Rock Island Trail Forum

Ray (webmaster) on 11/11/2005 6:56:30 AM:

I received the following note regarding a potential danger along the trail. I have not had a chance to check it out myself, but have notified the MO Department of Natural Resources. I thought I'd post it here to let people know to be cautious. Thanks to Brian B. for passing this info along.

I wanted to report a dangerous condition on the trail just south of the new Page Avenue bridge. My 4 year-old son and I were riding there last weekend when we approached a section just past a subdivision about a mile South from the Page bridge. There was a steep drop off close to the trail on the West side that went almost straight down about 20-30 feet. My son was riding right in front of me when the big drop off and stream below caught his eye. As he looked down at the drop off he naturally started to steer in the same direction and in a split second he rode off the side of the main trail and was heading for the edge of the drop off which was only about 10 feet or less from the side of the main trail. Luckily, he fell off the bike about half way to the edge and was unhurt. His bike continued on and stopped at the precipice of the drop off. Needless to say, this scared the heck out of me and I wanted to report it to someone in an attempt to prevent anyone from experiencing the same thing (or worse!) in the future. It really showed me how quick things can go bad with an unprotected drop off so close to the trail. I am wondering if it is possible to put up some sort of protection in this area - it was one of the biggest and steepest drop-offs I saw on the trail. If there is anyone else I should alert, please let me know.

Reply to Hazard in St Charles south of Page Bridge