Find the top rated trails in Jefferson City, whether you're looking an easy walking path or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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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...
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 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...
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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...
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...
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...
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 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...
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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...
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...
At nearly 240 miles long, Katy Trail State Park spans nearly the full width of Missouri and is the country’s longest continuous rail-trail, intersecting with rural farmland, scenic small towns, and...
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...
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...
At nearly 240 miles long, Katy Trail State Park spans nearly the full width of Missouri and is the country’s longest continuous rail-trail, intersecting with rural farmland, scenic small towns, and...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
At nearly 240 miles long, Katy Trail State Park spans nearly the full width of Missouri and is the country’s longest continuous rail-trail, intersecting with rural farmland, scenic small towns, 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...
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...
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...
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 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...
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.
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.
My wife and I rode the whole trail over 6 days, including the "closed" section between mile markers 34-35. [which was easily ride-able]Wow! It is hard to come up with anything bad to say. Great conditions the entire length. A few shirt bumpy sections, which were not as bumpy as most trails. All this spots were marked well. The whole trail was signed very well.If you have ever considered a through ride, do it as soon as you can. It is truly amazing.
Keep bringing us great trail info!
We chose to ride a section of the Katy Trail between Matson and Hermann on June 9th. This was our third bicycle excursion, and my favorite by far! We stayed in Hermann, and opted to utilize the BikeHermann bike rental and shuttle service so that we could have a one-way, continuous ride (we aren't big on ride-out-ride-back). The shop owner, John, was very helpful and gave us pointers and sites to look for along the trail, such as old-timey general stores and historic markers.
This trail was very well maintained; there were a few spots where new lime/gravel had been added due to flood damage in May. All things considered, this trail was repaired quickly and repaired right, and any place new material was added was well marked by "rough surface" signs to give trail users a little warning. Trail markers are plentiful (so much that we rarely used our trail map), and the section we rode was mostly shaded (maybe 3/4 of the route), which made for a comfortable ride. Several benches, wineries, and trailheads offering water, restrooms and other amenities were plentiful on this section as well. There are some really great views of the river around mm 96, and the sandstone bluffs along this route are gorgeous.
At McKittrick, we took the Hermann trail spur off of the Katy and onto MO Hwy 19. I was a little concerned about sharing the busy road with cars, especially crossing the bridge over the Loutre River. However, the bike lane on this bridge is very generous on space and the area in general is bike-friendly. The second bridge, that crosses the Missouri, has a separate bike/walking path on the west side. I would come back and ride this one again, or maybe the next section to the north. This is a very nice trail.
Un-FREAKIN’-Believable! The review could end here.
Buy “The Complete Katy Trail Guidebook” by Brett Dufur.
I only had two days to ride to make the best of the eastern half. I will return to ride the western half and the Bluffton and McKittrick/Herman sections I missed. Day 1 - I rode from Columbia to Portland (ride the M-K-T, visit the MLK Memorial Gardens, stop at the iron bridges, enjoy the bluffs, creeks & river, linger at Cooper’s Landing & eat at Dotty’s Cafe). Day 2 - I rode from Trelor to St. Charles (talk to folks at Turner KT Shelter, drink a beverage at Augusta & enjoy the well-earned bounty of St. Charles).
Rented our bikes from Touring Cyclist. The bikes had pannier racks ready for us to load up. We were picked up from the airport and taken to their shop to get fitted for our bikes. They shuttled us from St. Charles to Clinton on Day two and picked us up when we finished in St. Charles. We biked St. Charles to Machen on Day 1. The bikes were perfect for the trail. My cycling friend and I had an amazingly good time biking the 237.7 miles of this trail. The scenery changes were great. The towns along the way had perfect accommodations for us. At some of the Trail Heads there are self repair bike stations. We stopped at every trail head and read the information provided. Took a couple of added detours/stops we would not have known about if it had not been for all the information the trail heads provide. Although you have to add a few miles to get into some towns with accommodations and food, the pathways across the river, etc. provided easy access without automobile traffic.
Many kudos for those who take care of the trail. It is truly a memorable trail ride and the longest I've ever ridden. Love, love, loved it.
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