We report here on several segments of the Katy trail state park in Missouri. Our overall trip was a
mixed one (two weddings, a visit with family and a vacation for us) so we couldn't focus on the
trail as much as we would have liked. We rode four segments of the trail as "out and back" day
trips. The trail is old rail bed that runs part of the time in the Missouri river flood plain. It is
225 miles long and about 8 feet wide, making me suspect it is the skinniest park ever.
The first segment started in Defiance, MO. This is a tiny town with a large bike rental place. We
rode 20 miles total in an out and back from there. We went west because of advice that the scenery
was better to the west. The trail was very flat and traveled along the edges of soybean fields where
we were often shaded by trees. The trail is very smooth and composed of fine white gravel, possibly
the local limestone. The worst trail hazzards were the occasional clusters of black walnuts lying on
the trail.
That night we camped at Hermann, MO. We had to drive across the Missouri river on a bridge that
is not suitable for bicycling. It is just wide enough for two trucks to pass by each other. The
camp ground, which is part of the city park, was nice, showers and nice grass for the tent for
$10 per night.
The next day we started in Rhineland, MO. This is another tiny town. We rode another "out and back"
for a total ride of about 26 miles. Then we drove on to find a camp site in Hartsburg. The
campground here is the city park and we decided to move on to a more formal campground. While there
we ran into Gary Creason, the operator of a Katy trail shuttle service. He advised us to be sure to
see the stretch between Rocheport and McBaine. With this information we drove on to Franklin (next
to New Franklin) and camped at the Katy Roundhouse. This served our interests well. We took a short
ride after setting up our camp, to give us a total for the day of 32 miles, to the one place the
trail crosses the Missouri river. We were disappointed to cross on the highway bridge rather than
the old rail trestle. The camp ground is set up to accommodate bicycle tourists with bike racks
sprinkled around the tent grounds.
Our last day took us from New Franklin, MO to McBaine, MO and back for 38 miles. The ride included
the recommended scenic segment and a 50 yard long tunnel. Midway on the ride we came to Rocheport.
This is another small (but not tiny) town that boasts "The Cracked Crab" restaurant. It is a very
nice looking place and seemed out of place (how far is the Chesapeake?).
All the sections of the trail we rode were quite nice. There were occasional warnings about "rough
surface" that made us laugh after all the trail insults we've endured here in the last year. The
most amusing warning came in the form of cautions about ">5% grade." On the two such spots we
encountered (the river bridge didn't count). I was looking forward to a nice brisk climb, but the
longest such challenge was all of 5 yards long. I think this would be essential information for a
wheelchair bound trail user. We had quite a few non-biting flies on the first day and saw two nice
large black snakes on the last (stretched half way across the trail).
We now want to go back and ride the whole thing, probably in the fall. Now we must decided on using
Amtrak, Mr. Creason's shuttle service or roping a family member into providing shuttle service to
connect us with our car once done. Gary Creason told us that his was the only shuttle service to
survive the aftermath of the 9/11/02 bombing. It seems that most of his clients were from overseas.
Many Americans do just what we were doing, "out and back" rides.
Mr. Creason can be reached at 1-573-694-2027 and gives a URL of www.katytrailstatepark.com
Tom Gibb <[email hidden]