Family Friendly Off-Road Touring? Katy Trail

The combination of recently reading Momentum is your Friend and watching Ride the Divide has me yearning to plan an epic bike adventure with my kids. I have a ton of vacation time and I keep rolling around the idea of doing something special with the kids for a week this summer. Dh, unfortunately does not have a lot of vacation time so it would be just myself and the kids.

As much as I would love to go tour Moab or explore single track for days, I don't think that's a good idea for our first attempt at a family tour. I'm thinking about doing a multi-day ride down the Katy Trail. I have a good friend that lives near the start around St. Louis. We'd be able to drive down and crash with her before we began the trip. We'd also have someone close by we could call if we ran into trouble.

Has anyone here ridden the Katy Trail? What's it like?

I would be riding my mountain bike towing the kids behind on a trail-a-bike and a weehoo-igo. I would think that I would be able to ride about 40-60 miles a day with them.

DH and I did an end to end tour of the Katy in September of 2011. We used a tour company called Independent Tourist that moved our luggage from point to point. They also made all of our B&B/hotel reservations.

At the risk of offending anyone who really loves the Katy, my husband and I were pretty underwhelmed. The trail itself is nice. I wouldn't call it the most scenic area I've ever seen, but it was fine. It's mostly flat, although the section from Sedalia to Booneville has a bit of a grade. You'll feel it, especially if you're towing something. There are long stretches of the trail where there aren't a lot of services. The trail runs through some pretty depressed areas, and I found it more than a little unsettling and sad. We stayed in some towns where there were few places to eat, especially if you arrived--as we did--on the day that a lot of places are closed (Sundays in Sedalia and Mondays in Rocheport). We were sometimes lucky to find any food. Healthy food generally wasn't even an option. We did like Hermann and Saint Charles, and we loved our B&B in Rocheport.

I'll be honest that I think the upper end of your mileage goal is overly ambitious. We rode 40ish miles a day and that was more than enough--and we weren't loaded or towing anything. Granted, we did it in September and had less light to work with, but I wouldn't have wanted to ride much more each day, even with more light. It just felt slow going at times. If we'd had to battle summer heat, I think we would have been even slower.

I say all of this knowing that a lot of people have done the Katy and loved it. You and your kids may have a completely different take on it.

indysteel--I appreciate your honest review of the trail! Hmmm, I'll have to keep researching trails . . . . see what I can come up with.

Please don't let me totally dissaude you. I want to emphasize that other people love the Katy. But still, I have to wonder if there are other places to go that might be more scenic and interesting for you and the kids. Do you plan to camp?

My first thought was that while YOU might be able to handle 50-60 miles a day, your kids might go bonkers. It might be better to keep the mileage shorter and incorporate more stops and fun things.

Maybe this will give you some ideas.

Great idea Indy, and with a fully supported family tour there would be other families so the kids would probably enjoy meeting other kids, who knows could be life long cycling buddies in the making.

another idea is to check out something like cycle oregon weekend - not a tour but another great way to spend time on bikes with the kids and perhaps DH

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Originally Posted by indysteel

Maybe this will give you some ideas.

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Limewave, even if the family tours themselves don't appeal to you, you might find some great route information to work with. Idaho, in particular, is quickly moving up my list of places to go.

I haven't thought too much about accomodations yet. Camping, while awesome, means carrying a lot of supplies. I'm at the early "research" stage. I'm open to all suggestions! :-)

+1 to considering Idaho and browsing Adventure Cycling for ideas. I remember this article got me thinking about how touring needs to be different to be fun for kids but how everyone could benefit from those changes...

I toured most of the Katy several years ago. I think it can be a great first tour -- pleasantly off road with a very good trail surface and fun to do all or most of a trail in not too long a time commitment. The website is super helpful and fun to use for planning. And there were definitely some nicely scenic areas - especially the sections around Rocheport and McKittrick. I didn't find anything unsettling like indysteel, but I also was underwhelmed in that there are some really long sections with nothing but tree tunnel and sameness of not exciting scenery and agree that the town eating options were pretty dismal (keep in mind that I'm a veggie, like to eat healthy, AND we went in October when a lot was closed.)

The thing that surprised me, and was my knee's undoing (I stopped a day before the end in pain), was that the mileages were much harder than I thought they would be. Partially I undertrained for being the person who hauled the trailer, thinking that 40-60 miles a day with slower riders wouldn't be that hard. And the other thing was that the combination of the very steady grade and the limestone surface meant that you were ALWAYS pedaling. No coasting. Almost ever. It drove me a little nuts actually, and made me rethink the grand plan to tour all the rail trails in favor of doing more rolling hills and regular roads. I still want to do the GAP/C&O, and I still appreciate the traffic-free qualities and if riding with kids would prioritize them, but I would definitely revise daily mileage downward and put in more training with the equivalent load.

Great idea though -- I'm plotting to get my 16 year old nephew to tour with me next summer!

I totally forgot about never being to coast.

As for it being unsettling, perhaps a better word would be depressing. A good portion of Sedalia was boarded up, as was Augusta. We passed any number of properties that were in horrible disrepair, plastered with Keep Out and No Trespassing signs (a reminder of the lingering hostility some property owners expressed about the Katy). I feel incredibly sorry for the area's economic hardship, but I'll be honest that when I'm on vacation, I don't really want to think about poverty all the time. Selfish, I know. Of course, there were exceptions to this; I'm just referring to the pervasive feeling I had during the trip. Again, I don't want to offend anyone who calls Missouri home.

I just did the GAPCO, and there was very little coasting, indeed!

I'll put in a good word for the Katy. I haven't done the entire thing, but a good chunk of it in the middle. I think it's beautiful. I haven't toured extensively so if I'd biked through mountains maybe I wouldn't think so much of the Katy. Crushed limestone does reduce your speed by about 2 mph. But if you have a week to spend on it that should be fine, and you can always just go as far as you go and no worries if you don't get all the way to the other end. The bikekatytrail site you linked to does have a forum, so you can get more info there about services and season. I believe Tuesdays are sort of the day off for a lot of businesses, and many shut down entirely during the off season.

I love the bluffs and the river. You can see so many animals if you are on the trail in the early morning or in the dusk, so even if you aren't out biking on it early or late, head back to the trail at those times and just walk around a bit (but watch out for copperheads who like to curl up on the trail because it retains heat). There's some really beautiful birds out during the day too. Constant pedaling doesn't bother me but I ride with a consistent effort level, so when I get tired I simply go slower.

I wouldn't call it boring, but I guess it depends on what you find interesting. I find transportation policy fascinating myself, so maybe I'm more easily entertained. Anyone remember Bert's paper clip collection that Ernie thought was so boring? That's me! lol

I haven't ridden the Katy, but I have been to the wine country surrounding it, as my BIL lives outside of STL.
Just from what I saw, I would agree with Indy. I think parts of the trail would be interesting, but I've done riding in similar settings/geography, and although the idea of flat and off road is good, especially for kids, it would bore me to death. And Melavai has a good point. I am spoiled by my beautiful surroundings at home. But, like anything else, I get immune to it. I've been riding in places where people have raved about the scenery, and I'm like, "huh, what?" The Finger Lakes is one example. To me, I need something scenic enough to really stun me, or the area has to have other redeeming qualities, such as culture, history, or food. When I travel, I want different.
I applaud you, Limewave, for doing a family trip. I wish I had done this when my kids were little. Idaho sounds great.

There's wine country in Missouri??

Yes, if you can believe it. Most of the wineries were around the towns the Tour of Missouri went through. They had just gone through the day before we were there; in 2007.
Big hills. Steep.

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Originally Posted by tulip

There's wine country in Missouri??

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Oh yes, lots. Hermann is an entire town of wineries. Near Rocheport is a winery that overlooks the Katy Trail, and you can either get to it from the road, or you can lock your bike to the bike rack at the bottom of the cliff and climb a lot of stairs up to the winery. Then sit and enjoy the view overlooking the river.

This year's drought didn't do the vineyards any good but usually grapes do very well here.