Hike on Katy Trail- January 2010

I had read a story on Backpackinglight.com by Lucas Boyer, who had just recently thru-hiked the length of the Katy Trail (225 miles). I have not been on much of the Katy Trail as it is considered just a bike path, straight and flat, but it is right in my backyard so to speak. I decided to take the day and walk a section. In order to make it somewhat challenging I decided to hike 20 miles from downtown St.Charles, the beginning of the Katy Trail, to Defiance, MO.

6:47 am and starting off from the trail head in the dark, not really sure how long 20 miles in 32 degree weather and heavy fog is going to take!

The trail follows the Missouri River or the flood plain of the river the whole way- passing under the Page Extension HWY 360 Bridge

I would actually recommend starting from the Page Extension parking lot. The first 4 miles of the trail are not very pretty and you have to walk next to the road a bit.

After 7 miles the first Katy Trail stop you come to is Greens Bottom Road depot. There is no town but a roadside shop (closed in winter) with water and snacks with maps and info

The Trail is long and straight but the parts that are right along the Missouri river bluffs are pretty

You pass under the very busy HWY 40/61 Missouri River Bridge. I have looked at the trail from the highway many times and wanted to see "what was down there"

Just after the bridge is a quarry lake, hidden by the bluffs from the highway

The day was mostly cloudy but the sun did come out for awhile mid morning. It stayed cold all day around 38 for a high

some of the rock formations along the river are very pretty

nice view of the river along Weldon Springs area

The next stop along the trail is Weldon Springs Conservation area 10 miles from Green Bottom. 4 miles to go

The Femme Osage River crossing is lovely, but frozen.

Finally to Defiance, MO. Ted and Kate's Tavern, normally a hang our for bikers, but today just a few people having beers and me and Vicky having Burgers and Fries.

20 miles in 6 hr and 22 minutes- a touch over 3 miles per hr. not bad, but my feet paid for it later coming off the hard packed gravel of the bike trail.

Wildlife:

Eagle

Read Headed Woodpecker

Cardinals

and the occasional bike rider and jogger

Big Bend National Park- Postponed- January 2010

Big Bend is Off-

Well as much as we wanted 2009 to end, 2010 has not treated us very well so far. We were passengers in a New Years Day head on collision, where a car crossed over the center line and hit us head on coming back from a movie. Everyone got banged up with a series of broken bones and cuts and bruises. Vacation will have to wait.

The car at the top left is the one we were all in, the car on the bottom right is the one that hit us. We are all very lucky!

Big Bend is on- January 2010

I will be leaving January 9th for 4 days ( 50 miles) of hiking, alone, in the deserts of Big Bend National Park

Big Sugar Creek Trail, Cuivre River State Park- November 2009

I had not been out in the woods in a while and was feeling a bit out of sorts. So a quick solo 7 miles hike at Cuivre River State Park was in order. It was very muddy after all the rain and the horses are allowed on this trail and they have destroyed the trail, but the sky was clear and the weather nice

The Creeks were all running high and clear the bottoms had some cool rock formations (below) Even though it was muddy it was nice to be out in the woods. The day started at 34 degrees at 7 am

I have done this trail so many times I never consider the water up, you can just normally walk across Big Sugar Creek, but today it was running at least calf high so I need to find a way across.. twice. This first time was a hairy climb along and over a fallen tree. (below)

The second time, I was not the only one looking for a way across. This racoon was just ahead of me going to use the same tree (below) to get across.

The view from the top of Big Sugar Creek valley and it warmed to 54 degrees by the time I was done with 7 miles - 2hr 27 min

Fall in the backyard- November 2009

It has been a very wet fall and the Maple in my backyard has turned a firery red that is just beautiful.