Katy Trail Forum

The DNR is listing the section from Mokane to Rocheport (MM 125-180) as temporarily closed due to flooding today. Can anyone confirm this? Is it really that bad for 55 miles?

In their section about flood closures, they give you a link to water level gauges, and they also have a couple of tables what part of the trail floods at what levels. You can look and see if maybe you can narrow down what segment is flooded.

Frank, we’ll of course it is not the entire length of that section but if you are happily biking along and come to a stretch that is under water your choices will be to turn around or take your chances. Smart people will turn around. That being said, you can probably expect flooding on the trail around Rocheport, McBaine, Easley, Hartsburg, Claysville, Mokane, and Portland. In addition, Highway 94 will probably flood around Mokane and Portland so that pretty much makes biking along that section impossible until the flooding recedes and the trail is repaired.

I'm riding the length of the trail starting on Sunday , Any one have any information on transportation to my next lodging should I not be able to ride through a section because of flooding ? Any shuttles out there that will get you to your next stop if needed?

Diana, the easiest way for you find out would be to use the Trip Planner above and filer by shuttles. That will generate a list of shuttle providers by location.

First of all my heart goes out to those affected by last nights tornado in Jefferson Cty, & hope all those on the trail the last few days are safe.
For those not keeping an eagle eye on the gauges, here's the latest from today 5/23:
Boonville Peak: 32 ft. 5/23-24 10ft above flood stage
St. Charles Peak: 35.3 ft 5/25-26 10.3 ft above flood stage
Before heading out, seems to me it would be wise to heed Gary's assessment & contact sources for what this all means locally.
Be wise & safe all!

Kind of a tangent on Diana's question, but on Monday, the wife and I are planning to ride west from Green Ridge or Clifton using a series of out and backs. Curious whether Uber is a viable option should we encounter inclement whether and need a ride back to our starting point?

Trying to leave Jefferson City and wondering if anything east of MM 100 is in a good condition to ride. The Clinton water level looks concerning however im not sure if that will affect the Trail. Thanks!

Woke this morning in Rocheport, and drove (yes, drove to Columbia). We got on the MKT trail (Columbia's fitness trail) and rode to Hindman Junction. Parts of the MKT are flooded, but there are easy detours near the water treatment plant. No indications of closures at Hindman, and we rode towards Rocheport. Trail was blocked at Route K (Burr Oak Road). Turned around and did well heading towards Hartsburg. At McBane there was water over Route K, but no barriers. A little water over the trail but not much. We made it as far as Little Bonne Femme Creek just outside of Cooper's Landing before we ran into water again. Water was up to the bottom of the deck on the bridge. Cooper's is pretty well flooded as of now. Hoping they can make a quick comeback. Returning the water had risen significantly, and we were wading through a couple of feet of water to get back to McBane. No current, but it had risen significantly in the short time it took us to go to Cooper's and back, with a hike up to Eagle's Bluff. So yes, the closures are real, and likely going to get worse. Be careful, the water is still rising in some areas, and it would not take too much carelessness to get stranded. We were lucky.

Diana, which direction are you going? We're headed out Sunday as well to do the entirety of the trail.

Diana & Jake: We are starting from Sedalia on Wednesday morning, riding to St. Charles. Please post here as often as possible to keep us informed about trail conditions. That would be a great help to me and the twenty students I'm leading on the trail. Thank you!

My dad and I set out yesterday to ride from St.Charles to Pilot Grove, hoping to finish in 3 days. At Klondike Park the trail was closed until Augusta due to trees being down from the recent tornado. We had to detour on 94 hwy-which was treacherous, very hilly and curvy with no shoulder. We were able to get back on the trail at Augusta and ride until McKittrick where we stayed for the night. We did have to walk through water at MM 94. It was shallow and we could see the trail, but the water was still rising. We didn’t attempt to go past McKittick as the trail was closed at Portland for a small section but then closed about 10 miles past that until getting to Boonville. We aren’t local to the area and the only detour we could see from a map was riding on 50 hwy. We didn’t feel comfortable doing that as we were pulling a trailer and are new to bike riding. I hope everyone in the trail this weekend stays safe! P.S. We are hoping to attempt our 3 day trek again in the fall. Hopefully the weather will be more cooperative. Happy Trails!

Add Jefferson City to the list of flooded areas (today 5/25/2019). We drove into Jeff this morning and Hwy 94 is covered with about 3 inches of water just east of Jeff and the trail next to the Hwy is closed.

Wow. Sorry to hear about all the towns that are affected by the flooding. We started today on a trip to complete the whole trail from west to east. We should be getting into the flooded area tomorrow (new franklin area). Are there any detours? Any ways to get around the closed area? We’re suppose to stay in Rocheport tomorrow night. I’m guessing that is going to be impossible? Any locals have updates?

I "rode" (climbed, crawled and swam!) Weldon Springs to Bluffington. Had to take 94 twice due to out bridges from before Defiance, then again from before Matson Hill and Agusta. The trail was perfect again until I got to Treloir. I waded through water a dozen times until Case. Some was ankle deep, but much was to my thighs and there was a lot of floating debris. The trail was good again until Bluffington. I didn't go further as I was exausted! I got someone to take me back to Weldon.

Is it possible to ride along Highway 94 as an alternative to the Katy trail? Has anyone ever ridden the Lewis and Clark bicycle trail from booneville to Jefferson City? Trying to find an alternate route and don’t know if this is possible and safe. Thanks.

We had to briefly ride on 94 highway on Thursday. It had no shoulder and was very hilly and curvy...the section we rode anyway. 94 was flooded in places between St.Charles and McKittrick.

On Saturday Hwy 94 is closed at Jefferson City; it's underwater.

I would not recommend riding Hwy 94. Way too trafficky for my taste.

This website offers a Google search of the entire website, but unfortunately Google is not always great about indexing Forum discussions.

So to make it a little easier to find Forum discussions on specific topics, I built a Forum Search feature. Near the top of the Forum page, under the "Start a new Discussion" button, you'll see a link to the Forum search.

This is still under development, but hopefully will prove useful.

Hermann South was a great place to stay. Clean, great food and gracious hosts.

Had a GREAT weekend with friends here recently! The house is comfortable, clean, and beautiful!! The host is amazing! The breakfasts were incredible! Will definitely recommend to friends and family! Thank you so much Kathy!!!

Kathy was a great hostess. The rooms were super clean and the breakfast was the best!!! Healthy and delicious.

As mentioned in a separate thread, the trail map now features trail mile marker numbers, i.e. the mile numbers appearing on the signs along the trail.

For example, here's a link to a map centered at Portland, with mile marker numbers every mile.

Previously the map would show distance markers from wherever the map was centered. But now you also have the option to see the mile marker numbers, corresponding to the mile marker signs on the trail.

If the map gets too crowded with all those mile markers on it, you can click edit settings and change Show markers every to a larger number.

You can also use edit settings to select whether you see distance markers, or the trail mile marker numbers.

Rock Island mile markers will come later.

Happy trails!

That’s pretty cool, Ray! It’ll help orient during trips and adds a nostalgia factor, too. The UI is easy and I like how you made everything user-selectable. As always, great work maintaining & improving this fantastic website!!

I can not find a map which shows the Mile Markers that are used to disclose trail closures. For instance: There is a potential closure between MM (mile marker) 117 & 118 east of Portland, but how the bleep do I find that specific segment on a map?
Thanx in advance,
John D.

I'm sorry to say that there is not currently a map showing the mile markers.

But I understand how useful this would be, so I will build that feature. It may take several days, so unfortunately that won't help you right now. But it's in the works and I'll post something here when it's ready.

In the meantime, here's what to do:

1. Go to the Towns and Services page.

2. The fourth column tells you the mile marker number at each town, for example Portland is mile 115.9.

3. Go to the Katy Trail Map page.

4. Right under the map, you'll see "Center Map at" - select Portland from this list.

5. Below that, you'll see "Show mile markers every" - select 1 mile and click Update Map.

6. Now you see the distance measurements from Portland. Since you know Portland is at mile marker 115.9, you know the 117-118 closure is between roughly 1 to 2 miles west of Portland (note that 117-118 is west of Portland, not east).

So again, sorry that you currently have to go through the above steps to see this info on a map, but I will get a "Mile Marker" feature added to the map ASAP.

John D, in the mean time.....the Park Maps on the Missouri State Parks website, Katy Trail, has the mile marker number next to each town name.

This will be a great addition to our site. Thanks Ray.

The map now features trail mile marker numbers.

For starters, here's a link to Portland, with mile marker numbers every mile.

If the map gets too crowded with all those mile markers on it, you can click edit settings and change Show markers every to a larger number.

I'll add a separate discussion about this to the forum, but wanted to be sure to mention it in this thread.

Happy trails!

I have to agree with the comment above. In the old design of the website, you could change from west/east to east/west with a click, and you could center it on a town with a click, too. I can't figure out how to do that now. Also, the town pages were more helpful. I kind of like the old format better, especially the mileage chart.

Excellent job with the mile markers on the trail map Ray. I give it two thumbs up and I’ll through in a couple of big toes also.

Alright Ray,
I appreciate the info.
Thanx

Hopefully heading to Rocheport this Sunday to ride to Boonville and experience a portion of the trail for the first time.
Any suggestions? Things to look for, look out for?
Hows the trail for that stretch when it comes to flooding?

You likely won't be able to bike on the Trail into Rocheport. The Trail tends to flood just west of the tunnel - the DNR site reports the Trail is closed from Mokane to MM180 - as I recall, the trailhead at Rocheport is MM179. It has been in the news this week that there were sandbagging at the Trail to keep the floodwaters from flooding Rocheport. You may do better biking the other direction from Boonville and heading to Pilat Grove - it is up and away from the river.

https://mostateparks.com/advisory/80026/current-flooding-conditions-and-alerts-–-katy-trail-state-park

Yesterday, we attempted to ride from Boonville to Rocheport and back, Four miles from Boonville the trail is closed in East Franklin due to flooding. Doubt it will be open by tomorrow.

Stayed at Katy Junction in Pilot Grove on our trip this past week. Neat, clean place, comfortable beds, good bike storage. Cafe in town was closed the night we came through, we had made arrangements for Jerry to fix dinner for us, and it was delicious (as was breakfast the next morning). Jerry went out of his way to accommodate any request. Should be more places like this along the trail.

Sorry to hear about all the flooding and tornado destruction. We were so fortunate to miss all the problems.

I also stayed at the Katy Junction b&b in Pilot Grove recently. Jerry was able to provide a great meal working around my dietary issues. He was so accommodating!

We are planning to walk the Katy Trail in October. We can only walk about 20 miles a day. We have not been able to find any lodging between Rocheport and Hartsburg which is 25 miles. Any suggestions on lodging or another way to get around this problem?

There are camping options in between Rocheport-Hartsburg. But assuming you aren't carrying camping gear, here's one idea:

- Rocheport to the MKT trail (around McBaine) is about 9 miles, and the 9-mile-long MKT trail takes you into Columbia, which is a good-sized city with tons of hotels. Total about 18 miles, plus any extra distance to your Columbia hotel.

- Columbia back to Katy Trail and on to Hartsburg would be about 25 miles (9 miles on MKT + about 16 miles on KT).... longer than your 20-mile limit. BUT you might be able to find a place to stay in Columbia that will give you a ride to the McBaine trailhead. Especially if you try B&Bs, they are often willing to do stuff like that. I know nothing about B&Bs in Columbia, but just throwing out ideas, probably worth making a few phone calls to see if any would be willing to provide this drive to their guests.

Columbia: https://bikekatytrail.com/columbia.aspx

MKT Trail: https://www.como.gov/parksandrec/trail/mkt-nature-and-fitness-trail

Good luck and happy trails!

If you are staying somewhere in Hartsburg you might ask them if they would pick you up at Coopers Landing in Easley and then take you back there the next morning. I would expect a fee but you never know - there are a lot of generous folks on the Katy.

Leaving on Mat 22 from Pilot Grove heading to St Charles.
Will we run into closures on this route. If so who do you call to find out more information.

May

The rockslide between MM118 and MM117 still has the trail closed there. I doubt it will be cleared before your ride. The detour is an easy one though.

Hey Jim, I’m sitting here watching the storms pass over and thinking maybe the flooding will clear the rock slide? :-)

If the tornadoes don’t move it first........

Our group did this section today. One thing to really focus on is the road closure- 94 has a section closed in the same spot as trail detour. Today. We were able to go through the road closure- but it's all water based closures, so take it hour by hour.

Hey Jim, don’t use that “T” word, that one last night was a little too close for me.

Is this trailhead safe for overnight vehicle parking? I'm just planning a 2 day trip, so my car would be parked just 1 night.
Thanks

Large tree down on Rock Island Trail, around 256. Impassable.

Maybe others have also, but I notified Missouri State Parks about the tree. Lots of storms and wind and they do a great job of keeping up

Yep, I called right after we spotted it, and they said they would send a crew out shortly

Friend and I just rode east from Sedalia to St. Charles, and then into Washington to catch Amtrak back to KC. We've been leaning on these talk threads so wanted to share some quick recaps that might help others as they plan their Katy adventure. We somehow stayed dry for four whole days, but I fear that might not be the case looking ahead with the forecast as summer comes on.

Main takeaway? The rough midwest winter followed by persistent heavy spring rains have made the trail just a touch dodgier and rougher overall than a typical year. It's all still very passable, but I swapped from wide slick tires (38 mm) to wide grippier tires (Clemente X'Plor Ush is the brand I used).


Sedalia to Rocheport: No water from Sedalia until the Pilot Grove trailhead, some 24 miles or so. Drink up before this stretch! Cleared some branches and dodged some sticks but a nice stretch with no detours. The Rocheport tunnel opened right as we arrived on Friday, May 19.

Rocheport to McKittrick/Hermann: Bumpier, rutted past Jeff City midway, but overall fine. Saw a TON of various large snakes as we got back by the river.

Stayed in Joey's Birdhouse B&B and we had one of the best breakfasts we've had in years, along with good company and a great place to stay on the trail.

Hermann to St. Charles: A great stretch with a few minor detours. One puts you on a remote country highway for literally three seconds and is nothing to sweat, and the other brings you up a large hill and into Klondike Park for a couple miles. It's well marked through the park, scenic and free of cars.


Back in March we worried about all the detours, but now the Parks dept. seems to really be on top of them. Never hurts to have lights on your bike front and back in case flooding closes stretches where you have to go on the road and need to increase visibility. Watch those flooding reports if you're planning a trip as the river looks high and threatening in Mid-May.

Hope everyone has a great time on the trail, we certainly loved every minute of it.

I'm taking a couple of school groups next week/week after, Adam. This is *really* helpful. Thanks for posting. And let's hope we stay as dry as you did!

Frank keep your eye on the flood information on the DNR Katy Trail web site. The trail could be impacted by the recent rains (current and predicted) both along the Missouri River and northwest of the state of Missouri. If the predictions hold true, several parts of the trail along the river will be under water.

Adam, thanks for taking the time to report on conditions during your ride.