Katy Trail State Park

About this park

Katy Trail State Park, built on the former corridor of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, is the longest developed rail-trail in the entire United States, stretching 240 miles across Missouri between Clinton and Machens with 26 trailheads and four fully restored historic railroad depots along the way. The park was formed in 1986 after flooding damage led to the abandonment of the railroad right-of-way, and with critical early financial support from Edward Jones Jr., the first completed section opened at Rocheport in 1990. The trail closely follows the Missouri River for much of its length, carrying bicyclists, walkers, and equestrians past towering limestone bluffs on one side and the river itself on the other, including a 243-foot stone-arched tunnel built at Rocheport around 1893, the only tunnel on the original MKT line. The section of trail running through Cooper and St. Charles counties carries official designation as part of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, and the Katy Trail is also part of the broader American Discovery Trail network. Recognition for the trail has been substantial: it earned designation as a Millennium Legacy Trail and was inducted into the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Hall of Fame in 2008, cementing its status as a model for rail-trail conversion nationwide. Roughly 30,000 visitors use the trail each year, passing through small Missouri River towns that once depended entirely on the railroad, with wayside exhibits at trailheads turning every ride or walk into both a healthy outdoor adventure and a genuine history lesson.