Find the top rated horseback riding trails in Missouri, whether you're looking for an easy short horseback riding trail or a long horseback riding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a horseback riding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Rode out from bolivar. Out about 8 miles a dog chased me hard. On the way back same fellow. Would love to ride to springfield spend the night and ride back. But agreasive dog and no place to overnight park makes this a nogo for me
The paved section of this trail that is on the south side of Warrensburg is very poorly maintained. For cycling, the pavement is in terrible condition. Once you get out of the city limits the pavement does improve, however, a portion of the trail actually just becomes a wide section of DD hwy. There is loose gravel and debris all over this section from the road. As you get closer to Knob Noster State Park, the trail improves but is definitely not for casual cyclists. The hills into the park are very steep.
Tomorrow will be May 1st ride through Arnold Park for a bike ride. I was disappointed that the reviews are so old. Hopefully we can get these updated. I will definitely give my review afterwards for this year of 2024. I’m excited to check it out. ( I only rated the ride so I could post my review) hopefully my next review will be a 5 star.
Rode from Frog Hollow hiking trail parking lot W. Nice paved trail, but needs better signage. Also dangerous road crossings especially by the two schools alongside the trail. Tried heading E, first took paved trail along creek and ended up near High School. Returned to parking lot, then had to cross busy 6 lane road (painted crosswalks and signs to yield to cyclists) but cars weren’t slowing down. The next crossing was a busy highway with too much traffic due to rush hour. We turned around and went back to our vehicle and left.
We rode bikes on Indian Creek Trail between State Line all the way to the Blue River Trail and thought it was really beautiful.
We rode bikes on Indian Creek Trail between State Line all the way to the Blue River Trail and thought it was really beautiful.
Great trail to cruise on e-bike. Did the entire 16 miles. Easy ride for must of it. At one point you will have to carry your bile over some train track. The last 2 miles on the Kansas end are not maintained, tall grass and low trees but that made it fun. There is about 100 yds close to the end that you have to jump off trail and ride the street but otherwise a great trail ride….enjoy.
Rode the trail the first week in October! Perfect weather, beautiful tree tunneled trails most of the way. Don’t have any more to add than has already been said. Only improvement would be more guaranteed water at the depot stops. Good job Missouri and Thank you!!
We started in Bolivar, MO and rode south to Walnut Grove, where we rested, had some lunch and rode back to Bolivar. A very pleasant out and back, 45.5 miles roundtrip. The trail is paved in Bolivar, but once leaving town and crossing the highway, and restarting the trail just off Hwy 13, it's all gravel and some spots have been repaired so can have deep gravel and some sand. There are many bridges in this section to cross and a nice canopy so very shady. It's, the jarring on the gravel that makes it a difficult and slow going ride. Walnut Grove TH has zero amenities, so we rode the short distance into town and found a gas/food stop with potties, pizza, ice cream and nice folks to chat with. We returned to the WG TH and rode back to the very beginning of the trail in Bolivar and called it a day.
Day 2 we drove to WG TH, parked, and rode south to Willard towards Springfield. This had more open space, not as much canopy and a very nice TH in Willard with potties, food and the small town of Willard with lots of amenities. This was a 21.5 mile out and back.
We did not ride all the way into northern Springfield as we heard conflicting information of the trail not being safe with homeless and robberies. So instead of continuing past Willard on the asphalt part of the trail, we returned to WG TH and again had some lunch at the same stop as the day before in Walnut Grove. All in all, we had a nice time on the trail, saw very few other cyclists, heard and saw lots of birds and had a lovely ride. This was done over 2 days in early Sept 2024, so not a busy trail.
We would not recommend road bikes, you need good wide tires to tackle the gravel and the sand. Overall the trail is in good maintenance and a nice trail to ride.
I rode this trail on September 16, 2024. The signs on the trail are present but on "first look" can be missed by the uninitiated and once read are still slightly confusing. The signs are simply "waist high mile marker posts " showing directional arrows and text point to both access roads nearby (there are many!) as well as general trail direction. So read the signs carefully your first time out! The needed info is on these posts, albeit in a confusing manner.
The trail has "a few smaller hills" that should be considered closer to beginner level: they are not exceedingly long or tall for most folks. The majority of the trail trends as flat IMO.
The trail is fun to ride and certainly has scenic beauty. The trail path is a bit wider than I expected and the surface is in excellent shape at the time of my ride.
My greatest challenge was finding the zero mile starting point! The trail map on this web site, and on Google maps, are both technically incorrect. The trail's actual starting point is in the EH Young Riverfront Park parking lot, immediately east of the Argosy Casino property, next to the restrooms and the river. This park is also, by far, the best place to park anywhere on the southern part of the trail.
I've been looking at riding the entirety of the KATY for a few years as a milestone ride for myself. I was able to check this off of my bucket list over the Labor Day week of 2024. Given the length of the KATY Missouri does an outstanding job keeping it in such good condition despite the Missouri River posing a flood risk. There were two very small closures along the entire trail that were well marked and required a very short on road detour to bypass. I completed the trail in five days of riding.
I utilized a shuttle service at Bike Stop Café in St. Charles to take me to the Western Terminus at Clinton. I highly recommend Bike Stop Café as you can leave your car there during your ride and the owners are great people! Riding from Clinton to Booneville is definitely the hardest part as there are long sections of rolling hills that are barely perceptible to the eye but you will feel them as you have to pedal harder. Sedalia provides a good option to stay the night with many places to eat and sleep. I also stayed in Rocheport, Hermann and St. Charles all of which provided many dining options and were beautiful places to stay.
I completed the trail on a gravel bike and only had one flat during the entire ride. Most people along the trail were very friendly and the sense of community you have in riding such a trail is really felt over the course of many days. During the few times the trail is in an urban area it is extremely well marked and almost impossible to loose. Any time there were even slight washouts or rough trail the areas were well marked.
The KATY is not the most breathtakingly scenic trail I have ever ridden but its combination of length, multiple towns along the way and its great overall condition earns its place in the Rail Trail Hall of Fame
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