Route: Columbia to Capital (MO)

This 40-mile route can be completed in either direction. Southbound, it begins at the Boone County Courthouse columns in Columbia, Missouri. You take the MKT trail spur to the Katy Trail toward Jefferson City. Follow the trail over the Missouri River bridge, turn left on Main Street and to finish you run by the statues on the river side of the Capitol building, just past the replica of the Liberty Bell.

Aside from the concrete city streets to navigate in Jeff City and Columbia, this is a simple gravel rails-to-trails route to follow. Construction to convert the railroad beds to trails started in the late 1980s and both the Katy and MKT were open to foot traffic and bicycles in the early 1990s. The pedestrian bridge and skywalk that get you over the Missouri River in Jefferson City opened in 2011.  Anyone who ran the route prior to 2011 must have used the Airport Rd exit ramps and run next to the speeding US highway traffic over the bridge. The only major obstacle would be river flooding but it would have to be a major event to inundate the route. Highlights along the route include huge limestone bluffs, several segments with expansive views of the Missouri River, and passing through cute or unique riverbottom communities.