New Franklin, MO - Katy Trail (5/5 - 5/13/25)

Continuing from a previous visit, we rode additional segments of the Katy Trail. We stayed at the Katy Roundhouse in New Franklin and Beyond the Trail RV Park in Defiance. This 239 mile trail is not paved, but is very scenic, especially the parts along the Missouri River. We were able to ride about 160 miles on this visit.

One of the unique stops is a visit to the Big Bur Oak tree.

This tree is over 400 years old and even has its own Facebook following.

Tucked in the woods along the trail you'll find many examples of abandoned infrastructures that have some interesting architectures. This one appears to have used tiles on the exterior that I have never seen used before in a grain elevator.

The trail isn't paved, but it is in good condition and not difficult to ride at all. The trail does throw up some dust on your bike, so be prepared to clean you bike a few times.

Since the trail is along a river and limestone cliffs in places, you can find structures similar to ones we saw in Mesa Verde with the cliff dwellers. This particular structure wasn't Native American and is supposed to have been used by the railroad for storage.

Of course, we saw many reptiles using the trail as well.

With close proximity to the river, this trail had no shortage of wildlife.

One of our favorite stops on the trail is the ultra popular Cooper's Landing not too far from Columbia. This place plays live music most days of the week and rotates food trucks. They also serve beverages. This place is also a marina/campground. We have stayed here before, but we were really too large and had dicey drives to get/leave here down some windy one-way roads in places.

This trail doesn't have any long tunnels, but there are a few short ones.

Here is another view of the tunnel to show the design of the ceiling and walls.

This was an interesting sign post for us. We just recently returned from a Rhine River cruise in and around Germany/France. This area was settled by hundreds of Rhine German settlers who sought to recreate Rhine wineries in America. I never knew this area was a leader in winemaking at some point in US history.

More interesting structures turned into art.

Near Boonville, this is a railroad bridge you should be crossing the river over if they kept the drawbridge in the lower position. Instead you are routed to a bridge I am taking this picture from to get back on the original trail.

As with most towns, refurbished depots are used as rest stops that include rest rooms and potentially other interesting sights or uses inside.

Now we head to Iowa for the summer where we will be riding in RAGBRAI again this year.