Katy Trail Forum

I am planning on and end to end bike trip on the Katy trail. Can someone recommend a detailed bike map of the full trail? I see nothing on line that even comes close. I'm talking a physical map. Not the online maps which don't help.

I have never seen a “detailed” printed Katy Trail map.

There are three printed maps that I’m aware of. They all show the route of the trail with towns and mile markers, but please be aware that you won’t get details like surrounding roads or off-trail towns.

[1] MO State Parks publishes a glossy brochure type map. You can often find these at trailheads, although many times the trailhead mapholders are empty. I believe MO State Parks will mail you one if you request: https://mostateparks.com/page/contact-us

[2] We sell a laminated map on this website: https://bikekatytrail.com/merchandise.aspx#map
Again, it gives you the route which you can see in relation to the river, with trail towns and mile markers, and distance info – but no details beyond that.

[3] At the bottom of the Interactive Map page ( https://bikekatytrail.com/katy-trail-map.aspx ) are links to PDFs which contain basic maps similar to what is explained above, as well as mileage charts. You can download and print these, or have it on your phone in a pinch.

I know these aren’t what you had in mind, but I wanted to provide some kind of answer for you. If anyone else knows of other maps, please do share.

Maps or not, have fun out there on the trail – happy trails!

Maybe what you are really looking for are one of the Books written about each stop, with a Map included. The first time I rode end to end, I had read a copy first, and took it with me on my ride.

Thank you so much for your help.

Would you recommend camping at Coopers in Easley or at Katy Roundhouse?

If you can tell us why you want a map, maybe we can figure out a solution for you.

We don't have ebikes. We need advice on the most interesting parts of the trail - rural. Not invested in biking through cities.

Here is a very comprehensive book about the trail. Well worth the cost.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1835639275/the-complete-katy-trail-guidebook-hiking?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_ps-b-books_movies_and_music&utm_custom1=_k_Cj0KCQjw4a3OBhCHARIsAChaqJMm6Q1YljzuZe_9Im2PBT1BZwtXHMIY3gJdp1YRLHrIODb0QIVUuQ4aAiS_EALw_wcB_k_&utm_content=go_22195702280_177315946471_731791293836_aud-313421751817:pla-314262775427_c__1835639275_12768591&utm_custom2=22195702280&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22195702280&gbraid=0AAAAADtcfRJN70P1RJxnr7erZJtnylQR6&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4a3OBhCHARIsAChaqJMm6Q1YljzuZe_9Im2PBT1BZwtXHMIY3gJdp1YRLHrIODb0QIVUuQ4aAiS_EALw_wcB

Thanks for your help. I'll try to find the book.

Do you recommend any campgrounds right on the trail - Katy Roundhouse or Cooper's?

I've not camped so I really couldn't say. Others may wish to chime in. BTW - that book is very informative. I believe #11 is the current edition. Enjoy!

We've stayed at the Katy Roundhouse several times....it is convenient and quiet. Same with Steamboat Junction. Have not stayed at Coopers Landing but have stopped for drinks and snacks. They have bands from time to time which may or may not be desirable.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean, but I would say that none of the trail would be considered "biking through cities."

How many days do you want to spend riding?

Agree and good point Bill.

The Katy passes through very small rural towns. Through them, for the most part you are still on the trail or designated streets.

Sedalia is near 22k. Boonville is near 8k.

The Facebook page says they closed at the end of 2025.

Thank you John for catching that. I have removed the listing.

Looking for a list of shuttle services between St Charles / St Louis and Clinton. I will be arriving in St Charles / St Louis later this summer and would like to hire a shuttle service over to Clinton so I can start my KATY trail ride back to St Charles. Another option would be to simply rent a car and drive it one way. Thank you.

Use the Trip Planner above and select Shuttle to generate a list between the towns of your choice.

Thank you!!

Contact Bike Stop Cafe in St. Charles (or check out their website). They offer shuttle service anywhere along the trail. My wife and I used them last year to drop us off in Clinton, MO and we rode the entire trail back. It was $240 for the both of us, hope this helps and enjoy the Katy Trail!

Amtrak is another possibility, but you may need to modify your itinerary such as where you start, etc. Sedalia is probably the closest to Clinton where you would ride to Clinton and then back to Sedalia. Or take Amtrak to Lees Summit, but LS would require about ten miles of road to reach Pleasant Hill to then get on the Rock Island and then ride to Windsor. There is a ten mile gap in the Rock Island trail between Lees Summit and Pleasant Hill.
Note that only regular size or type bikes or e-bikes allowed on train, not recumbent or trikes or tandems. The Amtrak River Runner doesn’t have an official baggage car, only passenger cars which is where the bikes are stored, either in a space created by where they removed a few seats in the coach section, OR if you upgrade to business class they might have you store it in a corridor against a railing in the business class car which is what I did. I made a video about this last September in the Fans of Katy Trail or the Katy Trail Riders Facebook page. Also, Amtrak only allows four bikes per the entire train due to the storage limitations. I suggest booking in advance and/or booking on a weekday for better chances of getting a spot. The only way to see if space is available is to reserve a spot for you, add that spot to your “cart” and then as a part of the reservation process is to add your bike as cargo. You don’t actually have to “check out” (and pay) you can simply exit the reservation process.

Is there a less expensive way to shuttle than what the bike shop cafe shows?

We're thinking of camping at the Katy Trail Campground on the trail and going out east from there. We don't have ebikes but we are wondering if there is a service that would take us back to the campground. We have our old regular bikes.

I'm not aware of anyplace named "KATY Brail Campground." What city/trailhead is it near?

I meant KATY Trail. Sorry.

Thank you everybody for your informative replies. I might take the Amtrak to Sedalia and then shuttle from there to lower the cost. Thanks again.

You might check into taking the train further west to Lees Summit and take a shuttle to Pleasant Hill and take the Rock Island Trail to Windsor. From there you can go west to Clinton and back track east to go to St Charles or you could just go east from Windsor to St Charles depending on how important it is to start at Clinton.

Some people have biked on roads from Lees Summit to Pleasant Hill if you want to do that in place of a shuttle.

A one way car rental can be much cheaper than a shuttle service. Parking is free and easy in Clinton.

Re Amtrak: All of the bike slots were full when I tried to go west from St Louis. The guy in the ticket office told me it was the conductor's discretion whether to find space for my bike. The conductor couldn't have been nicer, and wedged my bike into a recess in the vestibule. Go to the platform and ask, they will probably accommodate you.

Pro tip: Amtrak conductors are hard working people in a demanding occupation. They also have a great deal of discretion in whether that bike goes on the train, or not. Bring cash and tip them first. Also, don’t be the problem passenger. Be ready to load immediately including having your panniers/bags/etc removed. It’s ok to make two trips, coming back to get the bags. Know how to move your gear and bike swiftly. The train operates on a strict timetable, don’t be the cause of a delay, because the conductor has many people to safely and efficiently move on/off the train.

For anyone biking the trail and planning to stay at the Marriott in Jeff City this summer the bridge closing below will make getting to the hotel a lot harder.

https://krcgtv.com/news/local/bolivar-street-bridge-in-jefferson-city-to-close-on-april-6-for-113-day-rehabilitation

The camping area is about 2 miles "west" of the trailhead in Hartsburg. As others have noted, there are no facilities besides a fire ring.

That said, the trailhead (2 miles away) has water and flushing toilets. If you are there on the right night of the week, you could find a restaurant open in Hartsburg. Or, you could cook a meal in city park near facilities, and then head to the camping area.

If you take the trail uphill from the fire ring, there is a mowed area about 30 yards up the hill, as Rick 76034 stated, which could be a little quieter and more private.

If you follow the trail up to the top of the ridge and walk out to the scenic overlook (about 0.7 miles) there's a pretty amazing view of the river valley.

This should take you to a little photo album.
https://www.facebook.com/bill.rodgersjr/posts/pfbid02cGaqYPnYUMMXiVAcJ1p7xDwzo8ygYHabdh2aaMDhCp1yAWPP35o6yELDxpbnPFKHl?notif_id=1773614244568483¬if_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif

Why would you go here instead of camping in the town park?
quieter
fewer people around
you want to have a campfire
hammock spots

This place has reopened. Check their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/HartsburgGrand) or call them for hours. As usual, do not trust hours shown on any other source.

We are going to ride sections of the Katy trail in early April.
We can't do long sections - no ebikes. And we need to have a campground close by to the trail.
We could go out and then shuttle as I see some shuttle service is available.
We like historic sections and rural sections and small town sections - no cities.

Please advise.

Thanks so much.

Travels with Nellie

Many enjoy Windsor as we're the crossroads of the Katy and Rock Island Trails so you can ride out three directions! A beautiful rural area with great lodging, restaurants, coffee shop and stores! We're surrounded by a large Amish community with two bulk food stores and Tues/Fri produce auction. There are two campgrounds - Katy-Rock Junction next to the trail and Farrington Park which has RV hook ups also. Enjoy your Katy adventure!

The Hermann area, east and west of McKittrick is a peaceful small town area. Hermann itself is a nice town with a rich German heritage. The wine cellar tour at Stone Hill winery offers a throwback prohibition era cellar. For camping options along the trail, check out the trip planner on this site to locate options.

Maybe 3 days in Windsor to do both directions on the Katy, then one way on the Rock Island.
Then 2 days at Cooper's Landing.
Then 2 days at the campground at Portland.
Then 2 days at Klondike Park.

If I had to cut back, the first cut would be to skip Portland.

If you have any idea how far out from your overnight spot you'd want to ride, then I could sharpen up the recommendations.

Found the Enchanted Owl through a FB posting. It is not listed on the bikekatytrail site. It is a few miles off the trail, but they offer a free shuttle with pickup at the Augusta Trailhead.

This is a really nice place to stay. Very peaceful. We were able to see the northern lights! We got a to-go order from Holzhausers to bring here for dinner, since I don't think that there are other food options. If I recall correctly it was pretty expensive, but it is a big, comfortable place.

The House rents for:
Friday & Saturday
$350 per night for up to 6 people. $58 per person

Sunday-Thursday
$250 per night for up to 6 people. $41 per person


The apartment rents for:
Friday & Saturday
$125 per night for up to 2 people. $62 per person

Sunday-Thursday
$75 per night for up to 2 people. $37.50 per person

Either option is very cost effective IMO.

Found this place on FaceBook when searching for a place to stay between Rocheportand McKittrick.. It isnt in the trip planner.

Good catch. I had searched for it recently on Google Maps. It might show up for someone if they search for Katy Caboose Hartsburg. It is listed in AirBnB, VRBO, etc.

The address would be something like 14 E Main Street.

I suppose that this is the old listing.
https://bikekatytrail.com/katyrest-caboose.aspx

Does anyone know if they close for the season? Unable to reach to make a reservation.

According to Google Maps, this hotel is permanently closed.

Thank you for catching that. I have removed it from the listings.

The trail drainage can improve if we get rid of the leaf filters. The last time the trail was clear was Memorial Day 2004, when the filters were washed out. I've seen the trail better since then, but the runoff is still an issue. The runoff should be addressed. The runoff is typically higher after larger storms, but even during smaller storms there is still standing water in some areas. The leaf filters seem to trap the water rather than allow it to pass through.

Wondering if Deon's is still open. going to be on the trail the last week of March, 2026 and camping at the city park Wednesday March 25th. Would like to swing by for some food!

So does anyone including Ray the Webmaster have any "juice" with the State Parks Ride Foundation people to start the organized ride back up in late June? I believe they cancelled the last one in 2022. They had a maximum 300 rider limit. Was it a resource funding issue or not enough volunteers or not enough vendor interest? I did a couple of them and they were great. Who can shed light on this subject?

Well, to start off the annual ride was organized by employees of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Many of the original employees retired or were promoted and no longer were available. It was a major commitment on the part of those employees to organize the events and manage what I would call herding cats for five days. I had the experience of volunteering as a sweep for many years. Our job was to follow the group, keep the stragglers moving along and assisting with mechanical issues and call in for rides when needed. Then COVID hysteria came along and the DNR employees had to shut down the ride. I’m guessing it was hard to get back in the rhythm of working the annual ride plus other commercial organizations stepped in, filling the need for the DNR‘s organized rides.

The ride was fun to do each year, I met many good people while volunteering.

There are options today even though the DNR does not do their sponsored rides.

The Big BAM on the Katy is upcoming June 7-13 and October 11-17 2026. Also a Big BAM Route 66 ride September 4-10.

https://www.bigbamride.com/

Besides Covid, floods were an issue. Also there are tours run by commercial interests like Big BAM and Bubba's Pampered Pedalers to name just two.

Thanks for the info. about the DNR ride. Most people don't know what a sweep is or does and it is a valuable position. I liked talking to the volunteers at the rest stops.

Also I've ridden the KT several times end to end both directions, try to shoot for May and August. I've run into the BAM groups in the past. Pedalers Jamboree people from Columbia too. The BAM Route 66 (Joplin to Eureka) looks good. Bicycle Illinois (St Louis to Joliet) is having one also Sep 20-27. I believe both MO and IL have invested some money for the combination 250 USA and Route 66 100 yr anniversary.

Thanks for your comments. Sweeps are valuable positions and wear many hats for rides. I liked the DNR ride especially the rest stops. I've ridden the KT several times since discovering it in 2005. I try to ride it twice a year with my wife as SAG. The Route 66 BAM ride looks interesting. Illinois is having one also Sep 20-27.

This year, 2026.\nI will be offering shovel service from point to point on the Katy Trail.The name my company is katy trail shuttle i will have two bike racks , one on the front one on the back that will possibly hold ten bikes. My name is Marvin Cotten then retired for 6 years and now I'm back some of you might remember me.I ran missouri river taxi in Boonville Missouri. Hope\nTo see some familiar faces, looking forward to meet new people.You can get a hold of me buy calling 660-621-2688, thank you. Have a nice day looking forward to spring.

Good to know Marvin. We will be needing a shuttle in May. I will get with you when are plans get a little more locked down.