I had the chance a while back to take the Missouri River Trail on the Riverside/Quindaro Bend Levee and forgot just how pretty it is. Back before the Line Creek Trail was finished, we used to ride this a lot because it was about three miles long and worth loading up the bikes and trailer. However, I don't ever ride it anymore because usually I just take the shoulder on Route 9 and cut through the I-635 interchange then hop the guardrail to get to the Line Creek Trail when I do the Parkville loop.
this is much worse than MO 9 @ 169 pic.twitter.com/7X2ViKgp5Q
— Wes Minder (@WesKCMO) August 16, 2016
However one day I dropped the car off at the ever so awesome Chuck's Parkville Garage first thing in the morning then rode to work. I didn't want to do the I-635 interchange at morning rush hour. It's bad enough that the only way downtown is having to deal with the MoDOT Route 9 "bridge of death" so I figured I would only test my luck once that morning.
Wondering who doesn't (but wants to) bike commute from Northland to downtown bc of the railroad bridge on Burlington pic.twitter.com/R6h76sDkgF
— Wes Minder (@WesKCMO) July 3, 2016
Anyways, the best place to use the Missouri River Trail is to park near the oil tanks on the south side of Route 9 near the landscaping company. There is a brown sign leading to the trailhead but here is a link to the map.
The trail starts out on the wet (ie not flood protected) side of the levee with a bridge over the outlet for Burlington Creek. The day I went through the river was up and it was close to the bridge bottom.
The trail is under the canopy of a bunch of large cottonwood trees.
The trail will go up and over a tall hump which is a rail for a crane used to unload barge shipments for the neighboring manufacturing plant. The trail then comes out of the woods and into an open prairie area which is pretty awesome.
The trail then transitions from asphalt to crushed limestone on top of the levee.
The trail goes under the I-635 bridge and unless you're scared of birds, you should be okay.
The levee top gets a little boring when on a long ride.
It does offer the opportunity to see plenty of deer and wild turkey. I happened to see both.
The trail connects to the new pathway on the US 69 bridges and the sidewalks which lead to the Line Creek Trail and E.H. Young Riverfront Park. It's a nice little path if you have helicopter tendencies but children in different age abilities because it's pretty easy to see them on the levee top.
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