Katy Trail Forum

I've got three days to ride the Katy next week with my first grader on our new tandem

(DaVinci JV). He's an experience rider. Last year we did some touring in Europe with him

on a tag-along with a few 150km days and 300km+ three-day rides on mixed surfaces

like the Katy. My wife will drop us off, stay with family in central MO and pick us up a few

days later. I'm still trying to decide on the camping gear, but am leaning toward fast/light

credit card touring.



Where would you suggest getting on and which direction would you go?



Thanks.

Stay at the many B&B's along the trail, best use of the light credit card touring. Do the whole trail Clinton to St. Charles, or knock off 40 miles and start in Sedalia. Much more interesting to finish in St Charles.

Hope the weather cooperates with the timing of your trip. I'm sitting here in my office in Jefferson City looking out the window. Heavy cloud cover and a high so far today (Noon) of 46 degrees Fahrenheit.

Are you a government employee?

I live in a country with a government of the people, by the people, for the people. I guess that makes us all government employees.

Not so much.

I used to live in a country with a government of the people, by the people, for the people; now, I live in a country with a government of the politicians, by the politicians, for the politicians and the rest of us be darned.

I would suggest some alternate roads along the trail just in case the trail is bogged down or rained out during this time of the year.



Don

Our Santana is a fair weather machine. She gets pampered and keeps a firm footing...off the chat trail when it's wet.

When camping on the trail (designated campgrounds) is it necessary to hang food from trees so animals don’t get in it? I know it is in different States, but not sure what protocol is for The Katy.

There are no bears to worry about, but raccoons are a real possibility. It would be best if you could somehow secure the food in a hard container.

I concur with Mark......beware of the racoons. If you have something that smells remotely edible...the raccoons will try to get into it. Did an overnight with two toddlers at Klondike Park. After yelling and chucking rocks at the little masked &*@#$%&* in the middle of the night (they were trying to get into the Chariot child carrier....possibly attracted by residual goldfish (well known toddler forage).....), I finally ended up putting the child carrier on top of the picnic table shelter roof which ended our little skirmish. I once toured from Anchorage, AK to eastern Oklahoma (many miles of bear country)......and the Klondike incident was one of my most restless cycle touring nights. Moral of the story....beware of the raccoons. If you have anything that smells edible, place it somewhere/someway that raccoons are disinclined to attempt to retrieve it. By the way....if you end up in St. Charles and are tired of peddalling, look up St. Charles Pedicab to get you around historic downtown St. Charles. Ride on.

If you are hiking or biking, chances are you won't be carring a cart full of perishable food items. When we've camped, we've taken the pannier with food in it and/or food that was in the trailer and put it in the tent with us. But you know....I'd think if a coon could break into a can of tuna she'd probably deserve to have it.

Keep your food in a pouch and hang it between 2 trees so it hangs between the trees at a minimum of 10 feet high. Hang your food as far feom the tent as possible. Trust me, you do not want to spend half the night keeping a racoon from trying to get the milky way bar wrapper you forgot to toss.

In Pilot Grove I wouldn't hang my meat anywhere near Deon's Bar and grill. There are some critters in that bar who will eat anything..

We were planning to get out this weekend (3/14) is it too muddy around Columbia, McBaine, Rocheport?

We were planning to get out this weekend (3/14) is it too muddy around Columbia, McBaine, Rocheport?

We were planning to get out this weekend (3/14) is it too muddy around Columbia, McBaine, Rocheport?

The MKT that runs from McBaine to Columbia is a muddy mess and the local P and R is

replacing two of the bridges so its basically unrideable right now.

The MKT that runs from McBaine to Columbia is a muddy mess and the local P and R is

replacing two of the bridges so its basically unrideable right now.

The MKT that runs from McBaine to Columbia is a muddy mess and the local P and R is

replacing two of the bridges so its basically unrideable right now.

I'll be getting to Sedalia around 8:00 P.M. and would like to stay the night before I start my ride. Is there a good (cheap) place to stay near the train station?



Thanks,



John

Are you camping on this trip? If you can get on the trail and head west, you'll cross over the

main Hwy in Sedalia. The next exit a few hundred yards (+/-) west is the Missouri State

Fairgrounds which has available tent camping nearby. It might be free. Check the ladies at

the Katy Train Museum as they are excellent resources. Also, the Best Western Motel is near

the Fairgrounds (about $70) and they have a breakfast buffet for guests. After riding Amtrak,

you'll probably want better arrangements than camping.

From looking at a quick listing of hotels/motels, it seems the thing that's the shortest distance away from where you would end up is the Hotel Bothwell (and shortest away from meeting up on the trail proper).



All the others will be on the main highways going through Sedalia (50 and 65). If you want to take these the best way would be to find the trail and then go west until you run into the fairgrounds and then go north or south as necessary.



The best option if you do camp is indeed the Fairgrounds. http://www.bikekatytrail.com/site.aspx?sid=127 . It's a $10 fee, security will usually pick it up. Be careful, though, that you are in the right place and are ready to pay the fee, because camping elsewhere would be illegal.



But given you will be going in at 8pm, it will be dark on the day you indicated you were going (in previous posts). Be mindful to have adequate lighting when/if you travel, and that (technically) using the trail at night is illegal and someone might have something to say.

To clarify another comment I made previously (awaiting moderation for submission as I write this one), by lighting I mean something you can legitimately use to see in front of you in darkness and not something meant more for pointing you out to others. Especially for the Katy Trail at dark, there will be little to no light.

Thanks Gene,



Yes, I'll be camping, but because I expect it to be dark, or near dark, when I arrive, if the train's on time, I thought it best to get a motel room that night. In fact I'll have way more equipment than I'll need as the trip is a shake down trial of all my gear that I'll eventually use on a long term trip. I want to try everything out.



How close is the Best Western in terms of miles? It sounds like it's pretty doable.



Since I'm going to try to shuttle the next day to Clinton, is it possible to get a shuttle at that time of day to Clinton. That way i could start right out in the morning from the end of the trail.



Thanks,



John

>How close is the Best Western in terms of miles? It sounds like

>it's pretty doable.



It looks like the best to do if you wish to go there is go down the Katy going west. It's about 0.4 mi to get to the Katy from the train station. Then go down the Katy until you hit Clarendon Road (the equestrian loading area, about 2.8 miles).



Then from there my best guess would be to go south on Clarendon slightly then go east on SouthWest Blvd (left turn) and then follow it south and then take a left turn onto Plaza Ave which will put you relatively close to it on 65 highway. A little over 4 miles one way, all told.



Hope that helps.

The Bothwell is only .3 from the Amtak station.....Holiday Inn Express is 5 miles. It appears that the Bothwell is about $20 less than the HIE. There are places to eat in the area also. I'd save riding in the dark (and a few $$'s) and have an easy nite at the Bothwell with quick access (a few blocks east) to the Katy the next morning.

If you are coming in by Amtrac, the closest Hotel(only 4 blocks ) from the station is the Hotel

Bothwell. They do give Katy Trail riders a discount(just mention it when you call). They are

part of the Clarion chain of hotels. They are only 6 blocks from the Trail Head here at the

Katy Depot. You can check them out on line at Hotel Bothwell, Sedalia, Mo.

Thanks for all your replies. They've been very helpful. I've decided to take a shuttle to Clinton the night I get into Sedalia. I'll be able to start the ride the next day with a good nights rest in Clinton.



I'll do a search to find a good motel in Clinton.



Again, thanks to all who replied.



John

John--you got me thinking. I'd get in the Hotel Bothwell or other places in Sedalia. The

Union Pacific Railroad has two lines to Kansas City with so many trains they use directional

operating--except for Amtrak. Amtrak trains get put on sidings so freights can clear. The

UP RR, State of Missouri and the Federal Railroad Administration are paying to have sidings

extended to 10,000 feet to facilitate their trains and Amtrak too. Plugged is a railroad term

where not much moves. I hope you're on time but if you're not, you'll know.

John, not sure from your comments but if you have not contacted a shuttle to be sure they can be there you should. Without a reservation with one you might not be able to get one at the time you arrive.

Doug,



I've contacted a shuttle and have pretty much decided to stay at the Bothwell. All that being said, it would appear I'm going to have a job interview that week and may have to delay my plans.



Again, thanks for all the good advice.



John

Beautiful day and I got out for a bit

1. From McKittrick to Mokane the trail is soft but ridable on 27c tires

2. At mile mark 121 east of Steedman the farmer there has been working and his tractor has cut two ruts 4-5 inches deep across the trail. Can be ridden with caution but if unaware it is a teeth rattling experience. The driveway is about 15 feet east of the mile mark sign.

3. The bar in Steedman is showing signs of progress. When I stopped today the clean up crew was working and told me the carpenters are done and they (the cleaners) are doing their thing and will be done soon. They did not know of an opening date tho. It is looking like a nice place to stop.

Thanks for the report....

A while back, during a discussion of other bike trails across America, Nebraska’s Cowboy Trail came up. This partially-developed rail-trail will eventually be over 300 miles long. At this point, there are very few online resources for the Cowboy Trail, so I created BikeCowboyTrail.com, which uses a design very similar to BikeKatyTrail.com. If you are thinking of riding the Cowboy Trail, or if you’d just like to find out more about it, take a look at BikeCowboyTrail.com

Happy trails!

Thanks a lot, Ray. I have been planning a trip for about a year and this will be a great help. There is a book called Nebraska's Cowboy Trail by Kieth Terry that is of some merit. He is a Professor at the University of Nebraska - Kearney. You might want to get into contact with him for more information.

FYI, according to Wilkipedia, the Cowboy Trail is now complete from Norfolk to Valentine. This was done in the Summer of 2009. So, there is no undeveloped section just east of Valentine anymore as indicated on the Cowboy Trail map at BikeCowboyTrail.com.

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I have the book by Prof Terry and would highly recommend it for anyone planning a trip. Available through Amazon and other book websites. It gives a lot of interesting historical background.



SteveK, thanks for pointing out that error regarding the most recently developed part of the trail. I have updated the map and the website text relating to to Ainsworth-Arabia section of the trail.

Nice job, Ray! This trail has been on my list of rides to do and you have now made it easy for me. Two questions: Are you going to put up a comment forum, and any idea when (or if) they intend to extend the trail to Chadron?

Thanks Jules! Yes, I`ll definitely add a comment forum, hopefully within the next few weeks. Until then, it is possible to leave comments for specific towns and businesses (near the bottom of their respective pages), but I just haven`t yet built the centralized forum to pull all the comments together.



They do plan to eventually extend the trail to Chadron - key word being "eventually". I asked the guy at Nebraska Game & Parks Dept who manages the trail about this. As you might suspect, it all comes down to money. and actually, the cost of building the trail is not much, he says it`s the cost of maintenance that they can`t afford. The state legislature would need to approve more funds on an ongoing basis to support maintemance of new segments, before those segmants can be added. So I doubt that we`ll see anything until the recession is well behind us and the state budget has plenty of cash.



The rail bed is there from Valentine to Chadron, of course, but it`s just not yet converted to trail. I am not sure whether the rails and ties are still there, or if it`s just the large gravel that they use for railroads. But apparently it is possible to hike or ride horses on that section, and maybe even mountain bike if you`re up for a rough ride. But, as the Nebraska guys stressed, that section is not officially open or developed, so any activity on the undeveloped section would be at your own risk.


Have fun, and we hope to hear how it turns out for you.

Thanks so much for all of your effort! We're doing the Katy trail this June and will do the Cowboy trail in 2011!!

Sounds like a great trail! And a great job on the webpage. Wouldn't it

be great if ALL trails used the same format/setup? (Wishful thinking!)

We eat at Abigails everytime we drive across the state or go down the trail. Heck, we even wait to leave home so we will pass Rocheport when they are open. Abigails isn't just a cafe - it is a first class restaurant. The food isn't pre-prepared. If you pay attention you will see a chef at work in the ktichen. If you're looking for a quick meal, you're really missing the point. The couple who own and run the place seem like good people to me, maybe just overworked and under appreciated. The food is ALWAYS excellent. I go to Rocheport, as I said, just for Abigails.

We eat at Abigails everytime we drive across the state or go down the trail. Heck, we even wait to leave home so we will pass Rocheport when they are open. Abigails isn't just a cafe - it is a first class restaurant. The food isn't pre-prepared. If you pay attention you will see a chef at work in the ktichen. If you're looking for a quick meal, you're really missing the point. The couple who own and run the place seem like good people to me, maybe just overworked and under appreciated. The food is ALWAYS excellent. I go to Rocheport, as I said, just for Abigails.

I just spoke with the proprietor of Polly's B&B and learned that is closed and up for sale as of last week. Posted 11 March 2010.

I just spoke with the proprietor of Polly's B&B and learned that is closed and up for sale as of last week. Posted 11 March 2010.

Darn that was or is such a nice place and Polly is super...

Darn that was or is such a nice place and Polly is super...

I hear alot of bikers, does anyone hike the trail? I am planning a solo trip in April. Is camping allowed along the trail or only in designated campgrounds?

I would say if you plan on building a fire go to a designated campground to be safe. However I would just find a nice set of trees and camp anywhere. I am leaving next week going to hike the whole katy trail on a solo trip. However the ultimate plan is to hike to california. I have a few months to spare and going to try at least. I have no plans on paying for campgrounds.

Seeing as the trail is a state park that closes at dusk, camping is not allowed along the trail.

I hiked from Clinton to Machens 2 years ago. There's lot's of campgrounds but some are over 20 miles apart. I'd recommend taking a weekend drive a few weeks prior and identify camp sites. The parks in Marthasville and Pilot Grove are nice and free. You can also talk to property owners and/or churches to get permission to pitch a tent for the night. Get Brett Dufur's book, it's worth it's weight in gold. Good luck! Check out www.dougknox.blogspot.com or e-mail me at LMS346@netzero.com if you have any questions.

DougK

We rode from Mo Research Park to Defiance last weekend. It appears the rough winter has

left a lot of down trees along the trail. Although, the trail was clear, it looks like there has

been a lot of vehicles on the trail in this area--clearing drainage pipes and downed trees.

There is quite a rough patch from MRP to the west for 2 miles before Weldon Springs. It's

early in the season, so I am hopeful this will be rectified with some rain or new gravel, but I

wanted to warn others. It's rideable, but a lot like riding on rumble strips.

A small group of us are cycling cross country from CA to VA with a support vehicle and thought we would hop on the Katy Trail on our way east. We are planning to use Carbon Fibre racing bikes with 23 or 25x 700c tires. Is that going to work on the trail surface? If not are the parts of the trail we can do and use normal roads elsewhere. Any info would be most welcome. Thanks!

You should have no problem unless there is a lot of rain. If the trail is wet, you may sink in a little and you will definately have to clean your bike chain after. But the scenery and peacefulness of the trail will be worth it.

Thanks!

I agree. I prefer a little wider tire (28-32), but my buddy always

rides a 25mm tire since his frame won't allow clearance for a wider

tire. You'll be fine. Enjoy!

Out east there are roads along the trail. However, there is no shoulder and they are very

hilly. Popular with motorcycles (and drunks visiting the wineries), so I'd stay to the trail

east of Hermann. I know there are quite a few groups and centuries out that way, just

beware.



We ride the Katy on carbon fiber road bikes with 23's. We carry a spare tire zip-tied to the

frame in case of blow outs on longer rides. It is hard-packed gravel but doable.