By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com
Missouri’s Katy Trail, a Rails to Trails Conservancy Hall of Famer, is for bikers who want to ride 240 miles with pure abandon, with not much to distract unless you want to be distracted – such as by the historic markers that are fascinating, complete, and an excellent guide to what to look out for what I guarantee you would never have thought to look for.
Day 4 on Wilderness Voyageur’s six-day Katy Trail bike tour is another vigorous ride, 47.8 miles from the Missouri state capital, Jefferson City, to Hermann (elevation plus 772 ft, down 821 ft).
Starting out, though, we go back up that hill that provided such a dramatic view of the Capital Building the day before, back to the bridge over the river, and down the winding ramp (fun!), to the spur that brings us back onto the Katy Trail exactly where we turned off the day before.
Now we are back in Missouri’s farm land and a landscape that seems unchanged in 100 years. We ride passed fields of corn and soy, with the Manitou Bluffs in the distance beyond the plain.
What is so impressive all along the Katy Trail is Missouri Pride – it is evident in the meticulously planned rest stops and restored train depots, the historic notes at each one, the placards and markers and stories all along the trail that trigger our imagination as we ride, even on big posters and billboards and signs on buildings and silos. A city kid, I no sooner question in my mind how those grain silos work than we come upon an exhibit that explains the revolutionary invention.
That pride is especially clear here at Tebbets, our first rest stop.
Tebbets is where there is the volunteer-run Turner Katy Trail Shelter, the only bike hostel centrally located on the Katy’s 240 miles (the key hangs on a light pole), which was a home donated by its owner.
We ride through Rhineland, which I learn was the third largest producer of wine in the world before Prohibition dried it up. This is one of the few places where the Katy Trail follows a different path from the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad (the call sign, K-T). The town was destroyed by the flood of ’93, and moved along the bluff.
We ride along highway Route 93 (not really scary, actually, there is a wide shoulder), and over the bridge (there is a bike path over the bridge but getting there involves doing a clover leaf maneuver) that brings us into the town of Hermann.
We stay at the Hermann Crown Suites – which sounds like a modern chain hotel but is actually a charming historic hotel. It is a fun place – there is live music in its patio area in the evening, or if it is raining, in their 1837 Cellar Bar – and we are treated to a welcome drink (or ice cream, which I prefer).
We get here early enough to wander around the town checking out a remarkable selection of boutiques and shops before they close, and a beautiful riverside park. We check out the famous Hermann Wurst Haus.
The German-feel to Hermann is not imaginary – the town was founded in 1836 as the “New Fatherland” for German settlers.
We come upon the red brick German School, built in 1871 but incorporated in 1849 by the state legislature to offer classes in German and English. The structure was the only privately owned public school building in the state when it was deeded to historic Hermann Inc in 1955 to be preserved and used for cultural and civic purposes.
There is a plaque on the Monnig Family General Store which basically epitomizes America’s immigrant experience: Otto Monnig, who migrated with two of his brothers from Rees, Germany to the US in the 1840s, operated his general store from 1870 to 1890. He started with hardware and cutlery and expanded to add clothing, toys, groceries. Otto’s son-in-law, Dr. Gustave Ettmueller opened a drug store and post office in the building. Otto Monnig also founded the Hermann Savings Bank and served as president, 1867-1883.
Hermann’s historic district has many marvelous buildings to explore. They date back to early 19th century, but the vibe is 1940s/1950s – from the signs, the products.
We’ve been riding on what used to be the Missouri-Kansas-Texas rail line but In Hermann, we see an actual Amtrak train pulling out from the station just above the riverbank.
Dinner is on our own and there are lots of places to choose from, returning to the hotel for the live music on its back patio.
Day 5 is a 38 mile ride from Hermann to Augusta, almost entirely flat. We ride back on I-93 and back over the bridge to where we had left the Katy Trail.
The first support stop is at 18.5 miles (versus 9 miles which is more typical) at Treloar – and to get there, we need to make a 3 mile detour on roads because just the prior week, a storm put a tree across the trail (just ahead of the last Wilderness Voyageurs group so our guide James Oerding had to find a way around).
We stop at the Treloar Mercantile building, built around 1896 which served as the dry goods store and post office until closing in 1933. Dan and Connie Burkhardt, who created a foundation to preserve land and historic structures (katylandtrust.org), bought the building in 2018 and donated it to Missouri State Parks in 2024. It is being refurbished, and I chance upon the Burkhardts and the former state Transportation Secretary, David Kelly, who directed the building of the Katy Trail State Park and now is on the board of Magnificent Missouri, overseeing the restoration. There is a marvelous historic exhibition inside.
It is with justified pride that Kelly relates that the last economic impact study showed the Katy Trail generated $18 million for the state – a figure that is much higher after COVID. “There was a big uptick in users after COVID because people discovered the health benefits, and being outdoors.”
He acknowledges that places like Hartsburg (population 138) and Rotheport (population239) would be ghost towns were it not for Katy Trail and the tourism traffic it brings.
Of Missouri’s 93 state parks, the Katy is the most unique: 100 ft wide and 240 miles long. Missouri is now developing the 144-mile long Rock Island corridor, which opened 2021, of which 47 miles connect to the Katy Trail (so you can ride a loop).
Katy is the longest developed rail trail in US and Rock Island will be 4th largest; when combined with 13 miles in Jackson County, it forms a 445 mile long corridor to Kansas City.
Katy Trail State Park is built on the corridor of the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) Railroad, better known as the Katy. When the railroad ceased operation on its route in Missouri from Machens in St. Charles County to Sedalia in Pettis County in 1986, the right-of-way was secured through funding from the late Edward D. “Ted” Jones Jr. (the son of the founder of Edward Jones Investments) and his wife, Pat. Construction of the Katy Trail began in 1987. The first section of trail at Rocheport was opened in 1990.
In 1991, the Union Pacific Railroad donated 33 miles of rail corridor from Sedalia to east of Clinton. Additional purchases and donations were added over the years, completing the final 240-mile trail with Machens as the eastern terminus and Clinton as the western terminus. The trail’s 25th anniversary was celebrated in 2015.
As we ride the Katy Trail, we are reminded of the trail’s railroad history, passing old telegraph poles, riding over truss and trestle bridges. Four fully restored historic depots recall the past splendor of passenger service on the MKT, while the stone railroad tunnel at Rocheport displays the ingenuity required to complete the MKT rail line.
Meanwhile, Dan and Connie Burkhardt, retired partners of Edward Jones investment company, continued Jones’ legacy by founding the Katy Land Trust in 2010, which works cooperatively with landowners along the Katy Trail corridor to preserve farms, forests and Missouri River valley (katylandtrust.org).
Four miles further is the Peers Store, the “Magnificent Missouri” outpost, with a mission to conserve and increase appreciation of the Katy Trail and the last 100 miles of the Missouri River Valley, from Hermann to Confluence. Here, there are live music on the porch from June through August, art, snacks and community (magnificentmissouri.org).
We ride through tiny towns that reflect French and Native American influence. The furthest European settlements west of the Mississippi were in this region when Lewis & Clark first passed through in 1804. French fur trappers were prevalent settlers here.
A highlight today, is taking a bit of a detour off the Katy Trail to visit where Daniel Boone and his wife were buried. (They make no bones of the fact their bodies were supposedly moved from here back to Kentucky, but leave a bit of mystery in saying that the wrong bones may have been taken and Daniel may still be buried here after all.)
I first miss the turn but convince our guide, James Oerding, to go back (again, I am last, so the guide rides behind me). And I’m glad I did.
The small cemetery is very interesting, and is adjacent to his sons’ homestead (Daniel is said to have stayed there for a short time). It is interesting to see how Boone was so revered. (I think I am the only one of our group who did the detour.)
A marker at the rest stop relates how Daniel Boone, his sons’ and daughters’ families, other relations, friends and family slaves, came to Missouri in 1799 when Boone was 65 years old and already famous in America and Europe. He had fought in the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars. In between, he explored Kentucky and Tennessee and helped blaze the Wilderness Road over the Appalachian Mountains that settlers followed. In Kentucky, much of Boone’s fame was based on battling the Shawnee Indians who (understandably) resisted American expansion into Kentucky’s “dark and bloody ground.” But Boone “soured” on Kentucky. Spain, which then controlled the Louisiana Territory. was anxious to have settlers come, especially one as respected and influential as Daniel Boone, so Spain “recruited” Daniel Boone to come to Missouri, appointing him “syndic” (a justice of the peace) and militia leader. (I hadn’t realized until I visited the Gateway Arch National Monument in St. Louis that the Louisiana Territory went back and forth from France which claimed it in 1682, to Spain in 1762 through a secret Treaty of Fontainebleau, then (secretly) back to France in1800, before France sold the Louisiana Territory to the US in 1803. The whiplash!
We ride through Marthasville (named for Martha Washington) and end today’s ride at Augusta where we are shuttled (the only time we are taken by the van to our hotel) into the charming town of Washington, where we first have lunch at a fun spot, John G’s Beir Deck (delicious bratwurst and coleslaw). We walk off lunch to where we overnight, Elijah McClean’s, a wonderful inn attached to a mansion, now a restaurant where we will have a grand dinner.
Along the way, we pass by the Meerschaum’s Corn Cob Pipe factory, the only corncob pipe factory still operating in the world (James tells us) – unfortunately, it is already closed so we can’t visit.
After settling into my hotel room, I walk back to Main Street and come upon a community concert at the Farmer’s Market, held weekly on Thursdays, 5-8 pm (for future Katy Trail riders). It is wonderful, especially when people start line dancing.
Our last dinner together is a fabulous one, at Mangia Bella, the fine dining restaurant at Elijah Mclean’s,
On Day 6, our last day, I have my only regret of the trip: I forget to stay for James’ whiteboard talk that would have told me to look for the spur marked “Klondike Park” just 2.5 miles from where we start, to a steep asphalt trail that would have taken me to a white silica sand lake you can ride around. (Only one of our group actually did it). The photos I see at the rest stop look amazing and I’m tempted to ride the four miles back (I was so proud of myself for being first for a change), but I think it would take too much time. People were pretty much hurrying to get to the end of the ride when they would disperse to travel back home and I feel self-conscious if I would hold people up. (Actually, we have lunch at a restaurant at the end of the trail, and people who need to leave early just don’t stay for it so there would have been lots of flexibility).
We gather there for a delicious farewell lunch at Hendricks BBQ.
Then we are shuttled back to the St. Charles hotels where people parked. Only two of us are flying (we were advised not to book our flight before 6 pm).
The Katy Trail bike tour is rated a 3 not because of the trail’s difficulty, which is as easy as any dedicated recreational rail trail 240 miles long and as superbly served and maintained can be, – but because of the daily mileage, between 38 and 50 miles each day, except for the last (vastly easiest), 27 miles level or even with a slight downward slope.
This is my third tour with Wilderness Voyageurs (my first was the Badlands and Mikkelson Trail in South Dakota – I even had James as my guide on that trip – and Wilderness Voyageurs also provided the support for Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Sojourn biking/camping tour on the Great Allegheny Passage which goes passed its headquarters at Ohiopyle, PA.
Wilderness Voyageurs consistently provides sensational support – before the trip (with planning and packing lists, questionnaires) and most especially, during the ride (I love the Ride with GPS, the notes they provide and our daily ride orientation and especially their philosophy, “Ride your own ride.”), they even have on hand cold drinks, ice water, sunscreen, chafing cream, and each day organize two rest stops (great snacks) and a delicious picnic lunch. They also book the absolutely best lodgings and restaurants, like the Schoolhouse BnB and the General Store Restaurant in Rocheport where they arranged a private dinner for us. The guides are excellent and if necessary, can pick you up in the van should the distance or the elevation be uncomfortable. All of this makes what you pay for a guided bike tour well worth it.
Indeed, bike trips are ideal for solo travelers (there are four of us on this trip) – a way to travel on our own, but not alone.
Wilderness Voyageurs, Ohiopyle, PA, 15470, 800-272-4141, wilderness-voyageurs.com.
See also:
Biking through History on Missouri’s Katy Trail During America’s 250th
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