Rock Bridge Memorial State Park

Rock Bridge State Park is a family favorite. We go there often for family hikes. There are so many trails of different lengths, inclines, difficulty and terrains. The caves are also so cool. There is a lot of history about the park. They even offer fun kids programming my kids are enjoyed during different summers. It is a treasure and I am so thankful we live so close.

Really a top notch park that clicked all the buttons for me. Nice hikes, caves, tons of historical information about the wagon trails, former occupants, whisky distillery and other businesses that were in this hollow. The last photo I posted shows the crumbling foundation of the distillery(you have to look closely) seen in one of its three iterations (it burned down fairly regularly) in the previous picture. Most of the hiking trails were good for most people.

I didn't actually go to the park itself, but to one of its many trails. It was remote and absolutely breathtaking, dog friendly and a good workout for someone interested in an intermediate level hiking experience.

Very cool and easy hike! Bring the family! Even if the grandparents or folks that cant do stairs or rocky uneven ground ; you can get real close and not feel left behind by those that walk inside to check it out.

Great hiking. The devils ice box cave was very cool. There is a little store to buy ice, drinks and other items. The ground keeper was very helpful helping us find our way around.

I visited here with my daughter for a quick hike to enjoy the weather. It was a pleasant surprise at how beautiful it was! They did have one trail closed due to a tree destroying a bridge but overall it was maintained well and clean of litter. Bathrooms are primitive but handy to have available. There was so much more to explore then i had realized. The cave, spring/creek, rock bridge and plenty of trails for hiking. It was busy but not crowded and we felt very safe. We loved it so much! We will definitely visit again! Thank you!

Wonderful hiking trails. Plenty of parking available. Toilets are not the cleanest.

Rock Bridge State Park is one of my favorite Missouri trials because of the views and accessibility. This park is wonderful for people of all ages; especially for families! We love exploring the Devil's Icebox Cave and the Sinkhole short trail. There are parts on the trail that are easily accessible by following the wood-planked walkway, but there are also "off the beaten path" trails and spots to ride your bike. Rock Bridge State Park is absolutely beautiful and is a "Must Visit" outdoor spot in Columbia, MO!

Rock Bridge State Park is one of my favorite Missouri trials because of the views and accessibility. This park is wonderful for people of all ages; especially for families! We love exploring the Devil's Icebox Cave and the Sinkhole short trail. There are parts on the trail that are easily accessible by following the wood-planked walkway, but there are also "off the beaten path" trails and spots to ride your bike. Rock Bridge State Park is absolutely beautiful and is a "Must Visit" outdoor spot in Columbia, MO!

I love this park. I have only been here twice and both in the winter time. Great hiking trails and really cool cave system and the ice box which is really cool! Looking forward to exploring more of this park

Picturesque and quiet place to take the family for a hike. Easy to find with different levels of challenges for hiking

This place is a must see if you're in the area. You can park and walk a short distance down the trail to see a beautiful rock formation that appears to be a cave. It's easy access and several trails you can take to enjoy the view.

I would like to come back on another day and give this park another shot. It was a little confusing map wise but beautiful, as nature tends to be. When we hit spots that seemed more popular with people the park put up a lot of one way signs which had us second guessing where to go as we came from a completely different route. Either way, beautiful park with lots of walkers, bicyclists and people just stopping in to cool off in the creek.

This is our favorite State Park in Missouri (so far)! There is so much to see and do here - for all ages. We frequent this park with our toddler and there plenty of stroller friendly walking areas. The Grassland trail is a trail that is stroller/wagon friendly as it is all grassy terrain, mainly flat. The Devils Icebox does have stairs and designated wooden trial paths to explore most areas. I would highly recommend checking out this park at least once!

Take to any of the trails at rock bridge state park. So many different paths to choose and all wonderful outdoor adventures. They have maps at the entrance in case you aren't familiar with trails.

What a great park! We spent several hours just wandering around, climbing all over and even took a free cave (mini) tour! The regular tours are postponed because the poor bats are sick, but the mini tour was worth it. The walkways were really cool and literally went all over. There were lots of families with small kids having a good time, so it's definitely family friendly. We could have walked for way longer, but decided against it only because it was close to lunch time. I'd love to come back and go on a longer hike in the future!

Get out & hike this State Park! Beautiful & easy trail to the cave and additional trails for traditional hiking. Pack a lunch & exhale. This place is a true gem in Columbia Missouri. Awesome!!

I have been to Rock Bridge many times, and typically go for longer hikes. I've got two words for you: thumbs up. This review is specific to the longer trail hiking, not to Devil's Icebox. Best thing about this park: it is a very decent size and only a few miles from downtown Columbia. It makes it so easy to spend a morning or afternoon hiking. On our most recent trip, we hiked the Gans Creek Trail, which is about 8 miles. This is one of my favorite trails in the area. It has a variety of views, lots of elevation changes (which could be a negative for some, but I love it), and it is clearly marked. There are a few creek crossings that can get tricky in higher water, but we were able to navigate them just fine. TIP: Do not go hiking on this trail without a park map. There are lots of loops connected to other loops, but everything is blazed in brown. You could get turned around without a map to guide you. The other trails in Rock Bridge offer different experiences, from hikes through the woods to hikes through grasslands. Do some research before you go so you understand the type of trail you will be hiking. For example, the grassland trails expose you to the sun for most of the hike, so sunscreen is a must. TL;DR - Overall, Rock Bridge is a well-maintained park with lots of information online or on their maps (at each trailhead). This, plus some great views, make it an excellent place to hike.

I love this park. It is just magical with the sounds and sights you see here. There are multiple trails you can take on​ foot or bicycle. I especially enjoy the boardwalk to the Devil's Ice Box and Connor's Cave. There are multiple steps along this boardwalk, so it is a workout. Once you descend the steps to the cave you immediately​ feel the temperature difference. The cave is so neat. You will need a flashlight to navigate​ safely and your feet will get wet. A great way to spend to get some family time in for a couple hours of fun.

I've been to Rock Bridge a few times and I think it's a really beautiful park. I haven't been on the trails, I have walked on the wooden pathways. I liked the wooden bridges, stairs, and informative displays along the path. The stairs provide a good workout. The downside with the wooden pathway walk is that some of the pathway is destroyed and the path just goes in a circle so the walk doesn't really last that long. The pathway that got destroyed really needs to be rebuilt. I'm not sure what happened, but many kids and parents went off the path to go inside the cave and play around in the rocks and the water. It's kind of dangerous for people to hop over the fences to do this and I really wish they would rebuild it. After the Winter when the snow melts, there is a lot of mud. If you go around that time, make sure you don't wear your fancy shoes. The last time I went I saw little bats flying around which was really cute because I've never seen a bat in person before. If you go in the Summer or Spring months, it's really pretty and green. I haven't been in the Winter, but I would assume it might get a little slippery.

My family and I have been coming here for years. We love it just as much now as our first visit. The trails are enjoyable, especially the main board-walk trail through the sinkholes. We also come here year-round.

RB has always been one of my favorite parks. There are some well established trails, and others that are more off the beaten path. Love to take our pit out here, we can easily spend two hours walking around.

This was an awesome place to take the kiddos yesterday to break up a day of shopping and eating! We walked around and ended up at the Devil's Icebox which was amazingly cool! The Rock Bridge was just beautiful. We were sad we couldn't venture closer to it since there had been so much flooding in the area lately though. We had so much fun that the kids can't wait to come out here again! And hopefully next time we can get closer to the Rock Bridge! We go to Columbia about once a month and I had no idea that this park even existed. The kids loved it! Beautiful park!

I first went to Rock Bridge for a geology field trip. Want to hear about Karst topography anyone? No? Yeah, me neither. All I know is that it makes some really cool things to look at--sink holes, caves, .... rock bridges. This is a great place to walk around, and it's so close to campus. There are wooden walkways and in some places steep stairs. It's not the typical state park because of the land formations.

Rock Bridge SP is a huge, open expanse of forest that ranges from ridgelines and steep valleys leading to the Devil's Icebox to bottomland/old growth forest full of woodpeckers and squirrels to evergreens masking hawks, owls, and deer to hillside grasslands and savannas. Each area comes with its own interesting discoveries and marked by the creeks that run throughout the park. Aside from the mainstay Devil's Icebox trail, there are a number of hiking/biking trails that thread for miles through the backcountry. If you head off on one of these, make sure to take water and a communication device ... then just wander around through the switchbacks. Just make sure you stay on the same color and you'll end up back at the parking lot ... somehow ... Some of the trails, especially nearest the parking area, are wheelchair accessible ... many more are not. There are some pretty steep inclines just beyond the parking area that just can't be traversed except on foot or mountain bike. The Karst Trail could probably be done in a wheelchair as the inclines are much gentler and don't include the craggy rock of the Devil's Icebox area. The only thing I have against this park is that it's treacherous when wet. Anything more than a light drizzle turns the pulverized clay hiking/biking trails into a sloppy mess capable of removing a shoe and the steepness of the boardwalk in some places makes it slippery when wet. Still, if you're only going to visit one park in Columbia, this is probably it. Truly, an amazing experience.

After we got arrested for repelling off the Capitol Parking Garage-- great story, we decided we needed to go somewhere that we could repell at and not get arrested. Boring, I know. Living in Columbia, this was the perfect spot for that. There's usually a lot going on and it makes for a great time. The caves are cool, the trails are fun and nobody ever arrested me there!!

Great place to hike around, lots of trails to choose from that are marked clearly. Devil's Icebox is easy to access and is mindful of COVID as the loop is marked one-way to cut back on running into others. all the other trails are fairly less trafficked. Lots of

I spent 8 hours in this park, granted it was an enjoyable 8 hours but a bit frustrating. The trail map was misleading because the trail blazes, markings to identify the trail, were blazed by color but the map had no mention of the colors. The map also was not up to scale; the trails were a lot longer than what the scale of the map made them to be. The trails were rugged but not too bad in some areas. We ended up on the deer run trail, which did have deer on it, then to the sinkhole trail, high ridge trail, spring brook trail, the devil's ice box trail, and then back to the deer run trail. I didn't see any sink holes on the sinkhole trail which was disappointing. On the Spring Brook trail the stream cut some of trail off and we had to wade through to get to other side, talk about rugged. My favorite part was the cave, devil's icebox. I didn't venture in for the seven-mile trek but did go to the entrance and walked in a little's ways. I had no flashlights so we could not go any further. There also was a natural rock bridge but it was closed off due to trail damage. It was a nice park and I look forward to return for a cave hike, maybe.

Lost trail and got dark - unforgettable experience Today, me and my wife been to The park. We drove 2hrs, so by the time we got there it is 4:30pm. Unfortunate things is GPS landed us to a parking lot which is not the MAIN one. We started our trecking with unknown trail which MERGED to RED trail. At The MERGE we met group of 3, who suggested us to go to bridge direction instead of going to the other way where we have to cross a 'small water flow'. We continued our red trail slowly, by taking pictures. Finally at 6pm(sunset) we reached the MAIN parking lot and realized this is not the one. While looking at the map to our parking lot, we talked to a couple. Then as it is getting dark he offered us to drop at our parking lot. We refused his help, as the decision was spontaneos. After 15 minutes we realized that was a bad decision as it got dark suddenly. Now The twist: We assumed the red trail is straight forward but at one point the trail devided to red and red+black. We got confused and took the red+black path then came back and chose the Just RED trail As Google images helped us in figuring out that black trail seems to be way long. At that time it was way dark and we were on cell flash light. We continued the red trail. We continued 20 minutes then stuck at the 'small water flow'. Finally by remembering the conversation with the group of 3, we crossed it. Then with small confusion, continued to red trail again, in the middle we didnt find the red dots, still continued like 20 more minutes in the dark. sounds from squirrels were very scary and We dont know what animals/snakes might harm us. Finally we have been to the spot where we started our red trail in the begining, but as it is very dark it was hard to identify the Merging point. Still we followed our instinct and left the red trail, and climbed up almost 15 mintues. Still haven't reached our parking lot. It was very stressful because the red dots were no more and we are just following our instincts assuming it was right. We dont even know whether we are in some unknown route that puts us to a loop. Finally we reached our parking lot!!!!!!! Thank god!!!!! Realized it was a big blunder to continue trecking in the dark by refusing a volunteer help to drop off!!!!!

When I'm away at school (like right now), I dream about Rock Bridge Park. Half the park consists of 15 miles of well marked trails that range through forest, grassland, and creek, and the other half is much wilder with chances to look at the view from a blufftop or to feel like civilization is about 100 miles away. The cave is worth a visit with the kids, and if you're into mountian biking, there's terrain for all here. Definitely give this place a look (or two or five or lots)!

This was a great location for a day trip. The access to the cave was amazing and the trails were very well maintained. We hiked the spring brook, Devils Ice box, and rock bridge trails. The trails were well shaded and beautiful.

It's a beautiful place, lots of different trails. My only hiccup is there is a real possibility to get turned around on at least one of the trails as the marking becomes foggy. I will be back for sure thou. Lots to explore.

Coming back with some spelunking gear next time! We walked to the Devil's Icebox entrance with our dogs. There are no dog poop bags so bring your own!

Really pretty hike, large boardwalk trail and opportunities to get close up to caves! The Devil's Icebox was closed for bat hibernation when I went. :(

A very cool way to be in nature. I do not personally feel like you have to be in excellent shape to walk this trail, however I do not recommend taking someone who has a hard time walking stairs or long distances. The cave was very cool you can walk through it on your own or in a tour. I recommend this for anyone who likes nature and burning calories.

Beautiful Place. I proposed to my wife (now 10 years married) here in college. The kids love it too!

We haven't been to Devil's Ice box yet, but instead went on a short hike on Karst trail. The trail was clearly marked and well maintained, although a bit narrow in some of the woodland sections. About half the trail is in the sunlight through meadows, and the other half in the woodland. There are two small lakes you pass by. I think this is the norm for Missouri in the summer, but we picked off 10+ ticks. We took along our 10-month old and he had a blast.

This is a fantastic state park. It has a great walking tour where you can see local caves, and a lot of local wildlife. There are also areas for picnicing if you want to make a day of it!