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Reply to short day trips
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Deb from Bella Vista AR on 9/29/2019 1:41:23 PM:
Wanting to have a home base and just do very short day trips which include lunch stop. Any suggestions from those who are familiar with the trail. Where would the best home base and the best short (scenic) trails to hit? I was thinking about starting a Defiance as it seems to be the starting point with the shortest area between trail heads or towns. Comments or suggestions encouraged Please!
 
Jim from St. Thomas on 9/30/2019 6:43:42 AM:
I would lean more towards Hermann. It is a more centrally located on the eastern half of the trail so it would give you more options for your day trips with shorter drives. It also has the advantage of more dining options in the evening.
 
David from Columbia on 10/4/2019 2:47:18 PM:
I am from Columbia and know the trail from Rocheport to Cooper's Landing (just W of Easly) and then the MKT connector into Columbia. Columbia has nice and quite extensive trail system around town. Rocheport has at least one place to eat on the trail, and a bluff-top winery (hard to ride to if not experienced, IMO). Beyond that, there are no places to eat or get refreshments (reliably) anywhere on the Katy between Rocheport and Cooper's Landing. Cooper's Landing is no longer reliably open this year ... it had extensive flooding, and the new owner simply is not manning the store (literally) during regular hours.

Bottom line, a person could spend a whole day riding around on the Columbia semi-urban trails and have a ton of options for eating and sleeping. Those trails are lovely, wooded, affairs with cool bridges over Ozark streams with some foot and bike traffic, but not a ton. If staying in Columbia, Rocheport and back is roughly a 40 mile round trip. If you could make that distance, going there, eating, and coming back is quite a lovely ride. Columbia to Cooper's Landing and back is roughly 35 miles, but again, nothing to eat along the way.
 
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