Katy Trail Forum

Hi everyone!
Just wondering how to finish the last days ride from WA to Kirkwood train station?
Looks like if you actually finish the Katie Trail, you need to add 17miles to go south to the station.
If you forget the trail, you stay south of river, way easier.
Has anyone ever just called a cab at St-Charles to go to train? Do they pick u up with a bike?

Your thoughts or experiences needed. Tks so much.

yes they do have a shuttle service click on Saint Charles icon not sure about the prices.

It's certainly possible to bike from St. Charles to Kirkwood, or from Creve Coeur to Kirkwood, or if you'd like to get off the trail even sooner, from Chesterfield to Kirkwood. Set Google Maps to Bicycling view and look at your route options; please reach out to me here if you'd like more details on, say, avoiding Olive Blvd in Creve Coeur. :)

take 370 over the river a new bike only route just opened.its 20 miles to Kirkwood

Ray has lots of information on this site for getting from the Katy to the Kirkwood station. Here is the train page:
https://bikekatytrail.com/amtrak-katy-trail.aspx
which has a link at the bottom with specific routes (5 suggested routes listed here):
https://bikekatytrail.com/kirkwood.aspx

Dave how is the ride on the 364 bridge [is it bike safe]separated from traffic. route looks nice on the other side of bridge.

The 364 bridge has a dedicated lane/path with a large concrete wall separating you from traffic, so it is very safe.

thanks for your reply Dave.

Katy trail shuttle services located in Sedalia Missouri. They operate from Sedalia And will go-to Jefferson City, Columbia, rocheport, boonville, Sedalia, Windsor, Clinton. They can also haul several bikes at an extra cost. 660-287-1684

Just getting started with my 10 year old granddaughter. We started at Rock Island at P highway out by East Lynne, Mo.
How do you get a map that shows miles between spur heads.
Like between P and Rock Island trailhead at Pleasant Hill?

https://mostateparks.com/page/65916/rock-island-spur#mileage

New bicycle and pedestrian path on the Discovery Bridge opens Saturday [7/24/2020]

ST. CHARLES COUNTY — The new barrier-separated bicycle and pedestrian path on the Discovery Bridge at Highway 370 will open Saturday to pedestrians and bicyclists.

Previously, bicyclists who traveled the route were not shielded from traffic, making it uncomfortable and dangerous to use the crossing.

The trail can be accessed near the Katy Trail in DuSable Park as well as the trailhead at Missouri Bottom Road.

The new bridge path is part of a project to connect the Katy Trail on the St. Charles side of the Missouri River to the Riverwoods Trail in Bridgeton.

Article: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/stcharles/new-bicycle-and-pedestrian-path-on-the-discovery-bridge-opens-saturday/article_34087ca0-2151-5192-bd01-c23c68d0bcbf.html

Source: STLToday (St Louis Post Dispatch)
https://www.stltoday.com/

I need to remove “Trailside Bunkhouse” off this site as I sold it and it is no longer offered.

Sorry to hear that Jessie, but Trailside Bunkhouse is now removed. Good luck with your future endeavors!

Deep gravel encountered at Huntsdake, heading toward Rocheport. I consider it dangerous. Be careful. Not sure how far it extends towards Rocheport. I made it about 20 meters

Huntsdale. Not Huntsdake. I cannot figure out how to edit it

We are wanting to ride the Katy Trail. Is there a means or service for returning riders at the end of the day to the place they began the ride, that is, to their car? Thank you.

I had an information chat with one of the folks at the Bike Stop in St. Charles. They offer shuttle services.

Share a Shuttle and Trip Planner on the Home page may be able to help you find what you're looking for. Some lodging owners may be of help also.

Rode the Katy last week from clinton to Washington
Took amtrak back in Washington to sedalia. Next morning got up earlier and rode from sedalia back to clinton
Train is avail in st louis and south of st charles
We would have gone all the way but we had only the days to do what we did

you all owe me two beers. total corona confusion, ordered two draught beers. after a half an hour of waiting and watching people tap away at iPads, i left.

Hmmm, you start right off with the statement that you are a drunk on a unicycle and then expect us to believe your indictment of an establishment that YOU SAY you did not receive service from. Have you ever heard the term reasonable doubt?

And why would you just walk away without saying anything, when you're owed two beers. THAT's the time to speak up, instead of waiting to complain here, after the fact, when nobody can do anything about it.

You are fighting the flow and would do better to learn from what you don’t understand. Consider it a gift. It appears you didn’t need any beer anyway.

As someone who visits this site several times a week (I have an end-to-end ride planned in a few weeks) I'm a bit astounded at the criticisms pointed toward those that use this forum as a place to voice their opinions about a business. True, the most effective way of providing feedback MAY be the "confrontational" approach most responding believe should be exercised...but in reality, the VAST majority of consumers do not ever provide feedback of any kind, and if they do, it's usually in some sort of protected/removed environment, i.e. this site. Have you ever read a Google review? If so, you have used the same level of feedback to inform your decision(s).

I'm not suggesting that all business feedback found in these forums is somehow beneficial to a business owner. They need to decide this for themselves. And the feedback provided in this particular post is not necessarily helpful to anyone trying to improve business processes. But c'mon. These are opinions. Take them with judicious amounts of salt. When you see quite a few comments that may indicate a trend, well, it might be time to consider what's being said as some degree of truth. But asking someone to face off with a manager or owner because of perceived inadequacies in performance? Ain't gonna happen, at least not in the majority of circumstances.

And here you have quite a few comments indicating a trend. A trend of defending someone unfairly accused.

For what it's worth, I ate at Good News for the first time last month during my Fathers Day bike ride. Enjoyed their beer, pizza, and open air patio.

It was set up so customers would go to the cashier to place their order, pay, and then step over to the bar to await the drinks (and for pizza, they give you one of those little pager things that flashes when the food's ready).

Maybe they don't always do it that way, but it seems weird that anyone would pay for drinks and then slink away without saying anything if the order got lost or the bartender got distracted. Few people would consider it confrontational to ask the bartender "excuse me, just checking on my beer".

Anyway we enjoyed the beer and the pizza, and will definitely stop in again.

Ok, first things first: drunk on a unicycle you need to change your name when you post. Nobody's going to take you seriously. You might as well call yourself drunk on a unicycle not wearing a helmut so there!

Secondly, there is a pandemic. It may not seem like it in Missouri, but it is real. Businesses and their employees are struggling. They need to clean, pay attention to social distancing, so on and so forth. I know my perspective living in PA is probably different from people in Missouri, but believe me, this Pandemic is coming to a Brew pub near you and the owners and staff at these businesses know that. They are probably working harder than they ever have, struggling more than they ever have and trying their best. So cut them some slack. Have some grace. Don't complain about bad service anywhere for at least a year, and then ask for my permission before you do. You know where to find me.

maybe you should have ordered a Budweiser instead of a Corona

Anyone have up to date information on the camping situation at the fairgrounds? I have heard it was closed but can not find anything about it being reopened as of yet. I am planning a bike trip the end of September and trying to locate a camping area near Sedalia, preferably on east side.

Here is the number to the Sedalia Fairgrounds camping 660-848-2232

Sorry that was wrong number.. Sedalia Fairgrounds 660-530-5601

I've seen a lot of confusion on camping at the Mo State Fairgrounds so just called the main office to get the scoop. Fairgrounds camping is Open. It might have been closed for a short time during construction but camping, showers and restrooms are open. From the Katy Trail you would go North with the main fairgrounds to your right. You'll see signage for camping. If before 5 you can check in at the Admin. Office. or...in the evening someone will be around to collect.

The number I called was 800-422-3247

what is the fee for a single tent one night.

Sedalia fairgrounds camping 1 site not during the fair $12

$12 for tent camping, $25 for hook-up; rates higher around Fair time.
See mostatefairgrounds dot com/camping/ for details.

FYI, this is now the Rock Island Cafe. We stopped there for lunch on a weekday and they were quite busy, but the food and service was still very good.

Hello everyone! I'm starting a thru-hike of the trail from Clinton on Saturday. I thought I might start a thread where I can post my progress with the hope that it might help other hikers/bikers. This will be my first thru-hike ever so I hope it goes well.

Hi Jordan! Good luck on your upcoming journey and thru-hike. My fiance and I just thru-hiked Katy trail last week on May 14. Last year we also thru-hiked Appalachian Trail. We were impressed with the amount of wildlife and the wonderful people along Katy Trail. In addition, the trail being flat and hardpack surface caused us some blisters which neither of us had encountered on 2192 mile AT. Otherwise everything we experienced was beyond our expectations. We took our time to complete it over 16 days...glad we did because we would have missed the numerous gracious trail Angel's along the way. Hope you have as many opportunities as well!!
Adam

Hi Jordon, my wife and I will be on that part of the trail on Saturday and we will say hi if we see you!

Day 1 - Made it to Windsor and stayed at Katy-Rock Junction which is a great campsite.

Day 2 - Arrived in Sedalia! With the State Fair Grounds being closed it was difficult to find a campsite. Chaplin RV park is not normally a place for tent campers, but they were willing to help me out in these strange times. They are very nice people!

Hi Jordon, How did your hike go? I'm just starting to plan my thru-hike for this fall. Can you give me any advice? Were there plenty of places to camp? to get water and food? Would love to hear more about it.

Also, Adam Dawson, if you have any advice, I welcome it.

Thanks a bunch.

Cat

Looking at riding Katy in a few months -- going West-to-East. Looking around, it looks like the trail is crushed limestone. Is the trail doable on 28mm tires?

I've done 4 days on 25mm Gatorskin tires on a road bike. The trail is maybe a little rougher in spots since that year. I used 32mm on a gravel bike in early 2019. I think 28mm would work. Bring extra tubes and a tire if room permits.

I completed the trail on my road bike with 28 mm tires and I am 240 lbs. Entering bridge ends you want to pull up on your handle bars if there is some erosion at the transition from fine gravel to concrete bridge. I had no flats, but I made sure that I had tubes with me.

I ride 28s on the trail and have never had an issue, but I also use city commute-friendly tires that stand up to daily debris. Go forth with your 28s!

Anybody have an update on the Katy Trail bypass work in Sedalia? Here is what I found from last summer when they did the ground breaking:

The DNR will construct the first 1.5 mile section from Griessen Road to Booonville Road on land owned by the DNR. That portion of the project will begin later this month and will cost $1.5 million.

The second section is also 1.5 miles and will connect Boonville Road to the Katy Trail Depot, 600 East 3rd. It will include a half mile of crushed limestone trail and one mile of hard surface trail on city-owned land in Sedalia's existing right-of-way.

The City of Sedalia has received a $1 million Recreational Trails Program grant from the DNR for this portion. Construction will begin later this summer, it was reported.

Anybody in Sedalia have an update on the trail progress in town?

The section at the North East side of town is still closed but they are working on it..As of 7/7/20..
You can bipass this just follow the signs

I was out that way about a month ago and they were still working on it. You can now see that the trail will run along side the rail tracks. They have a bridge in place but it's a dirt path so the normal gavel of the Katy hadn't been laid. Heavy equipment was still on the east end near Griessen Road. the sign on the Katy said 2019 projected finished date so they are behind.

Not sure when I would have time to check this week, but will put on my riding list.

They have finished the huge sidewalks project from the Depot to Engineer Street. I didn't ride North on Engineer so not sure how it continued north.

I hope that helps.

I was just through there heading SW to Clinton and the detour is well marked on the detoured roads.

Yesterday, I checked out the trail from Griessen road to the Depot. I took pictures but haven't figured out how to post here. The east end between Griessen Rd and Randall Rd of the trail is a parking lot of heavy equipment. West from Randall looks like it is almost completed. From E Boonville looking east it also looks like it is close to completion. I then notice across the street on Boonville then was a trail. I was able to follow it all the way to Engineer and Howard where it turned into a double wide sidewalk which lead to the Depot. That was a nice surprise to get off the road and the hills of the marked road route from Griessen to the depot.

If you would like to avoid the road route, you can head east from the depot on the double wide sidewalk to Engineer street, turn left/north to Howard (just pass the railroad crossing) turn right/east and follow the trail to Boonville st. This will be the end of the current path. You will see the trail across the street but that is the section still being worked on. Turn right/east on Boonville street. Turn left/north on Randall Rd. You will pass the trail again and see the heavy equipment. watch for dogs at the corner of Randall and Griessen. (The one who likes to chase wasn't out yesterday)Turn right/east on Griessen. Down the hill to the trail head on the left. I'll put pictures on fans of the Katy Trail FB page.

Thanks for the detailed information. Honestly I am just a little disappointed that you can't find any updates posted by the city or DNR. It should be nice once it is done though.

The only portion of the KATY Trail that I have not ridden is from Booneville to Jeff City. Where might I find information on the current shape of that portion of the trail. Is there work going on to fix the portion of the trail that was greatly damaged by the flooding last year??? I am not interested in the detours that take you out on the roadways. Anybody heard of anything with repairs for this portion of the trail??

The map represents it well. I’d call it a diagonal line. Hasn’t changed much through the years.

Ken Mcdaniel
From west to east
Once you get close to Rocheport you will come to a barricade blocking the trail and to the right will be a walkway bridge that goes to the Davisdale parking lot.. You have 2 options: if your on a 2wheel bicycle you can go around the barricade and continue up the trail to the new levee. Once ontop the levee you will see the trail bridge thats washed out. Go down the levee to the right of the washed out bridge and cross the creek to get back on trail. Option 2: Where the barricade is across the trail go rigbt across little walkway bridge into Davisdale parking lot and cross straight across Hwy 40 onto gravel road and then go up levee and cross the creek on the right side of the washed out trail bridge.. You will see an old concrete slab across creek..was there about a week ago and didnt even have to take off my shoes.. We were on recumbent trikes so we did option 2..
Hope this helps.