Finger Lakes State Park - north of Columbia, MO - State/Provincial Parks on Waymarking.com

Finger Lakes State Park is north of Columbia mo off of route 63 and has something for almost everyone! Off road vehicle trails, water trails, mountain bike trails, camping and more.
"Most people think of a state park as a quiet retreat: a place to enjoy natural landscapes of wildflowers, rolling hills and running streams. However, some of the state park landscapes are man-made, creating unique recreational playgrounds. Finger Lakes State Park falls in this category.

The 1,128-acre park was once the site of a coal strip-mining operation. Between June 1964 and October 1967, the Peabody Coal Co. removed more than 1.2 million tons of coal from the Boone County site, known as Mark Twain Mine, leaving barren piles of earth and numerous pits of water. Shortly after mining operations ceased, Peabody replanted and reseeded much of the mined acreage and stocked several fishing lakes. The rugged terrain created by the mining, however, was not altered.

Shortly after the passage of modern land reclamation laws in 1972, the U.S. Department of Interior began searching for strip-mined sites abandoned prior to the laws on which to conduct reclamation-for-recreation projects. In May 1974, Peabody representatives donated 1,028 acres to the state park system. That same month, the state received one of only a dozen federal grants to demonstrate the use of strip-mined land for recreational use." (visit link)

Park Type: day and overnight Activities: ORV Trails, water Trails, MTB trails, camping and more. Background: Reclaimed Coal strip mine. Date Established?: 1972 Link to Park: [Web Link] Park Fees: Not listed Additional Entrance Points: Not Listed

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