The MRT route in Missouri is still being verified north of Hannibal, but is signed on the ground from Hannibal to St. Louis, and again south of St. Louis. Download a Missouri MRT map. (124 KB pdf). This map is for general orientation purposes only. It indicates the current status of the route, whether completed with signs on the ground, proposed, or still under development. Check back to this page for segment descriptions as they become available.
Proposed segments are being planned and have been assessed as generally rideable. Cyclists should use atlases and other sources to identify road routes.
Segments under development are marked in red and indicate dangerous cycling conditions. Bicyclists should proceed with extreme caution.
Local and regional cycling clubs also are sources of route information. The Missouri Bicycle Federation is a clearinghouse and starting point for cycling information in the state.
Description
The Missouri section of the Mississippi River Trail is one of the most varied state segments along the entire route. This truly is a "border" state between the corn-dominated farming landscape of the Midwest and the flat, alluvial, Delta plains. North of St. Louis, the MRT passes through river bottomland where the rich agricultural fields are separated from the river by an extensive system of levees. The trail passes through Hannibal, Mark Twain's home and "America's best-loved small town", and other old river communities, through a series of hills before it comes out into the great river confluences at St. Louis. South of St. Louis, the MRT corridor is a land of contrasts, and vividly distinctive places.
The great Gateway Arch in St. Louis represents this city's status as a continental crossroads, where East met West and North met South. To the south, the Mississippi is heavily marked with the influence of French colonizers from the 18th century; towns like Ste. Genevieve retain much of their old charm and historic fabric. The Trail of Tears State Park offers testimony to the fact that the process of historical change here had its victims as well as victors, and that history happens, almost inevitably, at a cost.
Resources & Links
Segment 1–St. Louis to Kimmswick
This segment takes you from the Arch in St. Louis, into fine Missouri countryside, and to the small historic village of Kimmswick.
If you are looking for a great 3-day cycling loop out of St. Louis, plan to spend nights at Kimmswick and Ste. Genevieve; then take the Ste. Genevieve ferry across to Modoc and up the east side of the river through Prairie du Rocher and Cahokia, across the Old Chain of Rocks bridge back to St. Louis.
The MRT starts south in St. Louis at Washington and Sullivan Blvd., after which you will pass the Arch and the Jefferson Memorial. You will take a right on Chouteau Avenue, cross the railroad tracks, and then take a left on Fourth Street, which immediately becomes Broadway. At about 10 miles Broadway becomes SR#231/Telegraph Road. At the junction with 2-lane US #61 you will turn south and stay on #61 until you reach the sign to Kimmswick.
Sense of Place
At about 2 miles from the Arch in the historic Soulard area of St. Louis you will see the St. Louis Bakery Company and a nice open-air market. The bakery is an excellent place to pick up pastries and sandwiches to enjoy a few miles down the road at Belle Rive Park with its scenic overlook of the Mississippi. Then on to Kimmswick, where you should stop at the Kimmswick Visitors Center for information and a walking tour guide.
Kimmswick, founded in 1859, was in a state of decline when townsperson Lucianna Ross set out to lead restoration of the town and moved a number of old buildings here. The residents brought it back to life through careful preservation work, opening a fascinating assortment of shops, and supporting two good food establishments at the Blue Owl and Old House restaurants. In the great flood of 1993 the whole town worked heroically to save it from the looming embrace of the Mississippi. The Historical Society and Museum (open weekends) has a neat selection of items, such as old photos and period clothing that give insight into life in this area in the 19th century. About 4 miles from Kimmswick is Mastodon State Park; the museum will take you back to the days when mastodons roamed the land.
Segment 2–Kimmswick to Ste. Genevieve
After you get past the congestion at the north end of this segment, you will be in the rural countryside with rolling hills that make the Missouri MRT such a benevolent place to bike. At 28 miles you will find a roadside park that offers a fine panoramic view over the countryside. Cycling here is a prelude to arrival in one of America?s most loved villages, Ste. Genevieve, the oldest European settlement west of the Mississippi. In "Ste. Gen" stop first at the Great River Road Interpretive Center (9-4 daily) at 66 South Main Street in the Historic District to learn about the town and to get at map of the historic tour route, then head out to explore. The distinctive architecture of the French colonial period is beautifully preserved at the Bolduc House (1770), Maison Guibourd-Valle (1784), Amoureux House (1792), Felix Valle State Historic Site (1818) and Bolduc-Le Meilleur House (1820).
A tiny ferry takes passengers from Ste. Genevieve to Modoc on the Illinois coast and makes for a pleasant round-trip, especially in the evening when the setting sun colors the river. Or, you may plan to take the ferry across to the Illinois side in the morning and bike up to Fort de Charters and the old French town, Prairie du Rocher, before returning to Ste. Genevieve for a second night.
You will leave Kimmswick on 2-lane US#61. At Herculaneum the highway becomes 4-lane and continues through Festus and Crystal City. From Crystal City to Ste. Genevieve #61 is 2-lane. A ferry runs regularly from Ste. Genevieve to Modoc, Illinois.
Side Trip–Ste. Genevieve to Modoc, IL
Take the ferry across to the Illinois side in the morning and bike up to Fort de Charters and the old French town, Prairie du Rocher before returning to Ste. Genevieve for a second night.
Segment 3–Ste. Genevieve to Perryville
You will leave Ste. Genevieve on US#61, and stay on this 2-lane road until you reach Perryville. You can easily combine this segment with the following segment from Perryville to Cape Girardeau for a total of 63 miles, if you don't make detours to Kaskaskia Island or to the Trail of Tears State Park.
A well-traveled road will take you the eight miles from St. Genevieve to St. Mary's, a village that clings to the side of a tall hill, with the river at the foot of the town and toward to crown of the hill a lovely Catholic church with a graceful spire. St. Mary's is well known in the Mid West by antique aficionados for its fine antique mall.
An interesting side trip from St. Mary's is to Kaskaskia Island. The island was once bounded by the Kaskaskia River and a half-arc of the Mississippi—until the flood of 1881 when the Mississippi stole the Kaskaskia River channel. Then, foot-by-foot, the Mississippi consumed the town that once thrived there. Kaskaskia was no ordinary town. Its history dates back to 1675, when Father Jacque Marquette established an Indian mission. It developed into a major French settlement; then after the French and Indian War it became a British supply base in the Northwest Territory. Finally it passed to the Americans in 1778 during the Revolution, captured from the British by George Rogers Clark. Known as the "Paris of the West", it became a center of religion, trade and government, serving as the capital of the Illinois Territory and the first capital of the state. When you set out on the water-damaged roads of Kaskaskia Island and experience the veritable wasteland that it has become, you will better understand the Mississippi's mastery over the valley. Its waters have regularly thwarted civilization. But what remains on Kaskaskia Island is impressive: the Kaskaskia Bell Shrine, housing the "Liberty Bell of the West", a gift from France during the French Colonial period, and the simple Church of the Immaculate Conception.
Perryville will be your next destination. Plan here to visit the beautiful National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and the restored Perry County Courthouse. If you bike in the countryside around Perryville, you will note that the town sits on a fascinating cratered landscape known as the Perryville Sinkhole Plain. This whole area is made up of caves, caused by groundwater dissolving the limestone bedrock. When these caves collapse, they create sinkholes.
Perryville Chamber of Commerce, 2 West St. Marie's Street, 573-547-6062
Sense of Place
An interesting side trip from St. Mary's is to Kaskaskia Island. The island was once bounded by the Kaskaskia River and a half-arc of the Mississippi—until the flood of 1881 when the Mississippi stole the Kaskaskia River channel. Then, foot-by-foot, the Mississippi consumed the town that once thrived there. Kaskaskia was no ordinary town. Its history dates back to 1675, when Father Jacque Marquette established an Indian mission. It developed into a major French settlement; then after the French and Indian War it became a British supply base in the Northwest Territory. Finally it passed to the Americans in 1778 during the Revolution, captured from the British by George Rogers Clark. Known as the "Paris of the West", it became a center of religion, trade and government, serving as the capital of the Illinois Territory and the first capital of the state. When you set out on the water-damaged roads of Kaskaskia Island and experience the veritable wasteland that it has become, you will better understand the Mississippi's mastery over the valley. Its waters have regularly thwarted civilization. But what remains on Kaskaskia Island is impressive: the Kaskaskia Bell Shrine, housing the "Liberty Bell of the West", a gift from France during the French Colonial period, and the simple Church of the Immaculate Conception.
Segment 4–Perryville to Cape Girardeau
You will leave Perryville on US#61, with two lanes. At the intersection of #61 and SR#177, just beyond Fruitland, take a left on #177 and ride to the intersection with CR#W. Here you can (a) continue on the MRT on #177 to the Trail of Tears State Park [watch carefully for turn signs] and thence into downtown Cape Girardeau [52m], or (b) take a right on #W and ride directly into north Cape [40m].
A nice side trip that will take you off #61 is to turn left at Longtown onto CR#D, thence onto CR#C to Frohna and Altenburg with access on CR#A into Wittenberg. From Altenburg you will continue south on #C until it reenters #61 close to Fruitland. Watch for logging trucks on parts of this routing.
From Perryville the route becomes increasing beautiful, with rolling hills, pastures with grazing cattle, fields of corn, and modern silos and facilities keeping company with patient, rather disconsolate old barns, so much a part of rural America. Small towns make themselves known by their church steeples rising above the horizon.
You will come to signs for the villages of Frohna, Altenburg and Wittenburg. Consider a detour to these lovely farming villages, settled by German Lutherans in the early 19th century. Looking for freedom to practice their faith, they left Germany and sailed to the port of New Orleans from whence they traveled upriver on the Mississippi until they reached this beautiful part of Missouri. Some buildings here still have their German names, and a visit to the Saxon Lutheran Memorial in Frohna is a historical and spiritual treat.
Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau
100 Broadway
(800) 777-0068 or (573) 335-1631
Sense of Place
From Perryville the route becomes increasing beautiful, with rolling hills, pastures with grazing cattle, fields of corn, and modern silos and facilities keeping company with patient, rather disconsolate old barns, so much a part of rural America. Small towns make themselves known by their church steeples rising above the horizon.
You will come to signs for the villages of Frohna, Altenburg and Wittenburg. Consider a detour to these lovely farming villages, settled by German Lutherans in the early 19th century. Looking for freedom to practice their faith, they left Germany and sailed to the port of New Orleans from whence they traveled upriver on the Mississippi until they reached this beautiful part of Missouri. Some buildings here still have their German names, and a visit to the Saxon Lutheran Memorial in Frohna is a historical and spiritual treat.
Just north of Cape, a tragic chapter of Indian history is memorialized at the Trail of Tears State Park (573) 334-1711. In the frigid winter of 1837-38, the federal government rounded up thousands of Cherokee Indians from their homes in the Smoky Mountains and forced them along the so-called "Trail of Tears" to a new home in Oklahoma. Reaching the Mississippi across from Cape, the Cherokees found that it was so obstructed by ice that they could not cross by ferry. Without adequate food or shelter, they camped on the east side of the river in freezing weather. Many did not survive to reach Oklahoma. Interactive interpretive exhibits at the center tell this story from the Cherokee vantage point. The park also offers camping, lake swimming and hiking trails along the Mississippi.
The busy river town of Cape Girardeau traces its history back to 1699 and the settling of French Louisiana, although it was actually founded in 1792 as a French trading post. For a time is was governed by a Spanish commandant before becoming part of the United States. Cape Rock Park, in the north part of the city, provides a fine view of the Mississippi River. Other attractions include the 500-foot long "Missouri Wall of Fame", painted on the floodwall, the Cape River Heritage Museum and Old St. Vincent Church.
Segment 5–Cape Girardeau to Charleston or East Prairie
This segment takes you from scenic Missouri Ozark hill country, down a long hill into the broad, flat Mississippi River delta. If you had biked here some 12,000 years ago, you would have seen the Gulf of Mexico, which reached as far north as Cape Girardeau. At the end of the last Ice Age the Mississippi, massively swollen from melting ice, moved countless tons of northern soil to points southward. Along the way it deposited this soil and created the deep, rich earth that the delta is so famous for. On the current Gulf of Mexico this process continues.
You will leave Cape Girardeau on CR#K, cross over I-55, after another 7-8 miles you will take a left onto SR#25, to SR# 77, and onto CR#A. This becomes a winding, hilly road, with an occasional roller-coaster ride, for 8 miles, through New Hamburg. (Don't despair; the broad, flat Delta is near!) A brief interlude back on #61 will take you to Benton, where you will turn on SR#77 (currently no MRT sign.). This road is 2-lane with a long down hill, with occasional heavy traffic to I-55. Exercise caution. After 2 miles take a left on CR#D, a 2-lane road. #D becomes SR#N into Charleston. East Prairie is another 12 miles on SR#105.
Charleston Chamber of Commerce, (573) 683-6509
East Prairie Tourism Council
219 North Washington Avenue
(573) 649-2452
Sense of Place
This segment takes you from scenic Missouri Ozark hill country, down a long hill into the broad, flat Mississippi River delta. If you had biked here some 12,000 years ago, you would have seen the Gulf of Mexico, which reached as far north as Cape Girardeau. At the end of the last Ice Age the Mississippi, massively swollen from melting ice, moved countless tons of northern soil to points southward. Along the way it deposited this soil and created the deep, rich earth that the delta is so famous for. On the current Gulf of Mexico this process continues.
Charleston is a southern town. The whole feel here is different from the north. If you are in Charleston during the Dogwood-Azalea Festival, when the town is decked out like a bride in the purity of dogwoods and brilliance of azaleas, you might be in a small town in Mississippi. This is a gracious, old-fashioned town in which to linger, with old, historic homes and public buildings. It is a good place to get some postcards to write at the Russell Hotel Café, where at regular intervals you might hear the Court House chimes play favorite American songs. The Historical Society Home is a fine, turn-of-the-century, Victorian house at the north end of town.
East Prairie grew up in the late 19th century as a railroad hub. Timber was plentiful, and the town became a center for the logging industry. This history has created an ambience here that is entirely different from its larger neighbor, Charleston. The Historical Museum of Mississippi County, at 112 North Lincoln depicts the life and times of early East Prairie and the county. The town's effort to welcome visitors and to serve as the gateway to attractions further south makes it a good place to stop.
Segment 6 –Charleston or East Prairie to Samburg, TN
If you are departing from Charleston, you will take SR#105 into East Prairie. From here you will take Hwy 80 east a couple of miles to SR#102, a 2-lane road, and on to SR# 77, which will take you to the Dorena-Hickman ferry. Generally there is little traffic; however, in September and October the big wheat trucks rule the road. The Dorena/Hickman, Kentucky ferry (901-285-0390) runs at least once an hour and operates seven days a week from 7:00 AM to 6:30 PM (5:30 PM during the winter). If there are conditions of rough water, high winds or fog and ice, scheduled service may not run. From Hickman, Kentucky you will take SR#94 south to SR#311, which becomes SR#57 in Tennessee. This is a 2-lane road that will take you to Samburg.
Sense of Place
You will start out traveling through beautiful, rich, delta farmland. How different this is from what early explorers were confronted with—an alluvial flood plain covered with great expanses of wet prairies and giant trees, teaming with buffalo, deer, turkey and huge flocks of waterfowl. To experience what this "domain" of the Mississippi River was like, visit Big Oak Tree State Park (11m from East Prairie), which you can reach from the MRT on US#102. Before you get to the state park, you may want to visit Towosahgy State Historic Site (13 miles from East Prairie), which requires a detour off of #102 on CR#YY and then north on CR#FF.
Big Oak Tree State Park is a virgin hardwood forest of towering hickories and magnificent oaks and other hardwoods. The forest exists because the people of southeast Missouri, including area school children that gave their nickels and dimes, determined during the hardship years of the 1930's to purchase some of the last remnants of hardwood forest that had not been cleared for timber. A boardwalk through the park allows visitors to get an inside view of this remnant of the vast swamp forest that once blanketed southeast Missouri. Displays in the nature center interpret this vanishing landscape.
Towosahgy (an Osage Indian word meaning "Old Town") was the site of a fortified Indian village. This was one of the many Indian villages, beginning around 1000 AD, that was connected by river trade to the great North American metropolis at Cahokia, Illinois. Since so much of American antiquity in the Mississippi valley has been lost to us through the ravages of nature and modern human activity, it is important not just to look at sites (that may be no more than a few not-very-impressive mounds) but to let the sites collectively imprint upon our consciousness the great Indian heritage that is our heritage as well. We lost so much when European diseases not only decimated Indian life but also terminated most of the oral tradition that preserved Indian history and culture.
This segment takes riders across the Dorena-Hickman ferry into Kentucky, where their first stop may be at the town of Hickman.
The town of Hickman was settled in 1819 in the early days of the Westward Movement. Nestled under and atop the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi and rich in historic tradition, Hickman, according to Mark Twain, was one of the most beautiful towns on the Mississippi. At the busy steamboat landing, corn, cotton, cattle, poultry, and Kentucky tobacco were loaded out, while farm tools and supplies were brought in from other places. An overland stage route to the east began at Hickman and wound its way to Nashville.
The old residential section of town, high on the bluff, has imposing houses, graceful churches and the Fulton County Courthouse, with its distinctive Seth Thomas clock that proudly announces the hour and half-hour with a resonance that can be heard for miles around! Near the bottom of the bluff you will find the LaClede Hotel, a Hickman landmark, where riverboat travelers found hospitality and entertainment. The hotel exterior is an architectural delight, with its unusual horseshoe entrance on Clinton Street and keyhole arches around the doors on Jackson Street. One can only hope that some day it will again open as a hotel, and we who travel will be able to experience the grace and elegance it once offered its guests.
Also on Clinton, facing a small park that softens the impact of Hickman's huge floodwall, is Jim Henson's Broom Shop (270) 236-2360 with his broom-making museum. This is a fun place to visit, for Hensen is a storyteller, who travels widely, holding his audiences spellbound with his broom-making monologues. It is best to call his shop to see if he will be there when you visit.
Just south of the Kentucky-Tennessee border, you will come to the Reelfoot Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Take a few minutes to stop in at the visitors' center, which has excellent exhibits on the great variety of flora and fauna that call Reelfoot Lake "home". The center also exhibits one of the far-famed Reelfoot "stumpjumpers", unique hand-honed wooden rowboats.
