Trail Condition-Clinton to Augusta

Figured I would share my experience on the trail from a few weeks ago for anyone still interested in riding a portion of the trail yet this year.

We started in Clinton and road to Klondike park (between Augusta and Matson) and back 9/28-10/3. I would imagine the trail is close to the same shape now, but cant be positive as the river was coming up fast on our way back (10/1 & 10/2). If I recall correctly we only had 3 detours from the trail (4 if you count Klondike but we were camping there regardless).

The first being right after Boonville. We took the bridge on Hwy 40 over the Missouri. There is a pedestrian side to the bridge which we rode on but there is also a large shoulder on both sides of the bridge. Once over the bridge you ride roughly 1 mile on Hwy 40 until you reach 345 (a gravel on your left). This detour was super simple and relatively safe in my opinion. The majority of Hwy 40 had a large shoulder (there was a very short section that didn't).

The second detour was between New Franklin and Rocheport where you will get back on Hwy 40. This is the one that everyone on the forums is concerned with. We hit this detour around 10am on a Sunday. There is no shoulder, but I really didn't think it was to bad. There was traffic but in the 4-5 mile stretch it was less than a dozen cars and almost everyone was pretty courteous giving us ample room as they passed. To be honest the worst part is when you first get on the highway you have a pretty good climb that goes for a 3/4-1 mile or so. Once you get to the top of the hill its smooth sailing and you can coast at 30+mph down and cars that do approach from behind can see if they have oncoming traffic to contend with. I will say you need to check what the current status of this detour is because on our way back Salt Creek was backed up and Hwy 40 was down to 1 lane (and the river was still rising). Also the section between Coopers landing (prior to Easley) through Wilton was rough. There were sections of loose large pointy rocks and several sections of very loose deep sand. We rode the trail all the way through this even though there was a portion that said closed. Overall this might be a five mile stretch and of that 5 miles all the worst parts combined amount to about 1 mile that takes a lot of energy to ride. It had rained the night before on our way east and at the time I thought it sucked because there was standing water on the trail in a lot of sections and all of our panniers were covered in mud, but to be honest it was better than our way back west when it was dry and we kept sinking in the sand. For reference I had 700x35 tires and my brother had 700x41 tires with about 50 lbs of gear/food each. We fared about the same.

The third detour was the rock slide between Steedman and Portland. We and the GPS struggled to find the detour and ended up riding Hwy 94 for a couple extra miles because of it. Where the trail is posted closed you can actually ride down a little further (maybe 1/2 mile) and then take a driveway off the trail on to Schmid Way (gravel road) and then jump on Hwy 94. Again pretty simple and safe detour either way.

Also the hill to get into Klondike Park was a killer, but the beers and food at the Augusta Brewery probably didn't help matters. Regardless its a healthy 10% grade for the 1/10 mile from the trail to the park.

The only other thing worthwhile of noting is the stretch between Mokane (stopped at grocery store) to Rhineland (baseball field hydrant) and Rhineland to Marthasville had little to no water stops. There is a little self service spot at a farm house (I think its Steamboat springs or something like that, right past Bluffton and on the trail) and there is a bar in Treloar, but they are closed on Mondays which was the day we were coming through. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but when I looked at the official Katy trail map for services if it said water I assumed that meant at the depot which isn't necessarily the case (you may have to ride through/into town to find a business that is open)

If anyone would like I can send you my GPX files from our ride.

Dear Toby

I can endorse what you write about the trail; we rode Sedalia to Defiance 26 September to 1 October.

Just want to add (all heading eastwards):

- out of Boonville - '345' isn't that easy to recognise; we weren't sure about it so we rode on and turned left on 5 towards New Franklin trailhead.

- we found 40 between New Franklin and Rocheport fine to ride on; but the hill at the start of the detour onto 40 is steep; just remember to turn off 40 onto 240 down to Rocheport.

- we avoided the rough bit around Cooper's Landing by getting a shuttle from Marvin at CBAM shuttle on 660 621 3488; he was great. We decided on the shuttle as we had fairly narrow tyres and all our stuff with us on panniers.

- Steedman to Portland: about 100 yards before the trail closure sign is a gravel track to the right as you approach the closure; about 400 yards down that you come to route 94 (you can't see 94 from the trail there), turn left, ride a mile over a bridge, and just after the bridge cross over to a track and drop down under the bridge and back on the trail.

- Klondike Park: the tarmac hill up from the trail is steep, very; we walked it. Then the signs are good - you ride about a mile or more through the park. There are one or two steep bits with sharp turns but we did them fine with all our stuff on the bikes and caliper brakes (not discs).

- Water from Rhineland to Marthasville: we also hit Treloar on a Monday when the one bar is shut. There is no water at the trailheads on this stretch.

Hope you all get some cooler weather!!