Today’s Parks Pick-Me-Up is Valley Water Mill Park, a great mini get-away on the northeast edge of Springfield. The park is a microcosm of Ozarks topography, with woods, glades, bluffs, sinkholes and streams, all encircling a beautiful 13-acre lake. Check out the 1.5-mile hiking trail, or bring a fishing pole for the accessible fishing piers and boardwalk. Valley Water Mill Park is also home to Watershed Committee of the Ozarks. Open daily dawn to dusk at 2450 E Valley Water Mill Road. Please practice social distancing in parks and on trails!