Katy Trail - St Charles to Greens Bottom, MO

Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Caboose

While the Capitol was under construction in Jefferson City, MO from June 1821 through October 1826, St. Charles served as the state's seat of government and is full of history.  It is in St. Charles that we often stop to ride the Katy Trail.  At 237 miles in length, the Katy trail is the longest Rails-to-Trails trail in the United States.  It stretches from Clinton, MO to St. Charles, MO and is the longest non-motorized public portion of the Lewis and Clark Trail.

Monday, October 1, we made a two day stop in St. Charles at Sundermeier Campground which has direct access to the Katy Trail.  Chris and I have ridden portions of the trail on multiple occasions since our first ride of 80 miles in 2009.  Tuesday we drove to an access point at the Page Bridge to begin our ride.

Chris takes off from the parking lot down toward the trail.

From the parking lot the path is asphalt and concrete as it winds downhill to the trail.  Once we get to the trail we are at water level and ride east alongside the Missouri River toward St. Charles. 

Page Bridge as seen from the Katy Trail

We are both riding trikes and found the crushed limestone trail to be fairly smooth.  There were times that the crushed limestone was more like gravel and a little bumpy, but not too often.

The trail is beautiful!  We started our ride around 11:00 a.m. and it was 81 degrees F.  The trees provided shade and lovely canopy.

On our way to St. Charles the trail curves around the Family Arena.  

The pics below are of a conveyor harvesting sand from the river.

Here the abandoned railroad is seen next to the trail.

This portion of the trail was very scenic with a tunnel, several bridges, beautiful trees, and views of the Missouri River.  Around 11:45 we stopped for lunch in historic downtown.  We had sandwiches outdoors at the Old Millstream Inn Restaurant.

After lunch we biked over to Frontier Park where there are annual re-enactments of the beginning of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Octoberfest was this past weekend.  Thus all the little blue buildings.  Ha!

This monument is to Captain William Clark, Captain Lewis and his dog, Seaman, as they face the mysteries of the unknown West.

The old train station in St. Charles

A barge floats down the Missouri in the area where the explorers are said to have begun their journey.

Did I mention it is a pretty warm day today?  Well, it is in the 80's and that qualifies as warm in my book.  Of all places to find in St. Charles we located a Kilwins on our trail.  We toured a Kilwins in Petoskey, MI  two years ago and have indulged at Kilwins in Mackinaw City, MI as well.  Now we can add Kilwins in St. Charles, MO to the list.

Chris' flavor was Missouri Mud

These pics give a glimpse of historical downtown.

From St. Charles we rode back to the Page Bridge area, passed up the climb to the parking area where we left the car, and proceeded to Greens Bottom, 2.7 miles ahead.

For a couple of miles the trail runs parallel to the river.

About a mile from Green Bottom the trail is parallel to farm land and newly harvested corn fields.

Fallen walnuts must be maneuvered around.

Upon arrival to our destination of Greens Bottom Road, we rested and hydrated, then turned around and biked back to the car.  The ride was a total of 15 miles and it was a sunny 88 degrees F when we finished the ride.  There was quite a steep climb from the trail to the car.  If hills are difficult for a rider, it would be best to park at a trailhead in St. Charles or in Greens Bottom and ride.

Fun day!  See ya next year, Katy!

Grand River Valley Rail Trail - Saranec to Ionia, MI

We took advantage of a gorgeous fall day on Monday (September 11, 2017) and drove to Saranac, MI to explore the Fred Meijer Grand River Valley Rail Trail.  We began our ride at 11:15 a.m. under clear skies and a perfect-for-riding 66 degrees!

This fairly new trail was finished in 2013 and is 8.25 miles in length from Saranac to Ionia.
Pictured is the old Saranac Depot and is the trailhead where we began our ride.

The Saranac trailhead is situated on the Grand River and has a nature trail, picnic area, and a historical museum.
We rode over 5 restored railroad bridges on our way to Ionia, such as the one on the left.
Beautifully crafted granite mile markers are placed along the trail to advise us of our progress.

Early on the ride we encountered golf ball sized objects on the trail.  I had no idea what they were, but Chris did.  He opened one so I could see what a walnut looked like before it made it to my pancakes!

Zoom in for a better view of the limestone surface

As you can see from the pictures, we are surrounded by beauty,  Tall trees and heavily wooded areas fill most of our view along with glimpses of the Grand River.
This rail trail is paved a short distance within Saranac and Ionia but the bulk of the trail is crushed, screened, and compacted limestone.
It was for this reason that Chris opted to load our trikes for this particular ride.  Several riders we encountered used regular upright bicycles with wide tires.

 We stopped on the bridge over the Grand River to take some pictures and enjoy the view.

Chris with the Grand River in the background

Pic on the left and located in west Ionia is the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility.  On the right is another trail pic.





Pictures here show the newly constructed pedestrian bridge over M-66.
The pedestrian bridge runs beside an old grain elevator and takes us into downtown Ionia.




The pic on the left is the old train depot in Ionia.  On the right is the Ionia Courthouse Building, completed in 1886.  This building was built using local pink sandstone and replaced an 1840s hall of justice.  When built the building was heated by 14 fireplaces and lit by gas!  Electricity was installed in 1922.  Spending a day in Ionia and looking at or photographing the historical homes and buildings would be an interesting excursion.

It's 1:00 p.m. and we're hungry!  Chris googled nearby restaurants and we headed off trail for Main Street.
Our destination was a 4 year old business called Aunt Stephie's.  We found a perfect place to park our bikes right out front!
Our waitress/server/cashier was Aunt Stephie and she was a delight.  Stephie was full of sparkle and eager to impress us with her homemade chicken salad, soups, and freshly made beef patties for mouth watering olive burgers.  I had the olive burger and Chris chose the Chicken Salad on a Croissant.  Both were delicious!

Aunt Stephie bringing homemade pie

We asked Aunt Stephie if she had pie.  And she did!  Freshly made by her husband's 91 year old grandmother!  Chris had the apple and I chose blueberry.  Both were delicious.  The food was good and the price was very reasonable.

Pics of downtown Ionia.  On the left is the Ionia Theatre and on the right you can see the brick road and some of the old historical buildings.

By 1:45 p.m. it is 76 degrees and we are ready turn around and head back to Saranac.




We stoped to take some photos with some of the seasonal colors.  Trees and shrubs are just beginning to get their fall colors.
(Click on any of these photos to enlarge.)

At one of our photo stops, while Chris was taking in the beautiful colors of nature, his trike took off in another direction.  Guess we were on more of a hill than we realized.

We were almost back to the Saranac trailhead when we decided to take a little scenic detour from our rail trail.  This is the Saranac Village Nature Park.

The park was a quiet ride and had a park bench,  rustic restroom, geese, and a pond.
Not sure why this tree had been cut down, but thought it made for an interesting picture.

 We made a loop and then biked out of the park and went a short distance on our trail again.  There was another little side trail that we followed and it took us by the Grand River and then to the back side of the old train station in Saranac...and thus, our car.
It was around 3:35 p.m. by the time our bikes were loaded and we were ready to head home to Muskegon, MI.  Our round trip of biking was approximately 20 miles.  The trail was well maintained and tree branches trimmed back from the bike path.  Crushed limestone on the trail made it slower to ride, but doable.  Because of the extraordinary beauty along the trail we both agree that the Grand River Valley Rail Trail is worth experiencing.

Happy Trails, from Chris and Debbie