Klaus Park

If you made it out to the trail this past week, you likely saw more and more plants blooming and coming to life along the side of the trail (some even edible)! What a beautiful county park we all have to share an intimate trail experience on, whether it be on foot or on bike, or just picnicking throughout the park. As Spring winds on, you’ll continue to see small sections of trail improvements throughout the park. The latest improvements were scattered throughout the section ...of trail from the first bridge to the top of the big downhill. Paired with previous trail improvements throughout the last 2 weeks, the trail conditions throughout are in great shape right now! If you’d like to give back to the trail, CYCLEWERX will be hosting another work day this coming Thursday from 5:30 -7:30 P.M. Check in with their shop page this week for more details on this family friendly work night! It looks like there’s a slight chance of showers in the afternoon forecast, but nothing that the trail can’t sustain at this point in the season. Enjoy your Sunday, and Happy Trails!

Updates from last yesterday’s work day on the trail!

After last night's rain we're going to ask that everyone stay's OFF the trails this morning and this afternoon to let the top soil dry off as much as possible. That being said, the Klaus Park Community Work Night is still on for tonight. CYCLEWERX, Missouri Running Co., and the local SEMO Composite MTB team have all come together and agreed to share in a fun volunteer work night this evening. If you want to give back to the trail, this would be a great opportunity!... With more rain scheduled for tomorrow evening and Saturday morning, our goal is to make sure the trail is draining optimally. There are several project spots scattered around the trail so all are invited to pop by the trail to volunteer, even if it's just for 30 minutes!

More updates from Douglas Ambler on the trail race taking place in the park this weekend. Check it out!

Starting to see lots of color popping up around the trail the last couple days! Thunderstorms rollin in tomorrow afternoon. The trail is draining well lately but we will judge just how well after the storms roll through. We expect them to be fine by Friday if not sooner. In the mean time the trail is perfect so get out there tomorrow and go have some fun!

It’s a beautiful day in the Park! The trail surface is perfect for hiking, running, and mountain biking today and we don’t see any sign of that letting up this weekend or next week! Do note, there are still several spots that need some extended attention, particularly to cyclists, but it won’t affect any running or hiking experience. As any mountain biker should do if it’s been awhile since you’ve been on a certain part of trail, ride with caution and pre-ride any sections be...fore turning completely lose and riding it like you perhaps once did. Several sections received small changes this past week to inhibit better drainage for the upcoming Spring rains, but there’s more to be done. The first community trail work day will be this coming Thursday, so stay tuned for more information on that towards the end of the weekend. In the mean time, have fun and remember to be good stewards of the trail. Be courteous of other users and pick up trash when you see it. Whether you left it or not, it’s our communities trail and together we can keep it cleaner and more sustainable for years to come. Enjoy!

There was a beautiful sunrise in the park this morning, but this rain is going to soften things back up a bit. Let’s try and stay off of it for a day or two and revisit it after drying out tomorrow. The majority of the trail is actually in superb shape, barring a handful of spots that need some seasonal adjustments (Looking at you, Lower Woods section, and you, Interstate transition turn). The biggest note to make is that the trees at Klaus are just now beginning to drink this week. With a trail race coming up in just two and a half weeks, let’s avoid worsening any wet spots and we’ll be back to a fully operating trail system in no time. Thanks!

Nice to have yesterday’s rain behind us but the locals dirt trails are going to need some time to dry out before getting any bike or foot traffic. There may be some serious surface freezing going on this week which may present an opportunity or two before the surface thaw turns it back to mud. Thanks in advance for respecting the trail. Have a great weekend!

Hopefully everyone’s weekend is going well! Just a heads up: With last weeks roller coaster of weather from low temps to high temps with snow then sun then heavy rain and now dipping back down to colder temps, the trail surface is going to need some time to dry. Traffic of any kind for the next couple days is discouraged. We will re-evaluate things later in the week, possibly with some extremely low temps well below freezing where trail may be frozen enough for foot traffic.... Until then, enjoy the other paved and gravel trails, roads, and routes. Thanks for understanding and for everyone that is an public ambassador for this gem of a local park trail!

As you can imagine, even though it's not currently raining, the trails have been doused by the worlds biggest Super Soaker and are going to need some time to dry out. This will likely last several days past the last bit of rain, and possibly lead into the first official maintenance day of the year. Speaking of which, there are LOTS of fun times on the Klaus Park Trail to look forward to this year. Stay tuned for specific dates and times for each of the following: - The upcomi...ng Spring Pre-Season trail maintenance day's, and plenty other that will last throughout the Season from CYCLEWERX and the Midwest Trail Builders Coalition. - Regular group trail runs sponsored by Missouri Running Co. with run leaders, community camaraderie, and encouragement galore! - Regular group mountain bike ride's at the Klaus Park Kookout with post ride grub and good times Sponsored by CYCLEWERX! - The 1st trail race of the season will be April 10th with the first stop of the Grit & Grind Trail Run Series. This is a 1 lap foot race around the entire course with an incredibly fun atmosphere and proceed's going to an excellent cause! Click the event link for more information and to get registered! - The local SEMO Composite mountain bike team will be utilizing the park on a weekly basis for practices both on and off the trail. The specific days and times will be shared as their season get's closer. However, it's NEVER a bad idea to practice cautious driving in the park, whether there is a team practicing or not. - The Klaus Park Klash mountain bike race will be back again this year on August 1st! This is part of the United Federation of Dirt XC mountain bike series. Be sure to follow there page for info and series details on this and other mtb races in Missouri. As a community we're coming out of another year of strong growth in the outdoor recreation world and the fun trail time to be had in 2021 looks very promising!

As you can imagine... Trail is closed with the continued freezing and then thawing on top of the amount of rain the trail got before the snow came. With more rain on the way tomorrow the trails are gonna need some time to dry out. This is a great time to enjoy the paved and gravel trails and roads surround the area. Have a great weekend!

Updates from across the highway! Klaus Park, too, was full of riders and runners last night and it’s amazing what gets ridden in and riding fast with enough tires! That being said the forecast ahead looks wet. With a heavy trail season right around the corner, now isn’t the time to be careless about our trail etiquette. If you’re leaving 3 inch deep foot prints on trail, it’s a sign it may be a bad day to be on groomed dirt single track. Stay tuned for work day updates, upc...oming events, and general trail information as we approach Daylight Savings Time this weekend, and the first official day of Spring 1 week after that! Please help spread the work, thanks!

Good Morning Trail Users and Happy 2021! Here's a Wednesday morning update for you all: We've had some absolutely incredible weather the past couple of days, but no matter how much we want to enjoy the trails and the sunshine, now just isn't the best time. ... This person likely had no bad intentions or ill intent, but was just uneducated about appropriate trail use before they decided to go for a ride. The fact of the matter is, we had more new trail users in 2020 than any year ever before and that's AWESOME! However, it's each of our jobs to continue to educate those new users as best we can. Whether it be your family, friends, or fitness clubs and groups we ask that you all continue to spread general awareness about respecting groomed trails for what they are so we can ALL continue to enjoy them for years to come! Doing so in a positive manner is vital to not only maintaining our user-group relationships, but also the integrity of the these awesome local trails. To remind everyone once more, good trail days are generally few and far between this time of year. With the continued freeze-thaw cycles almost daily, the trail surface typically turns to mush daily and biking, running, or even hiking on it during that period almost always effects the trail negatively. Trail use when the surfaces are still frozen is ok, but is usually no later than 8 AM in the morning, depending on the temperature that day. Yes the afternoon sun we've been getting is awesome and makes us want to get out and ride or run, but it's not in season here in Southeast Missouri. There are definitely still some good Winter trail days here and there and we'll continue to do our best to inform and update you guys when that's the case as we like to use the trails just as much as you. If you don't see a recent update, please feel free to message us directly with your inquiries and we'll get back to you as fast as we can. You can also call CYCLEWERX directly at 573-334-4474 between 9 AM and 6 PM to discuss trail conditions or any other Klaus Park Trail Questions you may have. Collectively, we think 2021 is going to be the biggest local trail year to date and we couldn't be more excited. But for now, let's all do our part in discussing and educating appropriate trail etiquette with our new users. These are not new obstacles and they likely will continue to be present as the improvement and popularity of local singletrack reels in new users every week. Let's just do our best to take care of and treasure this gem of a park and the trail within it so all may enjoy it for years to come. We hope you all have a great 2021 and we can't wait to see you out on the trails!

Morning trail update from Klaus Park! All of this sun is slowly but surely drying things up, however we’re still a little ways out from good trail conditions. This clip is from this morning with water continuing to drain throughout the trail as it works itself up from the ground. The trees aren’t quite ready for their first big drink which means they aren’t soaking up as much as they might in the coming weeks. With no rain in over a week, this helps put in perspective just ...how much moisture gets frozen into the ground over Winter. Overall things are looking good for Klaus Park Trail in 2021 and we’re excited to share the good times with you all! Please continue to give the trail time to drain and dry out. That means bike AND foot traffic. The 10 day forecast couldn’t look much more promising for temperatures that will continue to work in our favor. As always if you have any questions or need to report a trail note, don’t hesitate to shoot us a message. Thanks and have a great day!

Yes it’s a beautiful day! But unfortunately, NO the trails are NOT in a condition to be riding, or even hiking lightly. There are LOTS of good trail days ahead this year, but right now is NOT the time for it with continued freeze-thaws almost daily, unless you catch them very early in the morning when frozen. Thank you all for continuing to help educate all the trail users around us so together we can preserve our local trails for years to come. This IS, however, a great ...time to take advantage of the wooded gravel and paved hiking loops at Cape County Park North just up the toad. If you want to ride bikes, go find some fun gravel roads! Thanks and have a great Sunday!

Conditions are increasingly better this morning, but still need some time to dry out after the frost last night. We’ll see where things are at later this afternoon. Should be great by tomorrow!

The sun is out in Cape County! A couple updates for you trail lovers: 1. The trail surface is still drying out from the crazy amount of moisture in the past 3 weeks, and is NOT in solid shape to be used this afternoon. We’ll check again tomorrow. We’re forecasted lots more sun this week, so things should be better soon!... 2. If you have popped into the park over the last couple weeks you’ll likely have seen the large tree/branch pile at the top of the Gravel Hill slowly being cleared out. It’s now entirely gone! Let’s share some gratitude for the County and their hard work getting this pile moved! Stay tuned for more trail condition updates as the week goes on, and be on the lookout for community maintenance days in the coming weeks!

What a great night out on the trails! It was awesome seeing a couple big family groups riding with kids, as well as dog walkers, and runners to boot. If you weren’t able to enjoy the trail yet, tomorrow morning before the rain rolls in may likely be the last good opportunity for any use at all until after the holidays. (Also, this miniature dinosaur was rescued from a berm this evening. If you or your kid are missing their long neck herbivore friend, we’ll put it on top of the trail sign behind the bathrooms.)

Conditions are pretty dang good at Klaus this afternoon! Get out and enjoy this sunshine on the Winter Solstice!

Trail Surface is pretty dang perfect this afternoon! Tonight’s low of 24 will likely freeze things more than this morning, making things a bit more muddy, but we’ll just have to wait and see. As for thos afternoon goes, conditions are great for foot traffic and mountain bikes. Tell your boss ya need off early to go take advantage of some trail time. They’ll understand!

Saturday morning trail update! - Trail use of any kind is off of the table today to let the trail dry out. We will re-evaluate things after the expected showers pass through tomorrow. - Surprisingly, all of last nights rain didn’t do as much damage or softening of the trail as expected. The general trail surface had hardened enough to where most of the rain rolled right off, and with most of the drainage routes recently re-opened, they seem to all be operating as intended, ...especially down at th bottom of the woods. - This coming weeks forecast looks be bringing some sub-freezing temperatures in over night which will likely bring about the infamous, undesired freeze-thaw effect. We will play the weather by ear this week and make trail-use updates as needed. In the meantime, give the dirt some time to dry out with these heavy winds and we’ll see where things stand tomorrow! Thanks for understanding and helping educate all our fellow trail users!

Trail Update: - As of this afternoon the entrance double hump has been tidied along with opening up the drainage below and its riding and running like a dream right now. - The entire burmed line on the north side of the gravel hill is clear and in primo shape as well. ... - The wooded table top line into the flowy downhill section have all been cleared, as well as emptied and re-shaped the drainage lines and areas along each. * This line is running better than it has almost all year* - Nearly each of the faster turns and technical parts of the woods section has been attended to in some way and are in great shape overall. It doesn’t look like the temperatures are going to drop below freezing tonight and with highs in the 60’s the next 2 days it’s gonna make for some awesome trail conditions! If you’re not already, plan on getting out and going for a run or ride on the trail! The Halfpipe section and the longer descent on the north side will get some love tomorrow morning, along with the interstate section connector. Hopefully they will be running fast and smooth by the time the afternoon rolls around. One last reminder that the bathroom doors are locked for the season so plan accordingly. Have fun and be safe out there!

The halfpipe is running great this afternoon! Come get it while the gettin’s good!