Reply to Ride from Kirkwood Train station to St. Charles

I am planning on riding the Katy trail, east to west. Catching the train from Sedalia back to Kirkwood. Can you tell me what the ride is like from Kirkwood to St. Charles? Or do you know of any shuttles that would take me back to my car?

Also have read that there are some trail closures. Is there a place I can find what they are. I will be going in October. Will the reroutes be marked in any way? Thanks!

In order to ride from St. Charles to Kirkwood, you need to ride about 15 miles on roads or sidewalks. The question then is if you are comfortable riding in traffic or if you would rather go slow on city sidewalks and through residential subdivisions as much as possible. If you don't mind some city riding, I can help you map out what I think is the best route. The two main trail closures involve either taking a 4 mile hilly detour or walking your bike across a low water creek crossing (3" to 12" of water depending on rain) and a 2 mile flat road detour around a huge rock slide. These detours are not clearly marked so you need to plan them ahead of time. Octoberfest is also huge along the Katy Trail so bike tickets are hard to get unless you purchase the train tickets well in advance.

Thanks Mark,

Thanks for the info. I think we decided to do a shuttle back. Less aggravation and probably save us a little time

I did see someone's post about the detour he took through the stream. Our miles aren't too long, so I don't think we will mind the extra miles and hills. Though I will keep it in mind when I get there.

Looking forward to the ride. After my bike trip was cancelled because of COVID-19, this was the next trip I could think of.

mark is there a way to walk or carry bike over the rock slide instead taking the detour.

The rock slide is huge and you can see it clearly on google maps if you zoom in around 2 miles west of Portland, Missouri along Logan Creek. The road detour is also easily visible using Schmid Way and a short section of 94 Highway. There are a few videos posted of people climbing over the fence and boulders, but I would not recommend it.

ok thanks Mark

The detour on 94 around the rockslide is really easy. It’s very short - definitely closer to 1 mile than 2. I would ride on 94 before trying to negotiate a walk/bike around on the trail. It really is no big deal and I hate road biking.

On getting around the rock slide between MM 117 and 118, here's the method (recommended by a local!) I took recently: east of Steedman, stay on the trail and keep your eye out for a gravel road/driveway crossing the trail that has a green fencepost with an orange-painted top (on the south side of the trail - it's Schmid Way on Google Maps). Turn right here and go a short distance. At the next intersection (gravel & gravel, naturally), turn left and follow a curving gravel road that'll feel more like a farmer's tractor access road. Remain on this gravel until it ends on 94. Turn left on 94 - you can ride it, but walking your bike along the grass on the north side of 94 is also doable (and, to me, safer in terms of avoiding drivers traveling at speeds of 55+ mph on a shoulderless road). You'll probably collect tiny seeds in your shoes and grab tall grasses with your drivetrain, but to me, the tradeoff is more than worth it. Remain on/along 94 for just under a mile until you reach where it crosses a creek. 94's bridge over that creek has a walkable shoulder; stay on it and look to your left for more gravel (a road, a driveway, and the trail itself). At the travel road just east of the bridge, turn left, then turn left where the trail intersects it. The trail passes under the 94 bridge along Logan Creek.

I can also offer thoughts on the street routing and conditions between St. Charles and Kirkwood: take a look at Strava's heat map for that area. There are some streets that are heavily used by local cyclists, and there are sometimes ways to snake more slowly through densely-populated neighborhoods if you prefer to avoid busier streets. If you prefer to jump off the trail at the bridge over I-64 (in Chesterfield), it'd be a shorter ride to Kirkwood. Either way, I suggest that you cross-reference Google Maps on the Bicycling setting with Strava heat maps.

thanks for the input for directions im going from Kirkwood station heading west Ive been looking at google maps two different routes the 364 bridge or the 40 bridge by the spirit of Saint Lois bridge ill be riding on a Sunday afternoon hoping for less traffic.

If you don't care about visiting St. Charles, then I would take the route across the 40 Hwy. bridge that runs past the Spirit of St. Louis airport. The low traffic route that I prefer uses some roads that aren't shown on the Google maps bicycling layer. Let me know if you want any help figuring out a good route.

mark does that bridge have a separate bike lane.

Yes...the Missouri River bike crossing is completely separated from the interstate by a concrete barrier wall and fence on the west side of the bridge. You take the paved levee trail along northeast side of the bridge, curve under the bridge abutment, and loop up to the separated bike path on the west side of the bridge. Once across the river, the path loops right down onto the Katy Trail.
The one good thing about my preferred route from Kirkwood is that it mainly uses paved trails and bike shoulders, plus if you don't like riding in traffic, there is usually a four to five foot wide sidewalk available for use. I normally only use those sidewalk sections if there is a long uphill.

Are your bike paths in that part of the city marked with names like in Kansas City area all of the bike paths are named like for instance Indian creek park or trolley trail park usually with a sign with a map on it.If so what trail should i look for i have no problem riding in traffic but being in a city im not familiar with just soon ride a trail thanks again.

St. Louis has started working on an extensive greenway system that is marked and named, but virtually none of those trails connect well to the Katy Trail in either Kirkwood or west county. So that leaves you with having to know where the unmarked bike lanes and trails are.
The key to my route from the Kirkwood train station is to take side streets until you get to N. Ballas Road at Manchester (Route 100). North Ballas Road has a good marked bike lane/shoulder and even though it is hilly, you take that for 2 miles north to Clayton Road. Clayton Road has a really nice paved bike trail that you will take west for 4 miles to Old Woods Mill Road (right before Route 141). The last mile of the Clayton trail narrows to a standard sidewalk width, but it is in great shape and the route is really nice. Take Old Woods Mill Road north for a half mile and it appears that the road dead ends into a cul-de-sac, but there is a bike/ped cut through to continue north on Salt Mill Road. Turn left on South Outer Forty Road, go over Hwy. 40, and then continue west for 2 miles on North Outer Forty Road (it has a nice wide shoulder) until you reach Chesterfield Parkway. You take Chesterfield Parkway to a couple of sidestreets and eventually work your way to Baxter Road, Edison Road, through the mall parking area, over Hwy. 40 at Boone's Crossing, and the paved levee trail across the Missouri River to the Katy Trail is right there. I have an entire Google Map made up of the route, but this website usually flags web links like that as spam.

Here is the google map link that details my preferred route from the Kirkwood Amtrak station to the Katy Trail over the 40 Highway Missouri River bridge: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/edit?hl=en&mid=13MbMW7SVJshGMiFx69kJUAGBtFcL7iuc&ll=38.64788317814115%2C-90.54855556438729&z=13