Best of the Katy Trail - 2024
Scenic, Historic, Iconic, Award-Winning …Missouri’s Katy Trail!
Join us for a more relaxing tour on the Katy Trail. Instead of riding the entire 240 miles in a week, this tour includes what Senior Cycling considers to be the most scenic and interesting parts of the trail, totaling 180 miles.
The portion of the Katy Trail that we'll ride this week follows the Missouri River for 140 miles. A somewhat more relaxed tour gives you more time to embrace some of Missouri’s most scenic regions, including forests, valleys, wetlands and farms. We’ll pass by towering cliffs and places that were part of Lewis and Clark’s famous expedition of 1804-1806. On this tour history buffs will have time to enjoy and read all the historic signs along the trail. We will spend our final night in Augusta and in the morning visit a winery and possibly even Daniel Boone's homestead.
The trail’s name is short for the “MKT” (Missouri-Kansas-Texas) Railroad, on whose bed the trail was built. First opened in 1990 and completed in 2011, the trail is one of the nation’s most popular and well-known Rail-Trails.
The surface is mostly crushed stone and gravel, except for the trail from Clinton to Sedalia, which we're excluding because it frankly isn't very scenic and if it rains this section turns to mud, making riding a challenge. The other section we will not ride is the last 17 miles back into St Charles. This part of the trail becomes very urban and less interesting.
Instead, our last day will be a short ride to the Weldon Spring Conservation area. The beauty and quietness of this area will give you an opportunity to end your tour feeling relaxed and renewed. After a light snack we will shuttle back in the van (17 miles) to St Charles.
Included
- 180 miles of cycling
- 6 days of riding
- 7 nights lodging
- 7 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 3 dinners
- Area-knowledgeable and cycling expert tour guides
- Gratuities for included meals and accommodations
- In-ride drinks and snacks
- Van support
- Turn-by-turn directions with free use of Ride With GPS app
Itinerary
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Day 1 - Saturday
Meet riders at 5:00 pm at our St. Charles hotel for our introductory meeting, followed by dinner nearby.
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Day 2 - Sunday
Travel day. Depart St. Charles at 10:00 am to travel by van to Sedalia, where we will begin our eastward trek on the Katy. Along the way we’ll stop in Columbia for about 2 hours to stretch our legs, see some sights downtown and enjoy lunch. Those who'd like can take an optional out-and-back late afternoon ride on the trail toward Clinton.
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Day 3 - Monday
38 miles – Sedalia to Boonville. We begin our ride at the fully restored trailside depot in Sedalia that offers a wide range of Katy Trail memorabilia for sale. While the scenery from the trail features rolling hills, the riding remains gentle, since the trail follows the old railroad bed along the valley of Shaver Creek. We provide lunch in Pilot Grove, then we finish the day at the Frederick Hotel in Boonville.
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Day 4 - Tuesday
38.6 miles – Boonville to Hartsburg. Now we are riding along the Missouri River, following the historic route of Lewis & Clark. The tall limestone bluffs provide beautiful scenery along the way. At the conclusion of the ride we will shuttle in the van over to Columbia, home of the University of Missouri campus, for our evening accommodations.
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Day 5 - Wednesday
28.6 mi. - We'll shuttle back to our finishing spot from previous day in Hartsburg and cycle to Mokane. We continue following the tree-lined trail between bluffs on one side and the river on the other. We'll have a picnic lunch trailside at the town of Tebbetts. At the end of the ride we will again shuttle to our accommodations in Hermann. Tonight we will lodge at the Hermann Crown Suites.
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Day 6 - Thursday
We will shuttle back to our previous day's stopping point at Mokane and continuing riding east on the trail back to McKittrick, where we'll depart the trail and ride across the Missouri River back into Hermann, enjoying a second night at our downtown hotel. Lunch will be in the town of Portland at a restaurant called Holzhauser's Bar & Grill.
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Day 7 - Friday
38 miles – Hermann to Augusta. Another day of scenic bicycling along the Missouri River! We'll have lunch in Marthasville, then on we ride to Augusta. Tonight we will celebrate our week of riding the Katy with new friends!
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Day 8 - Saturday
12.3 miles – Augusta to the Weldon Springs Conservation area. We'll have a relaxed morning to enjoy our B&Bs before riding about an hour to this 8,400 acre nature preserve along the Missouri River. The Lewis and Clark Trail affords either a five-mile or eight-mile loop hike; both include a few challenging hills and superb overlooks of the Missouri River. Then we'll enjoy a quick snack and then jump in the van for the 25 minute return ride to our starting hotel in St. Charles.
Difficulty Level: Intermediate
This trail has a crushed rock surface which can be soft after a rain. It is quite smooth. Since this is a Rail-Trail, there are no steep hills to climb on your bike, but the longer miles and the softer surface of the trail will appeal to stronger, more experienced riders.
The 1st, 2nd and 5th day of riding are between 36 and 40 mile segments, the 3rd and 4th days are around 27 miles each, the final day is just 12.5 miles + time to explore the 8,400 acre Weldon Springs Conservation Area, which offers five- or eight-mile loop hikes, either of which involves a few challenging hills and superb overlooks of the Missouri River.
Suggested bicycle: Touring bikes, road bikes with larger tires, mountain bikes
Suggested tire size for this tour: at least 32mm or larger, due to the softer trail surface.
Pricing
$2,850 per person (based on double occupancy)
$675 – Single Supplement (extra price to have your own room)
$150 – Bike Rental (helmet and bike bag included)
Your Travel Plans
For this tour we meet riders on Saturday, October 19 at 5:00 pm at our St. Charles hotel, the Country Inn & Suites.
The trip ends on Saturday, October 26. We'll return riders to the same hotel in St. Charles at about 2:00 p.m.
If you are flying, you fly in and out of the St. Louis Lambert International Airport. Our hotel is a quick 8.1 mi/10 min. Uber or Lyft ride from the airport.
If you are driving, meet us at our hotel. You can leave your car at hotel during our tour. We'll try to negotiate free or a good rate
Your Lodging Plans
7 nights of lodging is included as described above. We have made reservations for those nights. A night’s lodging on the day the trip ends, Saturday Oct. 26, is not included. If you'd like to stay in St. Charles or St. Louis that night, you must make your own reservations.
