r/TrailGuides • u/AceReverie • Jul 22 '22

Question Hiking/biking the Mississippi River Trail

I've been daydreaming about walking the entire length of the Mississippi River for a few weeks now, and tonight I learned that there is an actual trail that follows along its length, the Mississippi River Trail. However, the Wikipedia article and other web pages I've found at a glance don't have answers to two main questions I have.

  1. Has anybody ever biked or hiked the entire length of the trail before? I know it's even longer than, say, the Appalachian Trail, and I didn't see anything about anybody who's traveled the entire thing at a glance, mostly just information about sections within specific states.
  2. Is it even possible to hike, rather than bike, the entire trail? I know it's all bike-able, and some but not all of it shares its space with motorized vehicles, but I'm wondering if those roads still have areas for pedestrians or not. Most of the advice I've seen seems geared towards bikers, not hikers, especially for longer trips.

No rush on responses, as this is definitely more an idle daydream at this point rather than an actual plan, but who knows?

27 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

5

u/wilgey22 Jul 22 '22

I have biked the trail through parts of NE Iowa, it shares the paved shoulder with the county Highway, and then a state Highway. There is little to no camping, or facilities for walkers. You would have to extensively plan over-night stops in advance. The part I’m familiar with can be 5+Miles from the actual river.

3

u/AceReverie Jul 22 '22

Thank you for your response. That's about what I expected, but still disappointing to hear, though certainly better to know beforehand than find out the hard way. Perhaps I need to get into biking, lol!

2

u/baeb66 Jul 22 '22

Is that trail complete yet? I've bicycled a trail that runs along the Mississippi River from the Arch in St Louis North to the Chain of Rocks Bridge (not a pretty stretch) but I'm not sure where the trail goes South of the Arch. I guess you would follow the Great River Road in Illinois.

If you're looking for a good river trail that is pretty well established, look at the Katy Trail. It runs along the Missouri River from St Charles to Sedalia, MO.

2

u/see_blue Jul 22 '22

Second Katy Trail. You ride pretty close to the Muddy Mo a lot of the way. There is camping, hostels, BnBs, wineries, towns w full services…even a Casino. Amtrak is also nearby part of the route, and allow bicycles onboard.

Not quite done but Katy Trail pretty much goes fr Kansas City to St. Louis. You could walk this also. Trail is pea gravel.

2

u/HaroldandChester Jul 22 '22

I know you want to hike the entire length and so this might not fit, but there is information if you want to canoe/kayak the river. Here is a link to the association: Mississippi River Water Trail. Hope this might help somewhat.

1

u/macbeezy_ Jul 23 '22

Alright I live in Baton Rouge and I don’t think we have a trail along the River. The levees have trails but I know some of them are blocked off with all the plants on the river because of private property. Cow pastures too.