Katy Trail 3 - Hermann to St. Charles

 Monday, 18 October, and Tuesday, 19 October 2021

Hermann - Augusta - St. Charles

Hermann to Augusta: 37.5 miles. Augusta to St. Charles: 27 miles

We finished our ride with a moderate day and a welcome short day.

Looking upriver (west) from the Hwy 19 bridge at Hermann.

Lost Creek enters the Missouri River.

Augusta may be a tiny town (population less than 300), but it packs a lot into its small space. Along with about a half-dozen B&Bs there are two wineries and a brewing company in the town. For those with more transportation than a bicycle, there are many more wineries a short distance from town. Here I am tasting wine at the Augusta Winery - two short blocks from our B&B. We spent the night at the Lindenhof B&B, which has a fabulous backyard with fireplace, hot tub spa, and gardens. (The inside is very nice as well!) Augusta also has a first class gallery, Gallery Augusta. We're going to come back when we can carry a few items home in our truck - it's difficult to pack wine, furniture, and art on a bicycle!

One of the few places the bluffs were easily visible from the trail.

More highways, more bridges. This is the I-64 bridge over the Missouri River.

Backyard bee hives just outside St. Charles.

We made it! Our truck was waiting for us where we left it in the large municipal parking lot at the St. Charles trailhead. Total distance: 240 miles in 6 days. It's too bad we had to immediately start driving home without spending more time here. Not the least would have been to have ridden to the end of the Katy Trail in Machens, another 13 miles. If we could have stayed another day, we could have done the 26-mile round-trip and "rung the bell" in Machens. But other obligations awaited, and we drove the 12-hour trip back to Virginia.

Our trail/security camera caught the reflections from our bicycle tires as we finally made it home.

We enjoyed our time on the Katy Trail - especially the quirky, interesting towns along the trail. We've been spoiled by the outstanding scenery along other trails we've biked (GAP-C&O, Greenbrier River, Jackson River, Hiawatha, Mickelson). If you're looking for a scenic trail, there are better ones. Road noise was also annoying at times. But we had a great time riding through America's heartland.