Any flooding??

Planning on doing the DNR Katy ride next week and was curious if anyone knew if the Missouri River was getting close to the trail at any points.

Hey There!

Just returned from running the Booneville to Hartsburg run and the river did not flood the trail from those two points. The river was very high and it was spectacular to watch! Lots of wildlife (more than normal) I noticed. A deer jumped out in front of me and scared the ^&%%^% out of me but she was beautiful! A few snakes on the trail and lots of rabbits. Not sure why so many this time, but my thought is because the river is substaintially higher than normal? Hope this helps! Believe me...you will love the route right now! I will be back this weekend for a two day century run.

Thanks for the quick response! Sounds like barring any more major rains, the trail sounds in good shape...at least to Hartsburbg!

I have been told that water is over the trail by the Wilton Boat Club dock and when I rode from Hartsburg to Coopers Landing last Wed. June 11, the river was almost up to the trail and very, very close to many of the bridges. I am sure water is over the trail at other places.

I wonder how far out the the way the detour around the flooded area west of Rocheport is? I called Mo DNR and didn't get in touch with anyone that had any information about the detour. It has been a few days since the post about the floods... any current info available?

Trail was still fenced off this am. I took HWY 40 at Davis Dale CA to HWY 240 Spur to Rocheport. Just climb hill and careful of 60-70MPH traffic with poor shoulder. No real added time to detour.

From DNR, posted today 6/16: The trail from MM 153.6 (Hartsburg) to MM 157.5 (just west of Wilton) is temporarily closed due to flooding. There is NO ALTERNATE ROUTE so trail users should avoid this section.

I was hoping to join up with the "Ride West" Katy ride on Wednesday... it sounds like there could be some problems with the route. Is the ride going on as scheduled?

The DNR ride is underway, but I don't know what they plan to do about flooding on the Trail-
-maybe somebody on the ride will post and let us know!

ROCHEPORT IS HIGH & DRY... To reiterate what someone already posted, there is a short stretch between New Franklin & Rocheport that is covered in water... Easy bike around on the roads... Take HWY 40 at Davis Dale Conservation Area to HWY 240 Spur to Rocheport. Just climb hill and careful of 60-70MPH traffic with poor shoulder. No real added time to detour. So if you were leaving New Franklin, heading east on the trail, when you were just about 3-4 miles out from Rocheport, you get to a point where there's a concrete highway that goes above you (this is Hwy 40). Davisdale Conservation Area is on your south (or right)... Leave the Katy Trail, take Hwy 40 east (uphill), it's long and gradual. Rural highway... It'll drop back down, flatten out, and in a couple miles you'll see the Hwy 240 Spur and a Rocheport arrow sign to the right (south)... Turn right, bike one more mile on blacktop. 240 Spur crosses over Moniteau Creek on a bridge and then it becomes Rocheport's Central Street. Continue straight and you run right into the Katy Trail in about 2 blocks. The Rocheport Tunnel will be to your right at this point. Snap a few pics before turning west and biking several blocks through town. Now you're high & dry!

Last line of my email for New Franklin to Rocheport "bike around" should read: "Snap a few pics before turning east and biking several blocks through town." Now you're high & dry!

Is there any update about the situation at Wilton? What is the expectation of the conditions this weekend the 20-22 (barring further rain)?

Thanks

As of today when I was out on the trail there are signs posted about the trail being closed in the Wilton area. There is a section of MKT trail south from Columbia flooded, but there is a alternate route available that is not out of the way at all.

We plan to ride from Sedalia to St. Charles this Thursday through Saturday and keep getting conflicting stories from people we call. The trail's flooded, the trail's not flooded, the trail has an inch of water on it. We need to cancel if we can't get through the Wilton/Hartsburg area. Can anyone help us?

Bikerswife, Trail is closed from Hartsburg to just west of Wilton and they have posted a detour along gravel roads and paved county roads. Large gravel and several hills, some steep.
Mo State Parks Katy Trail site says:
Trail Conditions
6/16/08 -- The trail from MM 153.6 (Hartsburg) to MM 157.5 (just west of Wilton) is temporarily closed due to flooding. There is NO ALTERNATE ROUTE so trail users should avoid this section.

The trail from MM 179 to MM 181.5 (west of Rocheport) is temporarily closed due to flooding. Detour routes are posted at

I may make someone at DNR mad with this post, but the trail is now passable between Hartsburg and Wilton if you don't mind a little mud on your frame. The trail is still closed, and at Hartsburg you have to lift your bike over the orange netting since it's blocked at the bridge, whereas at the wilton end you just walk around the netting on the side. There are two flooded sections of trail, no more than 3-4 inches deep, about 30 feet across, and then another section that's wet and muddy. I have 1.25" wide slick tires and did fine. The water line looks like it was maybe 1 foot deep when the river crested, in a few days or less it should recede enough so that there's no water on the trail.

Thanks for your answers. MO State Parks Trail Conditions page now lists only the area West of Rocheport as being closed as of 6/19--so I guess that means the trail is passable at Wilton.

And as of 6/20, the DNR says the entire trail is now open!

Well, I wish the DNR would have taken those orange barriers down on Thursday! I wanted to be a good citizen and NOT lift my bike over it and illegally go on that part of the trail. So, I went the back way (I had gotten a direction chart from someone who had gotten it from someone on the DNR trip). I can tell you that that route was He77! The gravel roads were very rough. I have a cruiser bike, NOT a mountain bike, and I was hauling a one-wheeled tow. Be very glad, fellow bikers, that you do not have to take this. No wonder DNR did not mark this as an official detour. They did not want to be liable for someone having a Heart Attack. I called the DNR at the beginning of the day on Thursday, and the lady did not know what was going on and did not have an update. She simple told me that I was not supposed to go through the orange barriers.
The other detour, at Rochport, was well marked, but I did not like riding on 40 hwy with cars and trucks screaming by at 60 MPH.
Needless to say, that was the worst day I have ever had in two years of riding the KATY from end-to-end.

What is the Katy Trail like between Rocheport and McBaine? Dry?