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| The Gateway Arch and St. Louis skyline from Malcom Martin Memorial Park Trail at Gateway Arch National Park. |
Formerly known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, the St. Louis, Missouri, site became America's 60th national park in February 2018.
Just three short trails will allow you to enjoy each of the park’s highlights – the historic Gateway Arch and Old Courthouse, the Mississippi River, and great views of the arch and downtown skyline.
Historic Gateway Arch and Old Courthouse
The urban Gateway Arch Trail allows travelers to explore Westward Expansion of the United States. Running about a mile in length, the trail takes you around and to the top of the 630-foot high Gateway Arch, let’s you learn about how Thomas Jefferson and pioneers shaped the West’s history at the new Museum at the Gateway Arch, and offers a tour of the Old Courthouse where slave Dred Scott sued to gain his freedom. Among the best spots to begin the hike is the Riverboat/Arch Bus Drop-Off. This allows you to start on the arch’s east side with the Mississippi River behind you, so that you enter St. Louis and the West just as so many pioneers and settlers did.
Mississippi River views
A nearly mile-long riverfront trail runs along the Mississippi River from one end of the park to the other on the St. Louis side. The confluence of the Missouri River with the Mississippi River just north of the city marks the northern point of the “middle Mississippi,” which runs 190 miles south to the Ohio River confluence. Unlike the Mississippi River to the north, the middle section is fairly free flowing. Pick up the trail from the bottom of the Grand Staircase on the Gateway Arch’s east side.
Views of Gateway Arch
Without a doubt, the best view of the arch and at night of the St. Louis skyline is across the Mississippi River at the former Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park. The part of the national park in East St. Louis, Ill., features the impressive Gateway Geyser (which can shoot water into the air as high as the Gateway Arch at 63 stories) and the five-story Mississippi River Observation Deck. To reach the park, from St. Louis drive the Eads Street Bridge across the river then go left on Riverpark Drive, left onto South Front Street, then left onto West Trembley Avenue to the parking lot. The 0.55-mile Malcolm Martin Memorial Park Trail circles the park’s greens.
