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The Pierre a Flèche (Rock of Arrows) hiking trail is a nearly one and one-half mile loop in the southern half of the site (see site map). The trailhead is in the visitor center parking lot, but the trail may be accessed at several points. The trail is of moderate grade, however, a few areas are relatively steep where it transects the bluffs.
Three types of the natural divisions of Missouri can be viewed from along the trail:
- Ozark Borderland
- Oak-hickory forests and under-story vegetation on the bluffs is similar to that of the Ozarks.
- Big Rivers
- Bottomland forest of cottonwoods, sycamore and willows. Most of this area is within the Big Muddy National Wildlife Refuge.
- Osage Prairie
- The pre-settlement landscape back from the bluffs consisted of tallgrass prairie and wooded ravines. Farming practices of the 19th century destroyed the prairie grasses, but the area still presents a prairie-like appearance.
One-quarter mile of the trail follows the old Boonville-Arrow Rock Road. Some Santa Fe trading caravans departed from Boonville in the 1820s and followed this road. During the Civil War, the road was a major thoroughfare for both Confederate and Union forces. The road was finally abandoned after Missouri Highway 41 was built in the 1920s. Nineteenth century bridge footings are still visible in a couple of locations.
Arrow Rock River Landing Trail
The trail runs along the old warehouse road from the town of Arrow Rock to the river landing. There it connects with the Lewis and Clark Trail of Discovery to continue to the Missouri River. Part of the trail is within the Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. Goods traveling the Missouri to and from St. Louis were loaded and unloaded at the landing. As you near the landing, you can see depressions where wagons loaded with goods traveled from the river to a warehouse or into town.
View comments from hikers of this trail during 2007
