Rock Island Trail Forum

My son and I just completed the Clinton to St. Charles run. Trail conditions were generally quite good but beware of the detour south of Easley. Gravel road for about 3.5 miles quite a challenge for some bikes (we had a road bike and an urban bike). We ended up walking most of it as the large gravel pieces were too much for us. This area is also fully exposed to the sun so it can be a long, hot march.

What size tires on the urban bike? I guess the road bike had the small, thin smooth tires?

I took the detour about 10 days ago. I was on 1 1/4 inch, it was rough but rideable.

I agree. The gravel on the ridearound was miserable yesterday. We both have 2+ inch tires, and rode it all, but it was really tough.

The Easley construction is done now and the trail is back open!

We have a Katy trip planned end of April, riding from Clinton to St. Charles. I have been checking the MO DNR website for flood updates, as no one can control weather or closures due to flooding. However, have you noticed that the Katy Trail is closed at Boonville, Easley, Augusta and Klondike Park?? Closed due to culvert replacement at Boonville and bridge replacement at the other sites. Easley and Klondike Park have detours, but none available at Boonville or Augusta. State Park's answer for these two sections is "No Detour-trail users should avoid this section" Kinda hard to "avoid this section" when you leave Clinton and need to end up in St. Charles!!

Just curious, who in the MO State Park System made the decision to close the trail at these sections for construction during the prime riding months of April and May? And then not have a detour for visitors to be able to complete their ride. I wonder how much lost tourism revenue this will cost the state?

Road and bridge construction has gone on all winter here in Southern Missouri, and we are only 100 miles south of the Katy Trail. Seems like December, January or February would have been a good time to start and finish these projects.

At Augusta, it looked like we could take Augusta Bottom Road?

I asked about a Boonville ridearound on a different thread about 5 minutes ago. Hopefully someone can verify whether it's reasonable.

I agree that it's frustrating. But glad I saw the outages ahead of time.

4 of us are planning to ride the whole trail from May 30-June 4th. Are these closures going to be a problem? Sounds like they might be done by then. We’re lucky enough to have a driver following us. Maybe she could take us around? I’v never been there so we’re not familiar with anything around the trail. Thanks for any information!

Man, I agree. We have five kids and my wife and I have been planning this couples getaway since last fall. Plan to leave Clinton on April 25, I can't believe such huge sections of the trail are closed. What a disappointment.

We just rode the length of the trail. The closure west of Augusta is a simple off and on at a bridge crossing. They are almost done with the trail repair west of Booneville. Mile 34-35 was very muddy and unrideable; it is drying out. Ride safe.

Thanks for the update, John.

Another big closure just popped up west of Rocheport.
https://mostateparks.com/advisory/80636/section-trail-closed-between-mm-1783-and-mm-1822-katy-trail-state-park

Maybe April and May are always big months for maintenance.

The Easley detour is 3.6 miles on rough by passable gravel road. Not too bad, but slow going.

The trail repair west of Boonville is complete. The gravel is really soft compared to the rest of the trail, so stay sharp.

I spoke with a rep from State Parks System about these trail closures. It seems it has to do with grant money for bridge replacement that has to be used by December 2019 and getting the bridges dismantled before the the bats used them as habit from April to November.

Easley bridge replacement is all done and trail is open. Rocheport detour to Hwy 40 still there. Mile marker 117-118 closure for bluff collapse use Schmid Way to Hwy 94 (going east), it's pretty short.

First Katy ride May 7-10 from Boonville to Washington. Would appreciate any trail info concerning conditions and detours. Have been checking the forum and just saw that Rocheport tunnel could be open May 1st. Anyone have info on Easley detour? Also would appreciate dinning tips in Rocheport, Jefferson City, and Washington. Thanks

Washington dining tips:

- Philly's Pizza (at the Marthasville trailhead)
- Lake Creek Winery (between Marthasville and Dutzow, up the hill from the trail)
- Sugarfire
- John G's Tap Room and Bier Deck
- Streetside Tacos

Then to celebrate your finish, Main Street Creamery and Olivino Tasting Bar.

There are more places, but that is my short list!

Note that the walk/bike path on the new bridge is not open yet. If you need a shuttle to Washington, call Joe at Revolution Cycles.

Arris Bistro in Jeff City. Old Dutch Tavern in Washington has outstanding food and a great selection of beer on tap.

The Easley detour in not that fun. Had an experience with it on 4/26/19 and it cost us an extra hour. The detour puts you on a gravel road that is in good shape but rough due to new gravel being placed. There are trails through the grass at both blockades on the trail that apparently many people have been using. The bridge that was replaced has concrete on the trail so looks like they are getting close to re-opening that area.

Between Easley and Providence, you can stop at Cooper's Landing which is right on the trail and next to the MO river. They have a store and a Thai food truck that is very good.

Also further down on the trail at Portland, there is a little bar that serves an awesome cheeseburger.

Seconding what was said above, the Easley detour was tough. The new gravel is large and plentiful. The pedaling is tough and we had to steer constantly to keep our balance. This was easily the hardest bit of our end-to-end ride.

In Rocheport, we liked Meriwether's. They close at 4. After that, I think all that's left is a general store, and a kind of fancy place that is by reservation only and is probably weekends only. Both have good reviews, but we didn't visit either.

In Jeff City, we had ice cream at Central Dairy when we rolled into town, and then got takeout from Arris' Bistro for dinner. Both were great. Arris' looked like a nice place to sit outside but we were beat and preferred to eat in our hotel room at the Baymont.

On the way to Washington, I think that there are some long stretches without a lot of supply/food options. We liked Treloar and Mokane Bar and Grills for lunch. Friendly people and hearty food. Rhineland also had a nice place that was more like a restaurant and less like a bar called The Corner.

My last bit of advice is to not count on any one store/ restaurant/ food truck being open. Always have a plan B and plan C. A few times on our trip I was left looking at the establishment's hours on the door, and my watch, and noting that they weren't open when they had said they would be.

Good luck! Have fun!

When will bike/walk path on Washington bridge open?

Easley construction is all finished! Trail goes straight through now.

Would like current trail conditions from Herman through Boonville for group riding through the week of May 3-10

Couple of bad detours - Near Easley and near Rocheport. They are discussed in other recent posts. I don't remember anything else bad from our ride last week.

Easley detour is all finished, trail is open all through there.

Rock slide has closed the trail between 117 and 118, the detour is fine with no real traffic issues. We could see some if the slide and it looks like it’ll tak some time to clean up.

the MO website says trail closed between mm117 -mm118 and no detour. is there a detour? how do you get around. i am travling clinton to st. charles may 13
appriciate any info!

Looking at google maps, looks like hiway 94 between Portland and Steedman is the only available route around.
Allen

I was just there. From the west you can take Schmid Way (either entrance) which parallels the trail till you hit 94 then take that another couple minutes to where it crosses back over the trail. Schmid is rocky but ok. They didn't mark this as the detour because 94 there was under water but now it is back open.