The Bicycle Adventure Club - Come Ride With Us!

Katy Trail 2025 Section 2

October 18th to October 25th

Ride Director: Glenn Rudolph
Ride Co-Director: Barb Rudolph
Ride Driver: Stephen Marino
Report by: David Glidden

The Katy Trail is 240 miles of well-groomed, crushed limestone across the southern tier of the state of Missouri. Much of the former MKT (Missouri, Kansas & Texas) railroad (now a linear Missouri State park) follows the Missouri River. Kiosks and depots long the trail feature signs detailing the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s travels along the Missouri, and the history of the MKT (or Katy) Railroad.

Our bicycle tour started and ended in charming, historic St. Charles, MO, which is the effective eastern terminus of the trail since the remaining 13 miles of the trail to Machens offers no services. Some of us on the tour arrived early to complete the 13 miles from St. Charles before our tour started, while others continued to the end after completing the last day’s ride from Augusta to St. Charles.

The Lewis and Clark Boathouse and Museum near the hotel in St. Charles presents the challenges and achievements of this pioneering exploration from St. Louis to the junction of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean near present-day Astoria, Oregon.

After our opening social hour and dinner in St. Charles, we traveled on vans the next morning to Clinton, the western start of the Katy Trail. That afternoon we bicycled to the high point of the trail on our way to the historic town of Sedalia (notable as being the birthplace of Scott Joplin).

The first couple days were windy, pushing us as we cycled through rural farming areas with few towns or services. After staying in Boonville, our third day of cycling started by biking across the Missouri River (on a safe bicycle and pedestrian lane) to the capital of Missouri, Jefferson City. On this third day of cycling we started our ongoing connection with the Missouri River—sometimes bicycling with the river below us and tall bluffs above us, and other times cycling through lush farmlands. Periodically we encountered elaborate kiosks at the former train stations, with historic signage, and usually water and bathrooms.

Highlights include the restored train station in Sedalia and its gift shop with Katy Trail jerseys, the charming German influenced town of Hermann and the Hermann Crown Suites hotel, and the small town of Augusta with two active wineries near our Inn.

As usual with a BAC ride, we enjoyed meeting and getting to know people from across the country, and we experienced a well-planned and managed trip, with caring service from the tour leaders and the luggage driver.

We had perfect weather—low to mid 40s in the early morning but warming into the 60s each day, with no rain. We thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this tour and highly recommend the Katy Trail for the camaraderie of the BAC members and tour leaders, the history along the trail, the intrinsic beauty of the Missouri River, the rich farmland, and the extremely well-maintained, 240-mile-long Katy Trail State Park.

As we packed up on our final day, we were sad to leave the longest rail trail in the United States, but we were smiling with the memories of a fun week experiencing this historic area with new friends in the BAC.