If your Katy Trail rides usually route you through Columbia on the MKT Trail, here’s an update before you head out: the trail is back open after storm damage that shut down sections of it for more than a week.
The trouble started August 6, when a single storm dropped 3.28 inches of rain on Columbia — enough to break a rainfall record for that date that had stood since 1995. The water washed out stretches of both crushed-limestone and paved trail around the city, burying sections under silt and debris. Columbia Parks and Recreation initially warned it could take weeks to fully repair the damage.
It didn’t take that long for the trail most of our readers actually use. The MKT Trail — the 8.9-mile connector that runs from downtown Columbia’s Flat Branch Park out to the Katy Trail State Park near McBaine — has reopened, with crews clearing all the major washouts along the route. That’s the trail most Rocheport-area riders and hikers cross paths with if they’re riding into Columbia or meeting someone coming out from downtown.
Grindstone Creek Trail, a separate route on the city’s south side, is also passable again after crews cleared mud and smaller debris, including at its low-water bridges — though a couple of bridges still have some larger debris sitting on them because of equipment trouble, so watch your footing there if you’re on that stretch.
The short version for anyone planning a ride: the McBaine-to-downtown connection is clear again, but this was serious flooding as storm damage goes, so if you’re headed out on a section you haven’t ridden since early August, go into it expecting the occasional soft spot or debris pile rather than a freshly groomed trail.
Source: [KOMU 8](https://www.komu.com/news/midmissourinews/columbias-trail-system-recovers-from-august-storms-and-flooding/article_34268c90-aeda-4c29-a2f8-7be8aca2a7cb.html)