The only reason we came to Bolivar, Missouri, was to ride yet another rail trail. We had high hopes for the Frisco Highline Trail, only some of which were realized. At 35 miles, this is the second longest rail trail in Missouri, behind only the well-known and much longer Katy Trail. Unfortunately, the Frisco Highline Trail was not nearly as impressive as its website. On our first day in town, we did a short ride from our RV park to access the trail, then took the trail a few miles north into town. This portion of the trail is paved and well=maintained. We passed La Petite Gemme ("little gem") Prairie, one of the last prairie remnants in the area. How nice that it is accessible via the rail trail. Approaching town, there is no easy way to cross busy Highway 13, so there is a longish road detour to continue the trail. This detour was not always well-marked, and we took a wrong turn once. We eventually figured it out and got back on the trail to ride to its northern terminus in town. The primary purpose of this short ride was to stop in at one of our favorite stores, Aldi, and pick up some groceries. On our second day, we rode south on the trail. Our access point from the county road was at Mile Marker (MM) 31. This portion of the trail is unpaved but was supposedly packed limestone like the Katy Trail, so we took our Bike Fridays, with their 1.35" wide tires. Parts of this section were indeed smoothly packed limestone and easy and fun to ride. In many places, however, a good mowing and branch trimming was needed as the grass and weeds were high, and occasionally the trail would almost disappear in the weeds. We were surprised to see how poorly maintained this section of trail was, but it was tolerable compared to the conditions we encountered the farther south we pedaled. We had hoped to make it to the town of Walnut Grove at MM 16, but ended up turning around early due to the gravel conditions, mostly from the Little Sac River bridge (MM 23) to MM 21 (and probably farther south). This section appeared to have been relatively recently re-graveled. The gravel was larger and deeper than ideal (up to 3" deep in some places), leading to fish-tailing and difficulties controlling our bikes. It was good to see that some maintenance had been done, but it was not done well; the gravel was not spread evenly or thinly enough, making it somewhat hazardous and not fun to ride. We would recommend this section for mountain bikes only. Unfortunately, I did not think to stop and take a photo of conditions in this section, I was having a hard enough time just keeping the rubber side down! We took a little detour on an access road near the campground on our way back to photograph this cool little store. Outside were many vintage gas pumps and signs. Neat place!
4 Comments
That's so disappointing. When we were in Quebec we kept reading about the wonders of the Green Trail (can't remember the French). It was mostly very deep gravel and not very much fun to ride in the deep woods. I think the whole system was actually geared towards snow mobiles and the biking thing was just an after thought. It's too bad they aren't maintaining that trail properly.
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Emily
6/28/2016 05:06:06 pm
Hmmm, I wonder if it was the "Route Verte". I too had heard how wonderful it was for cycling. Does not sound nearly as nice as I'd imagined. I bet you're right about the snowmobile thing, considering where it is!
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David Christmas
6/28/2016 11:06:17 am
Love the pics! Interesting looking bikes. Hope the heat hasn't been a problem down there. Barry, we played 9 vs the new 50+ Red Sox last Sunday - summer definitely here in NC... Rob Woods says hello!
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Emily
6/28/2016 05:09:11 pm
Hi David! Those are our folding bikes, Bike Fridays. We've had them since 2004 and originally purchased them for self-supported touring, but they've primarily been used for utilitarian bikes for going for groceries, etc. in recent years. Plus we took 'em to Mexico!
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Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
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