We recently completed the Katy Trail in Missouri and wanted to pass on a quick review of the trip. We started in downtown St. Louis and ended in Lenexa, Kansas in the greater Kansas City region.
Day 1: St. Louis—>St. Charles: From downtown St. Louis you can catch the Riverfront Trail at the Gateway Arch and ride it north to Chain of Rocks Bridge. Cross the bridge into Illinois, which is also part of the ACA’s Route 66 route and is pedestrian only, and take the Madison County Train Confluence Trail (MCT) to the town of Alton. At Alton cross the river back into Missouri on the Clark Bridge aka US-67 (bicycle lane). Once in Missouri turn right onto St. Charles St and then right onto MO-94 when the road ends. Fairly busy road but has a sufficient shoulder. (You can also turn left onto Dwiggins Road off of MO-94 and ride this quiet two-lane country road for a few miles until it ends at MO-94). From there turn left onto Machens Rd to access the eastern terminus of Katy Trail State Park. Go around the cable and take a left on the gravel road as soon as you cross the RR tracks and the trailhead will be around the bend. We camped at an AirBnB a few miles east of St. Charles. It was $20 and we has access to the house including showers and bacon/eggs for breakfast but one of the homeowners dogs ate part of my bicycle shoes when I wasn’t paying attention.
Day 2: St Charles—>Marthasville: Take the time to explore the historic downtown area of St. Charles, the original capital of Missouri. Cute town. There’s a Wal*Mart in town if you need supplies. We camped at the baseball fields in Marthasville for $5. Access to showers and bathrooms all night. Huge covered area in the event of rain. We were woken up at 4am to tornado sirens and had to scramble to get the tent taken down before it blew away. This wasn’t in the forecast but memories were made! (Me in my boxers trying to pack up as a torrential downpour slammed the area). There’s a convenience store near the baseball fields and a Dollar General a short walk away. A lot of long stretches on this day without shade so FYI if it’s hot out. Along the way you should take the short 1/4 mile detour to see the original burial site of Daniel Boone.
Day 3: Marthasville—>Jefferson City: Only a single trailhead in 31 miles, at McKittrick. If you take the spur here to Hermann there’s a local grocery store a few hundred feet down the highway. Not much else to see. You can camp at the Noren River Access in North Jefferson for $5 but no showers and I hear it’s where all the teens hangout and cause trouble at night. I opted for a campground 13 miles south of Jefferson City that is owned by a friend of a friend so they picked me up at the Wal*Mart in town and dropped me back off in the morning. JC has a lot of cool stuff including the old Missouri State Penn which has a museum etc. We didn’t visit since it was Sunday.
Day 4: Jefferson City—>Boonville: Rain all day so we didn’t stop much. Hartsburg has a bakery that sells amazing cinnamon rolls though. We were suppose to camp in New Franklin at Katy Roundhouse but because of the rain we opted for a $60 hotel (Days Inn) a few miles off the trail in Boonville. Town has all services needed. There’s a Casey’s in New Franklin just off trail. It’s my favorite place while on tour. Best donuts and coffee IMO.
Day 5: Boonville—>Windsor: Camped at Katy Rock Junction in Windsor. $15 and access to showers/bike storage garage. Literally right off the trail. Windsor isn’t big but it does have a few stores and restaurants. Boonville and Sedalia both have depots with museums and gift shops inside. Sedalia is a big town and you can also camp at the fairgrounds in town but the fair was going on when we passed through and it’s crazy expensive to camp during the fair. $70 is what we were told.
Day 6: Windsor—>Clinton: Met another cyclist and decided to have a short day to the end of the Katy Trail. You can camp for free at the Clinton Community Center. Access to showers and bathrooms from 5am to 9pm. Free coffee in the morning. It’s in a quiet part of town and they have a big covered area with picnic tables next to the camp area. 24 hour restrooms located near playground but the showers are inside and only accessible during open hours. Big town so has all the services you need.
Day 7: Clinton—>Lees Summit: We took Highway 13 to the junction of the Rock Island Spur 15 miles north at Post Oak. Busy road but has a sufficient shoulder. The tiny town of Chillhowee has a store that’s open every day except Sunday. Free camping at the town park there but no bathrooms or water so we passed and kept going. Pleasant Hill has all services. From here you can catch the MoPac Trail and a few local roads to Lees Summit, home of Longview Lake where we camped for the night. It was $32 for an electric site, on a few dollars more than a primitive site. Showers etc. You can also hop on and off of the Rock Island Spur but it’s patchy after Pleasant Hill so we opted for the more direct road route.
Day 8: Lees Summit—>Lenexa: You can catch the Trolley Trail and take that to the Indian Creek Greenway which will take you into Kansas. I ended here because I have a rule that I have to enter and exit a state fully to make it count. It was a short day. About a mile from the end I hit some mud at a stop light and fell over on my bike.
All together I did 411 miles. I rode with 32 GatorSkin Hardshells and didn’t have any flats. I would probably use my 28s if I did it again. The trail can be soft in spots after a rain though and bumpy when crossing driveways from washouts. Some blowdown after storms is almost a guarantee as well. The state is usually pretty quick about clearing these though.
I can’t say I was too impressed with the Katy Trail and not sure I’d do it again but it’s only of those trails I feel like everyone should do at least once.
If you have any questions etc feel free to ask. I tried to keep it down to a summary so I left out a lot of info.
