Riverfront Trail — Attraction in St. Louis

If you want to see and smell the underbelly of St. Louis without any of the river views, this trail is the one for you. The trailhead is hard to find as it isn't connected to the trail that follows the riverfront in front of the Arch. I had to weave through what seemed like the back lot of Ashley Power to access the trailhead. Once I was on the trail, the floodwall blocked all river views. As I passed the homeless encampment, the air was filled with noxious fumes from their fires and the other industrial buildings around the area. On the plus side, it was nicely paved, there was a lot of interesting art and it passes under an architecturally interesting bridge. I only went a couple miles so maybe the trail...

Wonderfully done urban bike trail with the ride across the Chain-of-Rocks Bridge in the north a great beginning. This isn't a green tunnel of rails-to-trails. This path takes you through some of the gritty north St. Louis riverfront as you would expect. The trail itself is a smooth, continuous and wonderful ride and the industrial sights are interesting to see as they go by. Just as you are expecting to ride out on the waterfront promenade of St. Louis there's a closed flood gate and a homeless camp on the other side. Trail stops! No directions or support for the trail at that point. Huge disappointment..... (as was a totally empty St. Louis waterfront) Regardless, the trail is more than...

We find the description on this trail not very accurate. Cycling is fine as the trail is well laid out and in good condition. We walked it from the old bridge's side and was not what we expected as "a nice walk all along the Mississippi. The first maybe two miles was OK - a huge park with even some places for outdoor exercising. After that you hardly see the river and where one sees it, it is industrial and not clean, On the "inland" side, scrapyard, railway, high walls, industrial area. And very little place to rest in a shade on a very hot day. If it was not for the company, it would be one of the lowlights of a 45-day road trip through 29 states. The bridge was a...