Comments on: The Mississippi River Trail

By: Richard Collier

Richard Collier — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:36:14 +0000

Hi Joan,

A couple of comments for you (hope they get to you via this address . . . please me know if you receive them, ok?):

1. April would be too early if you plan to start in Minnesota — I did a tour in May in Minn and Wis and nearly froze to death once. You’d be better off in April starting as far S as Tennessee, would be my bet

2. I did the entire Mississippi trail when I was 68; there were hard days, but nothing a cold beer and bag of snacks couldn’t (start to) fix

3. My only disappointment was how little of the river one actually sees on this (or likely any) route . . . only maybe 15% of the time

4. I tried to average 85-110 km/day . . . the longer days were simply to stretch from one campground to another

5. There are, perhaps inevitably, sections with lots of traffic and sometimes, if rarely, sections with narrow or no shoulder and lots of traffic. The worst spot was just S of Cairo, Ill., going over the bridge and then about 10-12 km after that. There was no mercy. However, much of the route has little traffic and is most pleasant to cycle.

6. Again, there are some sections with strenuous and repeated hill climbs (which you’d expect along a river when you’re traversing tributaries); northern Illinois was perhaps the most notorious for this. S of Kentucky and Tennessee, which can also be hilly, the terrain flattens out considerably.

Hope this helps.

By: Joan White

Joan White — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:43:33 +0000

My husband and I would like to bike part of this trail in early April. (we are 62 years old) and relatively good shape . I don’t l;ike biking where there is a lot of traffic. We would probably like to do about 40 to 60 miles a day. Any suggestions?? Thanks

By: Bicycle Touring Pro

Bicycle Touring Pro — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:26:55 +0000

I have not ridden this exact route myself, but I rode a similar route from Chicago, IL to New Orleans, LA and it took me 30 days at a leisurely pace.

By: tedstur

tedstur — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:49:29 +0000

I am thinking about riding the MRT this coming summer. I see one traveler above took 45 days to complete it. How many days do you think it will take to ride this route from Itasca to NO?

By: tombuoye

tombuoye — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:03:42 +0000

Just rode from Hannibal MO to NOLA in Oct, 2011 Great ride, great roads and drivers IMHO.
Two things:
Do not stay at the Pleasant View Motel in Arnold. Really. The dirtest, most disgusting motel i’ve even been in. Put newspaper down on the ‘carpet’ to walk around. I’ve stayed at many older, small motels, including the Deluxe Inn in Vicksburg and the Levee Inn in Greenville Tn, but the PV was beyond the pale. If there was room for me to set up my tent i would have. The manager was amazed that the PV was in a book, and even came knocking at the door to find out what book referenced the PV. I was out of options, an hour after dark, raining…….

The MBT around/near the St Louse airport is closed. Between Tassig road and Missouri Bottom road off of SH 370, you have to ride on SH 370 to the MBR exit. MBR is washer out between Tassig and Leafcreast. I spent 45 minutes trying to find a way around the closure until a fellow biker helped me out.

The route St Charles to Arnold should read Mile 4.
instead of L onto Tassig Rd, L onto SH 370 ~1.0mi
Exit Missouri Bottom Rd (after junctioon w/ I 270

Hopefully someone will find this useful