Rollover and click points of interest on the map and the sidebar to reveal more information.
- Nature Areas
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PGT Center & Gardens
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Beaver Lake
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Lotus Ponds
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Dogleg Prairie
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The Savanna
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The Point
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Hillers Creek
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- Trails
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Main Loop Trail
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Beaver Lake Trail
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Hillers Creek Trail
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Download detailed PGT map
Just south of the PGT Center, the trail meanders past native grasses and flowers and into the edge of woods with oak, maple, hickory, dogwood and more.
A high bluff ridge stands like a peninsula where Hillers Creek winds around it far below. The Point is the end of that sandstone-capped ridge.
As you walk east from the PGT center, you pass through open woods and look towards Beaver Lake...
The PGT visitor center offers a place to pause and see what’s blooming in the nearby gardens before you stroll farther afield.
On the upland above Hillers Creek, oak and hickory trees grow scattered on the grass and sedge-covered area we call “The Savanna.”
Hillers Creek flows past moss and fern-covered bluffs and lush bottomland woods.
Imagine yourself in the lowlands of southeast Missouri, where the exotic-looking white flowers of American lotus and water lilies bloom.
distance: 1.3 miles
difficulty: Easy
This mowed path covers a great mix of areas on the PGT. if you head west from the PGT Center first, you'll walk down past a pond on your way to the Savanna, then wind along the Dogleg Prairie at the edge of woods, pass the Lotus Ponds, then Beaver Lake and back to the parking area and the PGT Center & Gardens. The main elevation change in the trail is the path down to the small farm pond and back up to the prairie. For a shorter stroll, you can head east to Beaver Lake first, then visit the Lotus Ponds and pause at a viewing platform there before heading back to the PGT Center.
distance: 1.1 miles from PGT Center; .7 mile from the Savanna.
difficulty: Intermediate
The trail from the Savanna goes across the ridge that leads to the Point and then descends gradually to Hillers Creek. It's a bit uneven across the ridge, but not especially difficult or steep anywhere. It takes about 20 minutes to walk from the PGT Center to Hillers Creek. If you want to feel you're in the Ozarks, this is the trail to take.
distance: .3 mile from PGT center parking
difficulty: Easy
Stroll through open woods, and on a mowed path past prairie and around the edge of Beaver Lake.
From lichen-covered bluffs at the edge of the Savanna, you can look out over Hillers Creek valley or to interesting rocky outcrops nearby.
The large blossoms of American lotus (Nelumbo lutea) open summer mornings and close late in the day. Beaver and muskrat eat their thick, fleshy roots. While these are native to the southeastern U.S., they can be invasive. (They've crossed the divide into a water lily pond and are rapidly spreading across it.)
You can see Beaver Lake from several viewpoints: from the woods across the prairie, or down along the trail overlooking a rich bloom of early July flowers as this picture shows.
The Point stands high above Hillers Creek, covered with lichen, moss and oak trees.
Bluffs tower over the creek while pawpaw trees line the path on the other side. The Devonian coral reel is a just a little further down the creek southeast of here.
Moss-covered rocks rise up from one of the deeper pools on Hillers Creek. This is a along a path through what we call "Butternut Bottoms," which is named for the increasingly rare butternut trees found there.