Living in the Scoot Utopia

This post is a final reminder of the free wilderness hike I am leading this Saturday at Monkey Mountain Nature Preserve in Grain Valley. It begins at 10am and should last about 2 to 2-1/2 hours. It will cover a distance of about 5 miles.

(If you're not familiar with the area, Grain Valley is KC's easternmost suburb... just east of Blue Springs on I-70.)

The hike is free and while moderately challenging, isn't too difficult. This is a beautiful natural area and the weather on Saturday is expected to be nearly perfect. This week's rain does mean there will be some muddy spots, but it also means the intermittent waterfall in the park should be flowing nicely.

I'm expecting a small turnout on this hike as many people seem to be afraid of nature, so if you're interested please sign up!

All of the details and the sign-up form are found here: http://www.kctourwalk.com/walk4.html

Wondering where the park got its name? So does everyone! This area has gone by that name for over a hundred years and no one knows why. A few years ago the Examiner looked at the question:

Local historians in Grain Valley and Oak Grove chuckle when reciting the legend of a circus train wreck about 100 years ago that resulted in a band of monkeys taking refuge in the trees on the hill.

"That¹s the prevailing story I got from the older people I talked to years ago," said Ken Reeder of Grain Valley. "The prevailing story was the circus train, but after talking about it, people used to grin and say, 'That¹s where the kids used to go to monkey around.'"

...

Archivists are stumped. They can¹t produce any documentation of a train wreck, and they say if there was a train wreck in Grain Valley, it would have made the newspapers.

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