Katy Milepost

How far to the next water?

Katy Milepost answers that question anywhere on Missouri's rail-trails — including the long stretches where your phone has no signal at all.

WORKS WITH NO SERVICE
Every trail feature is stored as a milepost number, and all the data ships inside the app. There are no map tiles to download and no server to call. Your phone's GPS works without a cell signal, so the app keeps working in the river bottoms where most apps show a blank grey screen.

TELL IT WHERE YOU START AND WHERE YOU FINISH
That is the whole interface. Tap two stops on the map and the app works out the ride itself — across the Katy Trail, the Rock Island Spur and Columbia's MKT Spur, through the junctions, without you having to know which trail is which. Ride east out of Kansas City and it takes the Rock Island to Windsor and the Katy on to the river.

WHAT YOU GET BACK
• Total mileage, and how many days it comes to at your pace — move one slider and watch all three numbers change
• Every stop between your two ends, with its water, food, restrooms and beds
• Where to eat and where to sleep at each stop, researched one business at a time: what kind of place it is, when it is open, and how far off the trail it sits
• Bike shops and self-service repair stands, called out where they exist
• Find Me — the stop you are standing at, and what is next along your route
• Trail closures and detours, measured against your ride
• Seasonal water shutoffs, handled honestly — Missouri State Parks and the City of Columbia turn the water off on different calendars, and the app knows which applies where

BEFORE YOU GO
What this surface is actually like: which tyres are happy on crushed limestone, what rain does to it, and why the November daylight rather than your legs is what caps your distance. E-bikes are permitted on the Katy, and the briefing covers the rule and where riders can expect to plug in overnight.

KATY MILEPOST PRO — a one-time unlock, no subscription
The itinerary. Which stop ends each day, whether there is a bed there, and the long dry stretches called out before you ride into one. The map, the route, every stop and its water, food, restrooms and beds all stay free.

HONEST ABOUT WHAT IT KNOWS
Mileposts belong to the original MKT railroad, not to today's trail, and Missouri State Parks says plainly that the mileage will not be exact. Where a fact is unverified, the app says so, and it will tell you where every number came from and when it was checked. Nothing here is a substitute for carrying enough water.

Not affiliated with Missouri State Parks or the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.