we spent a couple of hours exploring this new-to-us area and are now just one facility short of being halfway through the list of 102 park facilities.