Sampling of some of the best Missouri gravel cycling, bikepacking, singletrack, and Katy/Rock Island Trail connector & loop routes - for a day trip, overnighter, or several-day bikepacking or bicycle tour

Let's take a look at some of the best gravel cycling, bikepacking, singletrack, and mostly off-road, trail, or gravel bicycle routes Missouri has to offer. 

Missouri has miles and miles of beautiful gravel and bikepacking routes

These routes include many connecting and loop routes with well known Missouri routes like the Katy Trail, Rock Island Trail, and Ozark Trail:

• Butterfield Stage Experience Gravel Route - 250 miles Jefferson City-Springfield, with maybe 800 miles of connector and loop routes to nearby communities also available. This was just rolled out this Summer, in cooperation with a large number of communities up and down the route. FYI the main 250-mile route is 50% gravel, 16% multi-use trail (mostly soft-surface), 34% paved (mostly low-traffic "country lanes" or city streets in small rural communities), 0.6% (1.5 miles) single-track.  

• Ozark Trail Mountain Bike/Bikepacking Route Network - somewhere north of 1000 miles of singletrack, gravel, and some connecting low-traffic paved routes through the entire Ozark Trail region. Particularly:

  • GOTE 300 is checked, ridden, and ready to go.  

  • The eastern side of the OTMB Main Loop--say Cuba to West Plains--is about 300 miles, mostly singletrack Ozark Trail with gravel connectors, and a very few paved roads to make needed links. See notes on the map however--the Huzzah CA section needs a re-route (which is pretty easy to do via nearby gravel roads).

  • Those two are probably the closest Missouri has right now to a really awesome, remote, lengthy, and mostly-singletrack bikepacking adventure route.

• Lewis and Clark Missouri River Adventure - mostly gravel except for relatively short portions in the STL & KC metro areas. ~1400 miles St Louis-Sioux City. Very remote; make sure to plan your resupply points carefully. Many loop opportunities thanks to routes north/south of the river through MO.  

• Bike MOPAC - Follows the historic Pacific RR route across Missouri--first railroad west of the Mississippi. Again the portion through the STL metro has a few trails where available, but otherwise paved. But starting about Labadie and on west, it's mostly gravel.

• Missouri Trail of Tears Bicycle Route - long stretches of this are mostly gravel, for example the Northern route Caledonia-Marshfield through Mark Twain Natl Forest. Which is some 200 miles.

• Birthplace of the Santa Fe Trail Bicycle Tour - The portions through the KC metro area are not what one would normally describe as bikepacking, but that leaves:

  • Boonslick-Arrow Rock Gravel Loop - ~70 miles, probably one of the closest matches to what they're asking for here--a nice Overnighters route

  • Santa Fe Trail Boonville-Independence - 140 miles, mostly gravel.

  • Parting of the Trails Loop - 77 miles, mostly gravel. Takes you along the historic Oregon, California, and Santa Fe Trail routes just past the point where they parted, and also visits a number of Bloody Kansas/Civil War era historic sites.
     

• And of course the Katy and Rock Island Trails - which create MANY options for connections to nearby or distant communities, loop routes, and other options 

  

  The Kansas City Airport-Rock Island Trail route is 51 miles of trails and low-stress roads and streets taking in the best Kansas City has to offer, including views of the beautiful riverfront

  • ALL ALONG THE TRAILS:

    • GREENWOOD GAP: How to connect the missing link in the Rock Island Trail from Greenwood to Pleasant Hill (near the western end of the RIT)

    • The Lewis & Clark Missouri River Adventure includes continuous routes on both sides of the Missouri River throughout Missouri - creating many natural loop routes with and alternate routes to the Katy Trail

  • WESTERN END OF THE TRAILS:

    • Connecting from the Katy or Rock Island to the Flint Hills Nature Trail in Kansas

    • Get to the Rock Island Trail from anywhere in the Kansas City metro area (including Kansas City Amtrak-Rock Island, Kansas City International Airport-Rock Island, Independence Amtrak-Rock Island, and Lee's Summit Amtrak-Rock Island connectors)

  • CENTRAL MISSOURI CONNECTORS, DAY TRIPS, AND LOOP ROUTES WITH THE MAJOR TRAILS:

    • Rock Island Trail connectors to cities and destinations throughout central Missouri -- including bypass routes for uncompleted segments of the Rock Island Trail State Park

    • Katy Trail loop routes & options in the Sedalia-Boonville-Jefferson City region

    • Katy Trail loops routes & options in the Boonville-Rocheport-Columbia region

  • EASTERN END OF THE TRAILS:
    • Routes from most anywhere in the St Louis metro area to the Katy Trail - including Kirkwood Amtrak-Katy, St Louis Amtrak-Katy, and St Louis Lambert International Airport-Katy 
      

      The Rock Island, Katy, and Butterfield Stage routes with many connecting routes and loop routes
    • The Lewis & Clark Confluence Tour includes connecting routes from the Katy Trail to destinations in the St Louis area, including the Illinois side, focusing on points of interest related to the Lewis & Clark expedition

Additional resources for those interested in gravel cycling, bikepacking, singletrack, and low-traffic connecting routes to the major Missouri Trails

Other bikepacking and multi-day gravel/singletrack type touring options in Missouri:

• GravelMap.com for Missouri, which shows many, many more miles of gravel routes in the state - and where you can easily add your own gravel routes

• Mentioned above is the Ozark Trail - overview map here. The difficulty is that some sections are open to mountain biking and some not. You have to check carefully each section's map here (for example this - that's where you find no mountain biking allowed in Huzzah CA).One way around this is to use MoBikeFed's Ozark Mountain Bike Trail network routes, which connect the mountain bikeable singletrack with (mostly) gravel road connectors

• Sample overnighters in the Ozark Trail system (using only segments where bicycling is allowed):

  • Berryman Trail - The Berryman Loop itself is just 26 miles, but lends itself nicely to overnight camping with Brazil Creek & Berryman Campgrounds right along the route (plus primitive camping allowed in areas, perhaps).

  • If you want to stretch it out a bit further there are tons of potential starting/end/camping spots in between the Berryman Trail area & the Council Bluffs Lake area. You could easily start at say Butts or Hazel Creek Campground, ride out to your campsite, complete the Berryman loop and ride back to the starting point for 40-50 mile rides. For more like 70 miles, Council Bluffs Lake-Berryman & back.

• You can find singletrack/mountain bike trails in Missouri on SingleTracks, MTB Project, and TrailForks.

More from MoBikeFed about Missouri bicycle routes, gravel, trails, bicycle route mapping, and more

• Missouri Bicycle Maps & Routes for mostly on-road bicycle routes & maps
• Missouri Bicycle & Touring Routes page for cross-state, touring, regional, connector, and local bicycle routes created by MoBikeFed and our partners across Missouri, including immediate download of GPS files for these routes.
• Missouri Trails Page for off-road trails, rail-trails, and single-track mountain bike trails.
• Missouri Gravel Grinder and Bikepacking page for gravel grinder and bikepacking routes featuring Missouri's amazing system of gravel roads.
• Resources for planning Missouri bicycle and trails trips and routes for more information about bicycle and trails route and trip planning.

Creating a world-class bicycle, pedestrian, and trails transportation network across Missouri is one of the four major goals of MoBikeFed's Vision for Bicycling and Walking in Missouri. Creating, promoting, and encouraging the implementation of the statewide trails vision along with major trails and trail connections like the Katy and Rock Island are a vitally important parts of that plan.

Your ongoing membership and generous financial support help turn our Vision into reality!