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Best Local Trails

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 10:08 am
by DaveKCMO
Since the lockdown began, we've been spending a lot more time on trails. Just walking/hiking. What are your favorites? Here are some that we've done:

- Landahl Park Bike Trails (dirt, great for hiking, our favorite so far), Blue Springs
- Bonebender Trail (flat, paved, not a lot of shade), Smithville Lake
- Bridle Trail (not great markings, dirt, but good for hiking), Wyandotte County Lake
- Big Bull Creek Park (great for hiking, some paved sections), Edgerton
- Blue River Trails (lots of cool water views, dirt), KCMO
- Rock Island (paved, but the tunnel is very cool), KCMO/Lee's Summit
- Mill Creek Streamway (paved section from Wilder Drive), Shawnee
- Line Creek Trail (south from Line Creek Community Center, paved, very nice), KCMO/Riverside

Tasty Goodness Trail, at Landahl Park:

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Bonebender Trail, Smithville Lake:

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Bridle Trail, WyCo Lake:

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Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 8:57 pm
by Eon Blue
Weston Bend State Park has some nice trails, both paved and dirt. You can grab some great views of the river from bluff tops and one trail takes you into Weston proper. Some time in the park is a nice component of a day trip to Weston.

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 7:39 pm
by flyingember
Martha Lafitte in Liberty.
About 4 miles of trails all intnerconnected. Easy to do a short hike and visit the center.
Part follows the old interurban with a great view of the Historic bridge.


Parkville Nature Santuary. Two different experiences within each loop.


Hidden Valley Park. Best map is the mountain biking one. Interesting three mile loop that reaches below 152 on the far end. Amazed there’s a ravine that deep you can’t see from anywhere else.

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 1:24 am
by Anthony_Hugo98
To be honest, I’m quite fond of the Indian creek trail, although some municipalities don’t maintain their sections as well as others, It’s an awesome trail for any type of distance.

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 7:44 am
by gfisch95
The wife and I have enjoyed the Little Blue Trace Trail quite a bit. It's very conveniently located for us and long enough we can choose different sections to shake things up a little bit.

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:05 pm
by DaveKCMO
First visit to Kill Creek Park over the weekend. Nice trails, but only a sliver of them is shaded. The new tower is pretty cool, although the scenery from up top is kinda meh.

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Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:22 pm
by Highlander
Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: Tue May 26, 2020 1:24 am To be honest, I’m quite fond of the Indian creek trail, although some municipalities don’t maintain their sections as well as others, It’s an awesome trail for any type of distance.
I've noticed this on maps. Is it good for cycling? Are there a lot of street crossings?

Biking is the sport I'll be depending on to stay in shape during retirement but I want as little car-bike interaction as possible (I rode extensively in Houston and someone I know of was constantly getting injured by automobiles). Indian Creek and Mill Creek look great on the Kansas side. Anything on the Missouri side for any distance?

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:31 pm
by normalthings
Highlander wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:22 pm
Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: Tue May 26, 2020 1:24 am To be honest, I’m quite fond of the Indian creek trail, although some municipalities don’t maintain their sections as well as others, It’s an awesome trail for any type of distance.
I've noticed this on maps. Is it good for cycling? Are there a lot of street crossings?

Biking is the sport I'll be depending on to stay in shape during retirement but I want as little car-bike interaction as possible (I rode extensively in Houston and someone I know of was constantly getting injured by automobiles). Indian Creek and Mill Creek look great on the Kansas side. Anything on the Missouri side for any distance?
Rock Island. Line Creek. 152 Highway.

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2020 12:35 am
by GRID
Highlander wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:22 pm
Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: Tue May 26, 2020 1:24 am To be honest, I’m quite fond of the Indian creek trail, although some municipalities don’t maintain their sections as well as others, It’s an awesome trail for any type of distance.
I've noticed this on maps. Is it good for cycling? Are there a lot of street crossings?

Biking is the sport I'll be depending on to stay in shape during retirement but I want as little car-bike interaction as possible (I rode extensively in Houston and someone I know of was constantly getting injured by automobiles). Indian Creek and Mill Creek look great on the Kansas side. Anything on the Missouri side for any distance?
I used to ride the Little Blue Trace a lot in Independence and Lee's Summit. The JoCo trails are nice too though. KC does have some pretty good suburban trails.

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2020 2:16 am
by Anthony_Hugo98
Highlander wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:22 pm
Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: Tue May 26, 2020 1:24 am To be honest, I’m quite fond of the Indian creek trail, although some municipalities don’t maintain their sections as well as others, It’s an awesome trail for any type of distance.
I've noticed this on maps. Is it good for cycling? Are there a lot of street crossings?

Biking is the sport I'll be depending on to stay in shape during retirement but I want as little car-bike interaction as possible (I rode extensively in Houston and someone I know of was constantly getting injured by automobiles). Indian Creek and Mill Creek look great on the Kansas side. Anything on the Missouri side for any distance?
Depending on the municipality you have both subterranean and at grade road crossings, the further east you’ll get it seems to get to quite a few road crossings, but most of the major roads are separated crossings. It’s fantastic for biking as a lot of the trails are very wide. And there are further extension plans west to connect into Olathe trail infrastructure. I haven’t been on the trail in nearly 4 years though as that was the last time I was stateside, but I can’t imagine much has changed.

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2020 10:03 am
by rxlexi
Biking is the sport I'll be depending on to stay in shape during retirement but I want as little car-bike interaction as possible (I rode extensively in Houston and someone I know of was constantly getting injured by automobiles). Indian Creek and Mill Creek look great on the Kansas side. Anything on the Missouri side for any distance?
It's been mentioned, but I'll add further detail re: Line Creek trail up north. Runs from the inner Northland in Riverside (Argosy Casino) all the way up to 152 Hwy, where you can pick up the east/west 152 trail. It's paved, runs through some interesting and very pretty scenery (particularly in the northern stretches) with some subtle hills. From the Argosy, you can also get onto the Missouri Riverfront Trail, which runs on top of the levee through Riverside northwest all the way over to Parkville, and will eventually connect to the beautiful English Landing Park there (currently stops a couple hundred yards short due to issues with the Railroad). There is no shade on top of the levee though, so that's something to keep in mind on the hottest summer days.

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2020 10:24 am
by normalthings
rxlexi wrote: Thu Sep 17, 2020 10:03 am
Biking is the sport I'll be depending on to stay in shape during retirement but I want as little car-bike interaction as possible (I rode extensively in Houston and someone I know of was constantly getting injured by automobiles). Indian Creek and Mill Creek look great on the Kansas side. Anything on the Missouri side for any distance?
It's been mentioned, but I'll add further detail re: Line Creek trail up north. Runs from the inner Northland in Riverside (Argosy Casino) all the way up to 152 Hwy, where you can pick up the east/west 152 trail. It's paved, runs through some interesting and very pretty scenery (particularly in the northern stretches) with some subtle hills. From the Argosy, you can also get onto the Missouri Riverfront Trail, which runs on top of the levee through Riverside northwest all the way over to Parkville, and will eventually connect to the beautiful English Landing Park there (currently stops a couple hundred yards short due to issues with the Railroad). There is no shade on top of the levee though, so that's something to keep in mind on the hottest summer days.
Levee trail near Parkville is closed due to a participating landowner having equipment stolen.

The “missing segment” that you refer to was due to the Parkville Boat Club not wanting to play ball. I think the new plan is to build a paved trail along 9 highway.

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2020 2:24 pm
by flyingember
https://twitter.com/LCLoudmouth/status/ ... 4138455041

Sounds like it was a railroad issue that may have been solved

Looks like work is continuing up the side of MO 45. Good expansion of the network in Platte County

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2020 9:25 pm
by auntbigdog
Roanoke Park has volunteer-built trails all around it.
https://www.roanokeparkkc.org/plans/trails

Maybe it's less wild than you're looking for, but I do love Cliff Drive/Kessler Park. It's been my pandemic sanity saver.

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2021 11:06 am
by rxlexi
The “missing segment” that you refer to was due to the Parkville Boat Club not wanting to play ball. I think the new plan is to build a paved trail along 9 highway.
The missing connector segment between the Missouri Riverfront Trail in Riverside and English Landing Park in Parkville is nearly complete (open by spring). Paved path running alongside the railroad tracks and MO Hwy 9, as noted above. Will make for a nice long loop along the river in warmer months, connecting a levee trail, some wooded bottomlands, and a vibrant city park. Excited to see this come to fruition so quickly and hoping it brings more users to the Riverfront Trail.

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2021 11:55 pm
by bchociej
Highlander wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:22 pm
Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: Tue May 26, 2020 1:24 am To be honest, I’m quite fond of the Indian creek trail, although some municipalities don’t maintain their sections as well as others, It’s an awesome trail for any type of distance.
I've noticed this on maps. Is it good for cycling? Are there a lot of street crossings?

Biking is the sport I'll be depending on to stay in shape during retirement but I want as little car-bike interaction as possible (I rode extensively in Houston and someone I know of was constantly getting injured by automobiles). Indian Creek and Mill Creek look great on the Kansas side. Anything on the Missouri side for any distance?
Living out south, I used to ride the loop formed by the Indian Creek and Tomahawk Creek trails, and it was fantastic. Almost all street crossings were grade separated, IIRC. Of all things, I'll never forget how good the floral blooms smelled in spring through the Corporate Woods stretch

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 12:00 am
by bchociej
rxlexi wrote: Fri Feb 05, 2021 11:06 am
The “missing segment” that you refer to was due to the Parkville Boat Club not wanting to play ball. I think the new plan is to build a paved trail along 9 highway.
The missing connector segment between the Missouri Riverfront Trail in Riverside and English Landing Park in Parkville is nearly complete (open by spring). Paved path running alongside the railroad tracks and MO Hwy 9, as noted above. Will make for a nice long loop along the river in warmer months, connecting a levee trail, some wooded bottomlands, and a vibrant city park. Excited to see this come to fruition so quickly and hoping it brings more users to the Riverfront Trail.
Speaking of missing connections, if we got:
  • Indian Creek to Trolly Track connection
  • The missing MO-9 stretch
  • Better connectivity from the Plaza to Heart of America
we'd be flirting with uninterrupted trails from the southern bit of KCI all the way out past Garmin to 159th in Olathe.

Turkey Creek to downtown via Southwest Blvd is another tragic stretch of underdeveloped trail. I'd also love to see Turkey Creek's collapsed portion in far north OP connect through the inner NE JOCO suburbs to Midtown.

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 3:35 pm
by DaveKCMO
KC River Trails (the nonprofit that built/oversees the Riverfront Heritage Trail) has a renewed focus on expansion, starting with a connection along the Missouri River to the Blue River trail system.

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2021 12:17 pm
by scooterj
bchociej wrote: Sat Feb 06, 2021 11:55 pm Living out south, I used to ride the loop formed by the Indian Creek and Tomahawk Creek trails, and it was fantastic. Almost all street crossings were grade separated, IIRC. Of all things, I'll never forget how good the floral blooms smelled in spring through the Corporate Woods stretch
This is the one thing I miss about living in JoCo. I would ride that every weekend. It's been more than 18 years since I lived there and that smell came right back to me when I read your comment.

Re: Best Local Trails

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2022 11:15 am
by Highlander
scooterj wrote: Fri Feb 12, 2021 12:17 pm
bchociej wrote: Sat Feb 06, 2021 11:55 pm Living out south, I used to ride the loop formed by the Indian Creek and Tomahawk Creek trails, and it was fantastic. Almost all street crossings were grade separated, IIRC. Of all things, I'll never forget how good the floral blooms smelled in spring through the Corporate Woods stretch
This is the one thing I miss about living in JoCo. I would ride that every weekend. It's been more than 18 years since I lived there and that smell came right back to me when I read your comment.
I've been enjoying these two trail systems since moving back to KC earlier in the year. I'm out almost every day that has been suitable weather wise. The Johnson County trails can get very crowded on weekends so recently took the trail system the other way into Missouri. Quite the contrast. While the trails are decent, they are in a much greater state of disrepair and the area is much wilder - fewer homes and more expansive urban wilderness as the Blue River is approached. What struck me was the existence of homeless camps, associated trash and homeless folks along the trail immediately after crossing State Line into KCMO. Other than that, it was a fairly enjoyable trail system with a lot fewer users than the Kansas side.

On both sides of the state line, I've been surprised by the number of electric-assist bikes. I guess I'll never understand why that is a big thing on a trail system meant more for exercise than for transportation? The speed at which some of these riders passed pedestrians was a little scary.