Explore the best rated trails in Jefferson City, MO. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Stinson Creek Trail and Hinkson Creek Trail. With more than 13 trails covering 286 miles you’re bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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Stinson Creek Trails sits on the wooded banks of the watercourse that gave it its name. The popular Fulton, Missouri recreation path follows every bend and curve of the creek for nearly 5 miles. Aside...
The Jefferson City Greenway Trail spans the capital of Missouri, east to west. The trail primarily follows Wears Creek, although one segment parallels W. Edgewood Drive, offering striking views of the...
The beauty of the ACORN Trail is it can be used for both leisure and transportation; cyclists, walkers, dog-walkers and other users can take advantage of the paved pathway to get outside, have fun and...
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The Katy Trail Spur, although short, provides a vital connection between the 238-mile Katy Trail State Park and the North Jefferson Recreation Area on the north bank of the Missouri River. The new...
Hominy Creek Trail is just over a mile between Green Valley Drive and Lansing Avenue in eastern Columbia. Along the way, the paved pathway follows its namesake tree-lined creek and passes under East...
Columbia’s Wabash Walkway travels a short distance northwest from the campus of Columbia College. While currently less than 0.5 mile long, plans are in the works to extend it farther northeast to...
South Providence Trail offers a straight north-south route paralleling its namesake roadway on the southern end of Columbia. As it’s adjacent to both Rock Bridge Elementary School and Rock Bridge High...
County House Trail is a 2-mile paved pathway in southwestern Columbia. The southern end of the trail connects to the scenic 8.9-mile MKT Nature and Fitness Trail, which in turn reaches the Katy Trail...
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Bear Creek Trail winds across the northern half of Columbia, following Bear Creek for much of its nearly 5-mile route. Many portions of the trail traverse wooded areas, though the trail is never far...
Advisory: As of June 2019, parts of the Katy Trail are flooded. Please check trail conditions on the Missouri State Parks website before going out to ride. At nearly 240 miles long, Katy Trail...
The MKT Nature and Fitness Trail spans just over 9 miles between the famed Katy Trail State Park, which stretches across Missouri, and Columbia. It gets its name from the former spur line of the...
Hinkson Creek Trail offers a beautiful, natural escape as it curves around southern and eastern Columbia. The crushed limestone trail stretches just over 4 miles, partly along the southern end of the...
Although Scott's Branch Trail is short (just over a mile), it’s a beautiful gem in western Columbia, traversing both the Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary and Bonnie View Nature Sanctuary. (Note that...
The Jefferson City Greenway Trail spans the capital of Missouri, east to west. The trail primarily follows Wears Creek, although one segment parallels W. Edgewood Drive, offering striking views of the...
Columbia’s Wabash Walkway travels a short distance northwest from the campus of Columbia College. While currently less than 0.5 mile long, plans are in the works to extend it farther northeast to...
Advisory: As of June 2019, parts of the Katy Trail are flooded. Please check trail conditions on the Missouri State Parks website before going out to ride. At nearly 240 miles long, Katy Trail...
South Providence Trail offers a straight north-south route paralleling its namesake roadway on the southern end of Columbia. As it’s adjacent to both Rock Bridge Elementary School and Rock Bridge High...
Stinson Creek Trails sits on the wooded banks of the watercourse that gave it its name. The popular Fulton, Missouri recreation path follows every bend and curve of the creek for nearly 5 miles. Aside...
The MKT Nature and Fitness Trail spans just over 9 miles between the famed Katy Trail State Park, which stretches across Missouri, and Columbia. It gets its name from the former spur line of the...
The Katy Trail Spur, although short, provides a vital connection between the 238-mile Katy Trail State Park and the North Jefferson Recreation Area on the north bank of the Missouri River. The new...
Hominy Creek Trail is just over a mile between Green Valley Drive and Lansing Avenue in eastern Columbia. Along the way, the paved pathway follows its namesake tree-lined creek and passes under East...
The beauty of the ACORN Trail is it can be used for both leisure and transportation; cyclists, walkers, dog-walkers and other users can take advantage of the paved pathway to get outside, have fun and...
County House Trail is a 2-mile paved pathway in southwestern Columbia. The southern end of the trail connects to the scenic 8.9-mile MKT Nature and Fitness Trail, which in turn reaches the Katy Trail...
Bear Creek Trail winds across the northern half of Columbia, following Bear Creek for much of its nearly 5-mile route. Many portions of the trail traverse wooded areas, though the trail is never far...
Hinkson Creek Trail offers a beautiful, natural escape as it curves around southern and eastern Columbia. The crushed limestone trail stretches just over 4 miles, partly along the southern end of the...
Although Scott's Branch Trail is short (just over a mile), it’s a beautiful gem in western Columbia, traversing both the Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary and Bonnie View Nature Sanctuary. (Note that...
The Jefferson City Greenway Trail spans the capital of Missouri, east to west. The trail primarily follows Wears Creek, although one segment parallels W. Edgewood Drive, offering striking views of the...
Stinson Creek Trails sits on the wooded banks of the watercourse that gave it its name. The popular Fulton, Missouri recreation path follows every bend and curve of the creek for nearly 5 miles. Aside...
South Providence Trail offers a straight north-south route paralleling its namesake roadway on the southern end of Columbia. As it’s adjacent to both Rock Bridge Elementary School and Rock Bridge High...
County House Trail is a 2-mile paved pathway in southwestern Columbia. The southern end of the trail connects to the scenic 8.9-mile MKT Nature and Fitness Trail, which in turn reaches the Katy Trail...
Advisory: As of June 2019, parts of the Katy Trail are flooded. Please check trail conditions on the Missouri State Parks website before going out to ride. At nearly 240 miles long, Katy Trail...
Bear Creek Trail winds across the northern half of Columbia, following Bear Creek for much of its nearly 5-mile route. Many portions of the trail traverse wooded areas, though the trail is never far...
The MKT Nature and Fitness Trail spans just over 9 miles between the famed Katy Trail State Park, which stretches across Missouri, and Columbia. It gets its name from the former spur line of the...
Columbia’s Wabash Walkway travels a short distance northwest from the campus of Columbia College. While currently less than 0.5 mile long, plans are in the works to extend it farther northeast to...
The Katy Trail Spur, although short, provides a vital connection between the 238-mile Katy Trail State Park and the North Jefferson Recreation Area on the north bank of the Missouri River. The new...
Hinkson Creek Trail offers a beautiful, natural escape as it curves around southern and eastern Columbia. The crushed limestone trail stretches just over 4 miles, partly along the southern end of the...
Although Scott's Branch Trail is short (just over a mile), it’s a beautiful gem in western Columbia, traversing both the Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary and Bonnie View Nature Sanctuary. (Note that...
The beauty of the ACORN Trail is it can be used for both leisure and transportation; cyclists, walkers, dog-walkers and other users can take advantage of the paved pathway to get outside, have fun and...
Hominy Creek Trail is just over a mile between Green Valley Drive and Lansing Avenue in eastern Columbia. Along the way, the paved pathway follows its namesake tree-lined creek and passes under East...
St.Charles West. Just a few detours, trail excellent. If you tent camp at Missouri Fairgrounds Sedalia, be careful of your belongings. Choose any electric site and honestly with the factory across street southeast corner away from vagrants living in tents and away from showerhouse better. Always lock your bikes too.
Do to flooding the beginning of the trail is not in good shape. If you pick up the trail in St. Charles it is great from there.
I ride this trail oft when I work in Jefferson City. It’s accessible and fun!
I had the pleasure to ride this beautiful trail starting in Rocheport, MO riding West one day to Booneville and East another day to McBaine while staying in Columbia for the solar ecilpse last year. Also rode about 8 miles from Mokane heading east...this trail is very scenic and user friendly. I can't speak for the other 200 miles but what I saw was worth the time and minimal effort...even in 90 degree weather!
Had a break in the heat and rode over 70 miles on the Katy this week on different days. Hermann to Washington, Hartsburg to Boonville and Boonville to Pilot Grove. Hartsburg to Boonville may be some of the best scenery along the trail- high limestone cliffs, deep & dark forest canopies, some stretches right next to the Missouri river, and some open spaces. As always, this trail is well maintained, mowed, and the trailheads have great information and facilities. Note that you can connect with Amtrak at Washington (Dutzow trailhead on the Katy), Hermann, Jefferson City, and Sedalia, but they have a limit on bikes per train. The new bridge at Washington will be completed soon with a safe bike lane to get from the Dutzow trailhead to the train station. In the near future, Missouri could become a real "cyclist destination" by completion of the Rock Island trail from Windsor to Union. Union is only 7 highway miles from Washington. That would create a loop of over 450 miles and add some great scenic opportunities as the Rock Island route skirts the north edge of the Ozarks. Check out bikerockisland dot com for more information.
We rode the Katy Trail and the Rock Island Spur from Pleasant Hill to Windsor and then from Clinton to Machens. The Katy is in excellent condition and we enjoyed the historical markers. We saw snakes, turtles, lizards, indigo buntings and cardinals, turkey, groundhog, rabbit, armadillo, and 1 deer. We camped in Farrington Park in Windsor, Katy Roundhouse in New Franklin, and Steamboat Junction in Bluffton. All three had hot showers which was so awesome at the end of a long dusty ride. All three were nice but our favorite was Steamboat Junction.
The Katy doesnt have as many services close to the trail as we expected and in some cases the water pumps were disabled. The craft brewery in August was a pleasant treat. Ice cream was scarce. Several people said dont bother riding the last 12 miles from St Charles to Machens but it wasnt bad - maybe not quite as nice as other sections but we werent going to stop a few miles from the end.
Overall the scenery was midwestern woods and farm fields. You caught glimpses of the Missouri River from time to time. Tucked up under the bluffs you couldnt really appreciate them.
Very friendly people along the trail happy to give you advice and suggestions.
Rode the whole trail in 4 days in September 2017! Absolutely beautiful and such a great experience!
Three of us (all 70 years old) made the trip from west to east riding recumbent trikes. We averaged about 40 miles a day staying at B&Bs and found the trail well maintained, with only minor areas needing repairs. All days were rain free, so the ride was dusty. Very good information stations about the history of most towns.
My friends and I started the Lewis and Clark Trail via the KATY Trail, beginning in St. Charles, MO in 2007. We rode the trail in September and it was beautiful. There are several quaint Bed and Breakfasts along the trail through Missouri and we stayed at a few of them and were never disappointed. We rode the entire trail through Missouri and enjoyed the sightseeing along the way!
We rode the whole thing in 6 days. We did it in March of 2015, and it was an awesome experience. The "green tunnel" hadn't formed yet as most of the trees were just starting to grow new leaves. It was very rainy, but luckily we brought our ponchos and it didn't ever rain too bad on us. We camped along the way. In my opinion it is the best way to go about it. I would camp in the actual camping sites, because the first night we camped off the side of the trail and I was paranoid all night and didn't sleep well. We started in Clinton (we had a friend drop us off) and ended in St. louis, and then took the train back to Kansas City where we were living at the time. We used road bikes, and because of the rain sometimes the bikes would sink into the trail, so I would recommend something with better wheels. Overall it was a beautiful experience, and would recommend you do it if you have a chance. very wide, and there are no super steep inclines.
This is the best trail in the country, IMNSHO. That I live near it may have something to do with my opinion :). It does get more interesting as you go west past Jeff City. It also gets more remote from resources and is less well kept. Since this mostly follows the Missouri River, it's subject flooding, a lot. If you have the gear for cold weather, it is much better in the winter as you don't have to deal with the occasional trail users who (while innocent) don't understand trail etiquette and it's not likely to flood or have a tornado. I've been on the trail after/during both. The Missouri cresting and engulfing the trail behind and in front of one is, I have to say, the scarier of the two scenarios, in my experience.
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