Nearly 200 years ago, many towns began springing up along the Mississippi River shoreline to play host to the flatboats and steamboats that brought commerce up and down the great waterway.
Today, Bob Robinson says those towns can cater to touring bicyclists who pass through on the backroads and bicycle paths that make up the 3,000-mile Mississippi River Trail.
Robinson is a bicyclist from Fort Smith, Arkansas, who has just written and published the definitive guidebook — Bicycling Guide to the Mississippi River Trail — for bike travelers wanting to explore this historic route.
Chosen as one of the 16 National Millennium Trails in 2000 for reflecting a defining aspect of America's culture, the Mississippi River Trail (MRT) is in the same league with the Underground Railroad Trail, the Appalachian Trail, and the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.
Unmarked
The trail project got its start in 1996, but Robinson found it was a work-in-progress when he first set out to ride the MRT last year.
“The route was somewhat difficult to determine,” he says. Only five of the 10 states had signed the route. He met with the director of the MRT and corresponded with the contacts in each of the 10 states along the trail to document the route.
Then earlier this year he bicycled the route, all 3,000 miles from Itasca State Park in Minnesota to southernmost Louisiana, and documented his trip in the guidebook. But this book isn't about Robinson's trip down the trail, it's about the route.
“From the very beginning, I made a decision that this was not going to be a personal journal about my adventures. The primary subject was going to be the route itself. I was focused on providing the necessary information a cyclist would need to create their own MRT adventure.”
Sections
Robinson's book divides the trail into sections approximately 100 miles long. Each section includes a map and a “tip sheet” with mileages, turns, and necessary accommodations like camping, lodging, restaurants, groceries and bike shops. There's also a running commentary about the history, roadside attractions, what you're likely to see, or where you might find heavy traffic.
The guidebook author said bicyclists can ride the trail in either direction, there's not much advantage in terrain or prevailing winds either way; he includes a mileage log for each direction in his book. But Robinson said he chose to ride from north to south.
“I wanted to experience this great river's transition from a small ankle-deep stream in Minnesota to the massive waterway I have witnessed in the southern states.”
Where to buy
If you ever plan to ride the Mississippi River Trail, it sounds like this guidebook would be a worthwhile companion.
Copies are available at the Mississippi River Trail website, or directly from Bob Robinson's website.
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