Rock Island Trail Forum

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?

Husband and I are/ were hoping to take the Katy Trail from St. Charles to Clinton over July 4th. What sections are closed? Is there at least 100+ miles of consecutive trails that we can ride?
Thanks so much!

If you want to have 100 miles probably best bet is Boonville to Pleasant Hill, via Katy and the Rock Island spur. Too many closures between Rocheport and St. Charles.

Going to (try to) ride the trail from McKittrick to Rhineland today.
Lots of flooding in Hermann, how is the trail?

Answered my own question: The trail is open but highway 94 isn't.

Kim's cabins are wonderful. They're close to the trail and well appointed with full kitchens. We slept very well and will absolutely stay here again!

Thanks so much Joe! Appreciate that and glad you enjoyed. Love that folks finding the cabins a quiet, comfortable stop or base to ride three directions from!

I want to ride on the trail and was wondering what was open in the St.Charles area. Where would be a good place to start? I want to ride 30 or 40 miles if I can.

I rode the trail Friday. You can get to Frontier Park but the lot was flooded you might be able to find a place to park on the street. Going west from there I made it out about 15 miles. You can also get on the Monarch Levee trail by Highway 40/61, but could only go to the right then.

If you want to do your ride a little further west from St. Charles, you can start at Augusta and ride roughly 20 miles west. There and back will give you your 40 miles. :)

The Katy trail is now open from the City of St. Charles around MM 40 to west of Treloar MM 87 according to DNR. The riverfront parking lot was still blocked off last time I was there in the City of St. Charles but there is other street parking available and the TH parking at the Page Ave crossing MM 43 is always open.

Steve the Page Avenue crossing trailhead better be dry as it's about 100 feet above the Katy Trail. If the flood gets up there, I'll be looking for a new Noah's Ark coming down the river. ;-)

The flood damage near the Eastern end of the Katy is extensive! I intended to ride to the end of the trail on Saturday but the rivers had other ideas. As I neared the end of the trail the damage grew worse and worse. I rode over areas where water from the Mississippi side had flooded the fields and washed out a foot or more of the trail heading toward the Missouri River side.
When I approached about a half mile from the end of the trail I came to a complete washout of maybe 150 to 200 hundred feet where the trail was completely gone and the flooded fields connected like one big lake.
It will take tons of rock and gravel and who knows how long for the State parks repair people to get it put back together.

Added:
Here is a short youtube video of the trail washout near Machens.
As you can see it is major damage!
https://youtu.be/WE45X_I6U3I

That should get the point across!

We've had a flood in Missouri

How did you even get to near the end of the trail? Even on a "good" year the trail would be flooded at some point between MM 34 & 35.

Can anyone tell me at what level on the Jeff City gauge the Skywalk ramp on the north end of the bridge is no longer flooded? Thanks

Okay, redundant but, I detoured off the TransAmerica to take the Katy trail and now I’m seeing most of it is flooded. Would it be crazy to try and take as much as I can and then hop off at the flooded parts? Or should I just take an entire different trail? Any advice is appreciated. Was planning on leaving from St. Louis tomorrow going west...

From what I have been reading on these posts and elswhere, best to find an alternate route ~100 miles of Katy is flooded. Detours may be tough to come by. I was going to ride it the first week of July. Now taking a route from St Joe to Hannibal.

http://traveler.modot.org/map/

We are planning to do a long trip next summer with two young kids (in a trailer), but will be driving through MO in early August and thought it might be a good opportunity to 'test out' the experience. An Amtrak sale prompted me to plan a one day quick trip between Washington and Hermann, and it looks like there may be two issues:

1. Is the route 47 bridge in Washington passable yet for cyclists? Some news articles early this year talked about moving equipment after demolition of the old bridge before they could open it, and the MDOT site doesn't mention anything: https://www.modot.org/route-47-missouri-river-bridge

2. What river level should I look at to determine flooding between Case and Treloar (currently listed as flooded)? This section isn't listed in the 'potential flood locations', so I'm assuming once the river recedes to 31 feet it will be dry? (I realize nobody can predict rain in the future, but I'd like to know how to determine if it will be passable before we commit a day of the road trip to this).

Anything else to know for a single day out and back trip between Hermann and Washington?

We would be 'chancing' it by trying to carry on a folded bike trailer (Chariot Cheetah 2), but would bring a bag to check it if necessary.

Hwy 47 bridge at Washington:
I highly doubt the bike lane will be open by August. Last I read was fall sometime, but there have been no updates lately. Note that from the bridge to Dutzow trailhead you will be riding on the shoulder of the highway.

Possibly consider scheduling a shuttle from Amtrak in Washington to Dutzow or Marthasville. Revolution Cycles would be the one to call in Washington.

Be aware that the bridge, although the protected bike lanes aren’t open, has 2 10 foot shoulders. If you are even moderately experienced cyclist (can ride some roads) the ride to Dutzow also has shoulders and is quite rideable in my opinion. Even a bicycle tourist who only rides rail trails has to ride streets in towns to eat and get groceries, and has to ride the occasional detour.

Allen

I would NOT recommend riding a bike with trailer on Hwy 47 from Dutzow to Washington. I rode it recently and frankly it sucks. Narrow shoulder, high volume traffic, and the shoulder pavement is deteriorating. I agree Rev Cycles in Washington is the best bet for a shuttle. It will take some leadership and some gov't money to find a solution to the Dutzow-Washington connection. I do think once the bike lane is open and cyclists start showing up regularly on the highway and Augusta Bottom Rd that people will start to understand the safety problem. I don't want to overstate it but it's not good and young riders in particular should not be on that highway route.

Thanks for all the feedback. For the Dutzow to Washington connection, I was planning on riding the trail to Augusta Bottom Road and circling back to the route 47 bridge, so we would only be on 47 just for the bridge portion. I just was concerned that if there was a planned ped/bike path that the current passable road route would not have a sizeable shoulder.

Sounds like it’s doable, but won’t be ideal yet. I’d call myself a casual cyclist who doesn’t mind two-lane neighborhood roads, or 4-lane roads if they are in low speed areas of town (universities, for instance). But towing a trailer with my kids in it makes me more nervous since I can’t really see them and their surroundings to confirm they will be ok.

I’ll take this as an opportunity to email Washington officials and show them that bike tourism is beneficial. ;) — but that if we want to go for it, we should be able to reasonably cross the river, even if it’s not pleasant.


Any comments on the flood stage height of the section from Case to Treolar?

Hi, three of us are supposed to start our ride on Sunday, June 23. Is there any chance the trail will be open by this time? My friend and I are both taking a weeks vacation from work to do this ride and don't want to waste our vacation if we can't ride the whole trail. Thanks, Bob

No chance that the whole trail will be open, sorry. The river has been at major flood stage for nearly a month. More rain in the forecast this week.

Oops -this posted at the wrong spot.....We had intended to do what you are planning. We improvised with car shuttles and skipping the closed portions. We rode about 180 miles including some up and backs. See my post on 6/12 for more details. I am guessing at least 100 miles will be closed. The website update is a bit conservative as you can pick up a few extra miles here and there. Good luck.

This business is closed permanently, should be removed from your list.

I'm sorry to hear that, but thank you for the heads-up. It is now removed.

Great stop on the trail! Met the owners and enjoyed live music on the huge covered patio. Food was fantastic.

Rode Windsor to Clinton today. 3 trees down between Windsor and Calhoun. All we're passable, except you need to dismount for 2 of them to get around safely.

I have always wanted to ride the Katy Trail from St Louis to Kansas City non-stop. This is the year it has worked out but I understand now that much of the trail is flooded and/or closed. Is it still possible to make it from Manchens to Pleasant Hill utilizing the trail and following detours? Just wondering if it's even possible to attempt, even if it adds extra mileage.

Mark, your trail ride will be mostly a road/highway ride at this point. About 100 miles of the trail are closed, including one continuous 60-mile stretch. I'd suggest a Clinton-to-Pleasant Hill ride, which should be completely open.