My favorite of all of the Jackson County parks is Monkey Mountain Nature Preserve in Grain Valley. Neither a mountain nor inhabited by monkeys, the origin of the name is lost to legend -- the most common explanation (a circus train wreck) has been largely debunked. During the early part of the 20th century Monkey Mountain was used by William Rockhill Nelson for sheep grazing as part of his massive Sni-a-Bar Farm.
I visit this park several times a year in all seasons to hike. It is a peacful, quiet park. Except for a sports complex in the NE corner built on what had previously been a cultivated field, it is entirely undeveloped save for the trails and a few smatterings of picnic tables. Equestrians, hikers, and campers are the park's main users, so one can almost always expect total solitude here. Only twice in my 6 years of hiking this park have I ever encountered another visitor outside the parking area.
The park has a rugged and varied terrain. There is an elevation change of just under 300 feet. On the north, west, and south sides of the park this elevation change is sudden and occurs in a dense forest with numerous limestone outcrops, while on the east side the elevation change is a gradual slope up a gently rolling meadow filled with wildflowers. From the high point (indicated by a small marker) it is possible to see (tree leaves permitting) about 6-8 miles in each direction. Two major streams converge in this park (Blue Branch and Sni-a-Bar) and numerous minor streams criss-cross throughout. There are also several ponds scattered about, and even a good-sized waterfall.
Because of the steepness of the west side of the park. the geography changes there frequently. What was once a sinkhole entering a very small cave has become a small (4 foot) waterfall in a deep canyon. On my last visit (last Sunday) I encountered a new mini-waterfall begining to form that hadn't existed just a week earlier.
The park is packed with wildlife, so much so that it's pretty much impossible to not encounter some of it close up.
Anyway, here's some pictures I took on my most recent hike there...
It's kind of hard to tell what's going on in this next one, the water level was
too high and moving too fast for me to get all the way down to get a good
angle. This is a 20-25 foot waterfall that spills into a rocky canyon.
I was trying to photograph two hawks that were circling very near me.
But every time I tried to snap a picture, they flew far away.
These next few are of my favorite wildflower I found in the park. I haven't looked any of these up yet
to see what they are, but these grew only on the limestone outcrops and so far I have found them on
only one set of the outcrops that I know about in the park.
This was a makeshift campsite I found in one of the group camping areas.
Somone made a small table out of a flat rock and shoved it back in there.
