McKittrick Trailhead

Leaving this comment about the Hermann City Park on the McKittrick Trailhead forum as there is no forum link for Hermann. It was Octoberfest when I was riding the Trail from October 9th through the 14th. I wanted to visit the German town of Hermann during this month. Hermann is two miles south from the McKittrick TH. It was Day 4. The City Park is $15/night with a limited number of fire rings. There is a shower house which I needed badly since Hartsburg's shower option was unavailable. You basically pick a grassy spot for a tent and call it your site. There were no more fire rings available so I built my fire in the pedestal grill located on one side of the pavilion. The pavilion has power to charge electronics and a plethora of picnic tables. The City Park was full of RVs and other tent campers; however, I was completely alone between the pavilion and playground. Occasionally a few kids would play on the equipment but at nightfall it was fairly peaceful given the fact that the park is adjacent to Highway 19. I discovered Stone Hill Winery was .5 miles away and ready for a break after setting up camp so I rode the half mile, up a VERY steep hill to the winery where I bought a bottle of wine and sat at a picnic table on a hill overlooking the residential section of Hermann. Live music played in the background. They have a restaurant on site so since it was dinner time, I decided to eat there. You can bring your bottle of wine in the restaurant which I enjoyed with the best trout, fingerling potatoes and roasted Brussel sprouts. Afterwards, I rode to Casey's and bought a bundle of wood for my 'grill' fire. The next morning I enjoyed breakfast at Ainsley's. Get there early as it's popular. They take you in the order you arrived. It was delicious! Great start to Day 5's ride to Washington.

Is there parking for a 20 foot camper at the trailhead so we can bike and then head out to our campsite?

You can see the lot size on google maps quite well. It is a good-sized lot (could hold a trailer), but it does fill up on busy biking days. The current satellite image on google maps shows a mostly full lot (15 cars), so that would limit your options.

Give Joey a call. She is the mayor of McKittrick and owner of Joey's Birdhouse. Am sure she could offer you some good advice in McKittrick. She is very cool. (314) 698-9152

I'm trying to check how to go on amtrak from centralia IL. to what stops it makes on the katy trail or whatever would be the closest. My bike club would be interested in going. Thankyou

Follow this link for details about riding Amtrak to/along the Katy Trail - where the train stops (Washington, Hermann, Jeff City, Sedalia), and how to get to the trail from there. This page does not tell you how to get from Centralia IL to the cross-Missouri route, but Amtrak's website should be able to tell you that (you'll see a link to their site on that page).

Thae Amtrak listed above is excellent. If you reserve ahesd of time they will install hangers in one of the cars so that you can hang your bike and keep your eye on itn Needless to say cannot keep them in the aisle and there is no longer a "baggage car". Thanks to Trail Net in StL.

Kasko

If you're looking to ride Amtrak from Centralia, that means you'll have to board the Illini or City of New Orleans to Chicago (bikes not allowed on either) and then ride the Ann Rutledge to get to Washington, Herman, Jefferson City, or Sedalia stations along the KATY trail. Alternately, you can ride train south to Carbondale, get a thruway (bus) connection to St. Louis to ride either the Ann Rutledge or the Kansas City Mule to the KATY.

The other problem, unless they've changed their policy, is that they strictly limit bikes on trains (I'm not sure the number--2 or 4,I think, so that won't work well for a bike club.