L&C; St. Louis, MO to Hartford, IL

[malbec]

Hallo there!
Next year I hopefully will be doing the Lewis and Clark bike trail up to Great Falls, MT starting in Hartford, IL. However, first I'll have to get there from downtown St. Louis (I don't know yet which hotel I'll be staying at). From Google-maps I take it that the most direct route is via N Broadway, McKinley Bridge, Cedar St, Lewis and Clark Blvd.
 
Is this route a good choice or a horror trip traffic-wise?
 
Thanks a lot for advices.
 
Karl

[JHamelman]

Hi Karl,

Since you will be joining the Katy Trail in Hartford, I recommend taking a look at the routing found on this Katy Trail resource page:

http://www.bikekatytrail.com/katy-trail-to-downtown.aspx

Best,
.Jennifer.

[malbec]

Thank you, Jennifer,

that link indeed shows a lot of possibilities.

Greetings
Karl

[Blackbear]

If you are staying in Downtown St. Louis, the Katy does not go to Downtown St. Louis as Jennifer suggests.  She is probably thinking about Downtown St. Charles.  You can go to Hartford, IL from Downtown St. Louis by taking the Mississippi riverfront trail north out of Downtown St. Louis to the Chain of Rocks Bridge and then take the Bike Trail to the Lewis & Clark Museum in Hartford,Il.  Blackbear

[JHamelman]

If you are staying in Downtown St. Louis, the Katy does not go to Downtown St. Louis as Jennifer suggests.  She is probably thinking about Downtown St. Charles.  You can go to Hartford, IL from Downtown St. Louis by taking the Mississippi riverfront trail north out of Downtown St. Louis to the Chain of Rocks Bridge and then take the Bike Trail to the Lewis & Clark Museum in Hartford,Il.  Blackbear

The link I posted is a route connecting downtown St. Louis to the Katy Trail.

.Jennifer.

[habanero]

The Katy Trail is now complete all the way to Machens, MO.  This is the start/end of the trail.  From St. Louis, you would take the Mississippi Rive trail up to Alton, IL.  Go over the Alton bridge and maneuver your way to the start of the Katy trail.  This will save you several miles and eliminate taking the Brussels and Golden Eagle ferries.   I did the L&C tour self supported in 2004.  If you have any questions, I'd be glad to help.  Also, I live close to St. Louis. 

[Blackbear]

Sorry, Jennifer, you're right about the Machens route.  Mea Culpa!

[JHamelman]

Sorry, Jennifer, you're right about the Machens route.  Mea Culpa!

No worries, I just wanted to make sure the original poster knew my intention. I appreciate your participation in the conversation. 

.Jennifer.

[malbec]

Thanks a lot for the good advices.

Two more things:
1. In a German newspaper I read an article on Williston, North Dakota, that wasn't exactly an encouragement to visit this place.  However, lookin at the map and following the route as suggested in section 3 of the ACA L&C map there seems to be no way to bypass Williston. Is that so or is there some alternative route?

2. I have always wanted very much to do a train-trip in the USA and now the L&C trail gives me the chance to do this. Since the finishing point of my journey is Pittsburgh, PA, I would like to take Amtrak's "Empire Builder" to Chicago and from there head to Pittsburgh. The most convenient places for me to get aboard would be either Havre, Malta or Glasgow, all Montana. Can anybody suggest, which of these places is the most pleasant (town, surrounding, campgrounds)?

Again I would be grateful for advices, thank you.

Karl

[JHamelman]

Hello Karl,

1. In a German newspaper I read an article on Williston, North Dakota, that wasn't exactly an encouragement to visit this place.  However, lookin at the map and following the route as suggested in section 3 of the ACA L&C map there seems to be no way to bypass Williston. Is that so or is there some alternative route?

Yes, there is an alternative route. The article you saw in the German paper must have been a shortened version of the following article: http://bit.ly/GY57cJ

For more information about the reroute, please see this recent blog post: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2012/02/big-route-changes-in-north-dakota.html

I hope this helps though unfortunately, I don' t have an answer to your train question. Hopefully someone else will chime in with one.

.Jennifer.

[adventurepdx]

2. I have always wanted very much to do a train-trip in the USA and now the L&C trail gives me the chance to do this. Since the finishing point of my journey is Pittsburgh, PA, I would like to take Amtrak's "Empire Builder" to Chicago and from there head to Pittsburgh. The most convenient places for me to get aboard would be either Havre, Malta or Glasgow, all Montana. Can anybody suggest, which of these places is the most pleasant (town, surrounding, campgrounds)?

The bigger issue is not whether one town is more pleasant than the other, but where you can get on with a bike. Havre is the only one of those three stations that has baggage service, so if you are bringing a bike on board, that's going to be your only option. You'll also need to box your bike. (If you have a folding bike, you can board at any station, baggage service or not.)

Havre is the largest town on the Hi-Line in Montana, so it would most likely have the most services and options.

[malbec]

The article you saw in the German paper must have been a shortened version of the following article: http://bit.ly/GY57cJ

Not quite, it dealt more with the impacts of this oil-drilling-craze on the environment and deteriorating life quality of the local residents and farmers. But http://bit.ly/GY57cJ surely helped to decide doing the suggested new route.

Havre is the only one of those three stations that has baggage service

Thank goodness you wrote this, otherwise I would have waited at Glasgow station, ticket in my pocket and then been not allowed to take the bike on board (it's not a folding bike). Not funny. After reading your post I checked the Amtrak-site and it says indeed that Havre is the only station with all the services, including even the sale of bike-boxes.

The only thing open to decision is now whether to take the route from Glendive MT to Havre via Glasgow and Malta (mostly Hwy 2) or from Glendive MT to Lewistown MT (Hwy 200) and from there somehow north to Havre.
Does anyone have an idea which route is more interesting? I fear nothing but too many trucks on the road and no bike lanes or shoulders.

Thanks again for all the help
Karl