Katy Trail Forum

My husband and I are planning a ride in early Oct. We will start in

Clinton park in Sedalia plan to ride the train back to Sedalia. Is Washington the best place to take train back. We are planning to camp along the trail. Info on camping would be appreciated. We are

also wondering what the weather will be and do you think the trail will be in good condition. any info would be appreciated.

thank-you

The weather, tradionally, should be beautiful mid to low 70's maybe upper 60's, dry. October is pretty dry but you never know. The trail will be good shape, and washington is about 4 miles off trail with a narrow bridge to cross with no shoulder. You also can catch the train in Hermann , this shortens your ride about 30 miles but much safer bridge to cross and only 2 miles off trail. Hope this helps.

As previous responder indicated, the bridge at Washington is very dangerous. You can get a cab ride for $15. Hermann is a great place to cross to get the train--separate bike lane.

Book your Amtrak bike reservation early. They allow only 4 bikes on each train (not each car, each train!). There is no baggage car on the train--they put the bikes in one end of the passenger car. We just rode Amtrak 3 times (due to flooding last week, our end-to-end plans changed) and I asked the conductor if they were strict on bikes. He said "we try to accomodate folks, if there is room, even without a previous reservation." Each bike costs $10, regardless of how far you are going on these four St.Louis-to-Kansas City trains. Can book seats at Amtrak.com (bikes are booked as an "view upgrade options").



Try to arrange to camp at Doug Rendleman's in Bluffton--Doug's passion is the trail--he is a wealth of info.



If you need more info, you can email me direct at dgat1989@yahoo.com

Dutzow is a good stopping point also. The restaurant right on the trail is an oasis after a

days ride--there is also a winery just off the trail. However, I would call a cab to take you

across the bridge. My husband regretted his decision to ride over and bring the car back

for me!

Catfish Katys is the only place I have stayed along the way and the camping was 'ok'. The hosts of the campsite were very friendly and the hot shower was nice as well. The campsites themselves are a bit rocky and uncomfortable if you don't have some padding, but hey, it's a campground.



I had expectations of camping in Hermann last year during Oktoberfest and after what I witnessed last year, I will never consider camping in Hermann again. The Hermann website makes their park look like a huge oasis of secluded camping.......not the case. It's a small city park with about half of the MO population camping in it. Fire pits are limited to just a few and it was noisy. I packed up my stuff in the evening and headed down the trail and camped on the side of the trail, in solitude.....it was much more peaceful and less trashy.



I have actually stayed at a campground called 'Lazy Day Campground', north of Hermann. If you call ahead, I would imagine that you can get a ride from Hermann to this campsite which is probably a 20min or so ride. I really like this campground because it is not overrun by people and the campsites were extremely clean and well maintained. They have a laundry facility next to the bathrooms which is nice to be able to wash one's stinky biking clothes. Probably the nicest and most accommodating place I have ever camped. They had their pool open last year during Oktoberfest as well and it was heated, which made the 40-50 degree weather outside seem awesome.

The Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival is October 11th and 12th and we expect 50,000 plus people to attend. Biking in off the Katy Trail is one of the best ways to attend. We will have music and over 18 food vendors and over 250 craft booths. Come have a good time.

My dad and I are planning to ride the hole trail and would like some suggestions on which is

the best place to start and finish. We plan on taking our time and do about 50 mils a day and

would like to know some good places to eat and camp.

You'll get many varied opinions on the best way to travel the trial (eastbound vs westbound). I took the Amtrak to Sedelia on a Sunday morning, hired a shuttle to take me to Clinton, then rode back to Sedelia that afternoon. The portion of the trail from Clinton to Sedelia is BORING and not worth spending the money on a shuttle unless you simply want to say you did the entire trail. Over the next 3 days I had a headwind 2 days then a tailwind 1 day, so it's usually a tossup on the wind direction, especially in the spring or fall. If I had it to do over, I'd simply start at Sedelia and travel east. I've been on the trail all times of the year except winter, and I think October is by far the best tume of the year to bike it.

If you're like me, your a "purist" and want to do the ENTIRE trail. Gene and Regi Cornell offer a shuttle between Sedalia/Warrensburg/Clinton. Check with Clinton Chamber of Commerce for contact info. From Sedalia, you can ride to St. Charles and take Amtrak from St. Louis back to Sedalia to retrieve your car. I don't know the St. Louis bus/Metro system in detail, but we got off the trail at the Page bridge (we had already completed Page bridge to St. Charles!), rode to Earth City (about 7 miles), got the hotel shuttle to the airport, took Metro to downtown. The Amtrak station is about 500 feet from the Metro civic center stop (new combined transportation center is under construction). Details: metrostlouis.org

Here is some advice from a person that rode the Katy last year for the first time and had a very rude awakening.....(I rode West to East)



If you go from West to East....be very aware that your first 70 or so miles (Clinton to Booneville) is mostly uphill grade. This is not a significant uphill grade, but it's enough that you can't really take a break and coast at all......it gets to be very cumbersome and a real pain in the ass depending on how many miles you plan on riding. 50mpd is quite doable without much stress. Once you hit Booneville and find the river, it's pretty much flat into St. Charles. Also, aside from some odd weather patterns, you should have the wind at your back the entire way.



If you go from East to West......the only thing I can tell you from my many years of trekking and racing is that wind in your face is almost worse than riding uphill. The bonus of this is that once you hit Booneville, you'll have a good 70miles or so of very nice downhill grade to cruise into Clinton on.



Conclusion.....ride from West to East to get the hard part out of the way early. The other bonus is that you hit Rocheport, Hermann and the other 'wine towns' towards the end of the trip which is a great reward for a long ride. There is also much more camping available the closer you get to St. Charles.

In my opinion, if you've been biking very much, especially riding hills, you won't notice much difference while riding the grade between Sedalia and Booneville. If you're not in shape, you will most likely feel the difference.

It's not that they're hard (I ride approx 200mi/wk), but it is a constant grind for 70+ miles with no coasting. If you're planning on doing a century ride the first day or anything close to that, you'll need to be in decent riding shape because that grade is very slight, and it can be very taxing over a full day of riding it.

I rode the whole trail west to east Sept 29 - Oct 2, 2005. Theoretically, it should be more downhill than uphill that way because the Missouri river flows west to east. The Highest elevation is at High Point, mid way between Clinton and Sedalia. If you want to ride the ENTIRE trail, it starts at Sedalia Street in Clinton, south of the trailhead, and it ends about 2 miles past the trailhead in St.Charles. Also, DO NOT camp at the city park in Mokane. The town has no law enforcement and it shows. I was in fear of my safety that night.....

what are the hours of the pumpkin festival on sunday

what are the hours of the pumpkin festival on sunday

Hello,



I am hoping for some guidance from those who have done this before me.

I am planning a trip down part of the trail. I am going to take AmTrak from St. Louis to Jefferson City and start from there (I only have two days). From what I can tell, the only way across the river is to ride 54/63. I have read some of the forums that report that this is a highway. That being the case, is there an emergency lane on the bridge? From what I can tell from the satellite pictures, I only have to go as far as the first offramp.



Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!



Get out there and ride,

David

You will cross the Mighty Mo on a bike lane. It is located on the downstream (east) side of the bridge which is slaso the northbound lane. While busy, unless you are careless or a child, it is easily managed. Take the first exit and it will carry you to the trail.

Arkie is right. When you get to top of ramp at first exit you will cross the bridge going to your left(west) and as you do will see the spur trail,parking lot and pavillon to your right (north) and take it out to the Katy. Super easy.

In my view the bridge at Jefferson City is dangerous to cycle across. The "bike lane" is separated only by a white line from three lanes of 60 mph traffic. The local taxi company will transport you and bikes for about $10 - $15. Checker Cab 573-636-7101. They do not require advance notice for bikes.

The Jeff City bridge is OK--wide lane for bikes, but not separated like the bridge at Hermann. The one I would NOT cross on my bike is the Washington bridge!

I agree that the Jeff City bridge is not difficult--I hate traffic, but it was a very WIDE

shoulder. We did it on a quiet Saturday morning, and most cars moved over a lane to give

us room.

Timing is everything when crossing the Missouri at Jefferson City. It can be a frightening experience if you try to cross it during rush hours on weekdays. This is because you have traffic from Highways 50 and Highway 54 plus two local streets entrance ramps all merging down to three lanes at the head of the bridge with everyone jockeying for positions to be in the two left lanes. If you are riding into town you will be facing this madhouse with a four inch white paint line separating you from them. It's an exhilarating experience.

Stay in Hartsburg.. You are 20 seconds from the trail... No bridge to mess with.

"Stay in Hartsburg.. You are 20 seconds from the trail... No bridge to mess with. "



I believe he said he was taking AmTrak to JC. There is no way to get to Hartsburg from JC without "messing" with the bridge.

We are thinking of riding Amtrak from Kirkwood to Sedalia on the 22nd of October in the afternoon. Does Amtrak run on time? And is there a shuttle to Kirkwood from St.Charles?

Thanks

Amtrak does NOT run on time. Can be anywhere from 30 min. to 2 hours late.

We just rode the Katy a few weeks ago. The four (two each direction/day)St. Louis/Kansas City trains do not have the best on-time performance of Amtrak trains. Because of the flooding, we ended up using Amtrak on three occassions/days, and all three trains were less than 30 min. late. You can check on-time performance for recent periods--the past five days. I just looked at train 311 and it ran 2 min. to 24 min. late for 9/25-30 period for Hermann, MO. The Amtrak folks on the train are very helpful and friendly--the conductor on our trains is a Katy biker himself.



As far a shuttle, I'm not sure about Kirkwood, but I used our hotel shuttle to take me to the airport, and then got the Metro which takes you to the center of downtown St. Louis. The new downtown transportation center is still under construction and Metro/buses/Amtrak will eventually be in one building, but currently the Amtrak terminal is about a 500 foot walk from the Metro terminal.

call 636-946-0619 or e-mail Rhonaloc@charter.net we shuttle to the

Kirkwood station

I rode the Katy last year from Clinton to St. Charles and really had a difficult time finding any decent places to camp along the way, aside from just plopping down on the side of the trail somewhere. The first night I stayed in Huntsdale (which was 'ok') and the second night, which I had planned to stay in Hermann, was shot down due to no more camping available. I'm considering staying at the hostile listed in the guidebooks (would love some feedback on that place) but I would love any other suggestions anyone has for a mtn biker doing this ride in 2-3 days with a tent and a bag. Thanks!

First of all I think camping and a two day trip would be next to impossible. If you are by yourself you may consider just sleeping on the many benches along the trail.

I stayed at the hostel in Tebbetts last week. It's $5/night and was

great. We were the only people there. Had hot showers and restrooms

and was only a block (if even that) from the trail. I would

definitely stay there again.

Hartsburg has a place to camp free in Volunteer Park in the downtown next to the Gazebo. If there are several riders you can make arrangements to stay in the Lions Park at the baseball field. The MKT Trail bathrooms are close to the Gazebo and the ball park has its own facilities.

Thanks for the advice. The hostile was definitely a consideration and would put me on pace to finish in 2 days if possible. This is my 'gut check' trip to see how fast I can do it. If all goes well, I'll be hitching a ride back to Hermann to get my drink on as a reward when I'm finished, lol.



I'll be on the trail the weekend of Oct 18th, so if any of you run across a guy having a great time, enjoying the scenery......that probably won't be me. I'll be the guy on the blue trek mtn bike with the Salomon pack on and complaining of my ridiculously sore butt, lol!!



Anyone know how strict they are on making reservations for the hostile in advance?

It seems like the Metrolink would be a good way to get from St. Charles to Union Station. I would ride my bike to Creve Coeur Park. From there it seems like there must be a way to ride or bus to a metrolink station. I have not found the Metrolink web site very helpful. The RTD-Denver.com is a lot better for finding routes.





Any suggestions?

Will going South to Olive and taking the #91 Olive bus east to the Belmar Metrolink Station work? The web site states that most St. Louis buses have bike racks.

Well, what would have been nice is if the St. Chuck residents would have agreed to having MetroLink cross the river into St. Charles proper. But, alas, that was not to be.

We like our moat. Thank you very much. It keeps the riff-raff out that can't afford cars and gas from stealing our TVs and women.

I got this suggestion from Metrolink. I think this should be added to possible routes.



If you ride your bike east on Marine Avenue, to the intersection of Marine &

McKelvey Rd., you may board our #33 Dorsett Lackland bus, exit at the Rock

Road Station, and transfer to an eastbound "Shiloh-Scott" Metrolink train,

which will take you to the Civic Center Station (14th & Spruce). Simply

follow the path to the Amtrak Station, approx. 1-1/2 blocks. You may take

your bike on our bus and train, and the distance that you ride is much less.



Please click on these website links to see the schedules, route maps, and

turning directions. Additionally, it may be very helpful, if you will click

on our Metrolink Station List, select the Interactive Google Map, and get

directions from Creve Coeur Lake to the Rock Road Station or Delmar Station.

I think you will get a clearer idea of the distance.



http://www.metrostlouis.org/MetroBus/MapsRoutes.asp

http://www.metrostlouis.org/MetroLink/MLtimetables.asp

http://www.metrostlouis.org/MetroLink/stationlist.asp

http://www.metrostlouis.org/GettingStarted/operatinghours.asp

http://tripfinder.metrostlouis.org/



Here is the link for our System Map. It is currently being updated, and many

of the routes shown have changed drastically or have been eliminated. Though

you should not rely on the route information shown, you can get an overall

view of the system and where we provide some service in the area.



http://www.metrostlouis.org/MetroBus/SystemMap.asp

Too funny, Chucktown.

I guess I wouldn't make a good criminal, but the last place I would want to be after stealing a TV (or a woman) would be public transit. What next, draw bridges at Page Ave., I-70 and 370? Wait... we have one in Boonville that might work for ya! ;-)

Too funny, Chucktown.

I guess I wouldn't make a good criminal, but the last place I would want to be after stealing a TV (or a woman) would be public transit. What next, draw bridges at Page Ave., I-70 and 370? Wait... we have one in Boonville that might work for ya! ;-)

Would it be possible to ride over the river on the bridge to Creve Coeur Park, and then ride the back roads over to the airport to get on the Metro? Is that possible?



I am brand new to the area, and would appreciate feedback from those of you who would know.



Thanks.

Post this to http://www.stlbiking.com/forum/, lots of local riders there and a shortage of political commentary.

I thought I would finish this topic since I started it. Two of us rode from Sedalia to St. Louis. September 19, to 24th. We met a couple that lived near Creve Couer at the Red Brick B&B in Augusta. St. Louis is not proud of their bus system. They gave us a ride all the way to the Amtrak station downtown so we would not have to ride the bus. We got a good look at the hill out of the park up on Marine. This is the only way out of the park and it is narrow with quite a bit of traffic. Locals do ride that hill quite often because of the bike trail link from Creve Couer to the Katy trail. Once you are up the hill, Marine has sidewalks and is a better ride than Dorsett. The Metrolink Civic Center Station is right next to Amtrak. The Metrolink fare is only $1.00. I still think the #33 bus is a viable way to get to Metrolink and then downtown to Amtrak but we did not do it.

I just completed an out and back from St Charles to Jeff City. The trail is in great condition from St Charles to Hermann but has rough spots and one washout west of that. The prettiest section for me was between McKittrick and Treloar.



I stayed at and highly recommend the Doll House B&B in Rhineland, the Briar Rose in Jeff City and the Brick Inn in Washington. Great hosts, rooms and food, and warm hospitality.



It was great fun and I hope to complete it soon.

When do the facilities on the Katy Trail close? Are they still open in November? Is there somewhere to find out?

My wife and I and another couple set off to Augusta Mo to ride the Katy trail for the first time. Our goal was to get into the heart of wine country, bike a little and sample many wines and beers from the area. All the B&B's were full in this area. We have a simple 20ft C class motor home we thought we could drive up and find a place to hookup.... Well there are little to no areas to bring an RV and "hookup". The day of your adventure to Augusta I called around one last time to try and find a place to park. I called Johnny at Stoneridge Vineyard and asked if he knew of a place to park. Johnny was abosulutely wonderful to suggest some areas even gracious to offering a place on his property. If Johnny was this gracious to us not even staying at his B&B, just think how nice we would be treated staying there. We had a chance to meet Johnny and his wife and see his B&B. WOW! What a spectacular place and an incredible view.

Thanks Stoneridge for your hospitality!!

My wife and I and another couple set off to Augusta Mo to ride the Katy trail for the first time. Our goal was to get into the heart of wine country, bike a little and sample many wines and beers from the area. All the B&B's were full in this area. We have a simple 20ft C class motor home we thought we could drive up and find a place to hookup.... Well there are little to no areas to bring an RV and "hookup". The day of your adventure to Augusta I called around one last time to try and find a place to park. I called Johnny at Stoneridge Vineyard and asked if he knew of a place to park. Johnny was abosulutely wonderful to suggest some areas even gracious to offering a place on his property. If Johnny was this gracious to us not even staying at his B&B, just think how nice we would be treated staying there. We had a chance to meet Johnny and his wife and see his B&B. WOW! What a spectacular place and an incredible view.

Thanks Stoneridge for your hospitality!!

Great place to stay. Wonderful breakfast, and enough leftovers to take with you for a light lunch or snack along the trail! Don't miss it.

Great place to stay. Wonderful breakfast, and enough leftovers to take with you for a light lunch or snack along the trail! Don't miss it.

Jeanette Crawford owns the Globe Hotel B & B and is one of the nicest ladies around. She has single handedly rebuilt this hotel twice (the 1993 flood ruined much of her work) and has made the Globe one of the best stops along the trail. Stop in and see her anytime.

Jeanette Crawford owns the Globe Hotel B & B and is one of the nicest ladies around. She has single handedly rebuilt this hotel twice (the 1993 flood ruined much of her work) and has made the Globe one of the best stops along the trail. Stop in and see her anytime.

We could use your help. We need suggestions on the most scenic sections of the trail, as we have limited time on our return trip to Canada. Would like to do two to three day out and back as a sample for a future trip. Camping or B&B would do. Your help would be most appreciated, as we have never been in this area before.

care,

Jim and Betty

You could cover more miles by biking one direction and catching Amtrak back. Two trains/day each way. Train stops at St. Louis, Kirkwood (not on Katy) Washington, Hermann, Jeff City, Sedalia. Rail stations are on the south side of the river; Katy on the north side. Dangerous crossing the river at Washington; no bike lane; take a taxi $15. Easy/safe crossing at Hermann, Jeff City. Bikes can be taken on the train ($10, only 4 per train so reserve early.)

Don't miss the Hotel Bothwell/Sedalia; Hotel Frederick/Booneville; Globe Hotel/Hartsburg or Rendleman's B&B/Bluffton if you bike and stay in these areas.

My wife and I completed the Katy last week. Email if I can help with more details: dgat1989@yahoo.com . We rode 35-42 miles/day and enjoyed ourselves (we are mid-60's). A great trip would be Sedalia to McKittrick, taking the train from Hermann (across the river from McKittrick) back to Sedalia.

Is this the couple I met at the airport in Gallatin, TN?

A popular section is between Rocheport and McBaine, and really all

the way to Jeff City is pretty nice I think. The tunnel is near

rocheport and a lot of that section is right along the river with

bluffs right above the trail. Another nice section is just west of

Treloar until Gore.