The route from McKittrick to Treloar is the longest segment between trailheads on the Katy Trail at 16.10 miles. McKittrick is a former Katy Railroad town, and remains of the depot foundation and coal sheds are still present in the trailhead area. For about the first seven miles, the route to Treloar runs near Loutre Slough, which branches off from the Loutre River and later empties into the Missouri River. These first seven miles offer classic Katy scenery, with dolomite bluffs on one side of the trail and bottomland agriculture on the other. The small former railroad villages of Case and Gore stand at mileposts 96.9 and 93.8. From Case, the Katy Trail enters one of its most spectacular stretches, and between Gore and Bernheimer there are outstanding views of the river and bluffs. Gore was one of many Katy towns on this stretch, along with McKittrick and Case, named for Missouri, Kansas and Eastern Railroad investors. The rail line here was especially vulnerable to floods. The route moves away from the Missouri River shortly after the Smith Creek bridge and enters the floodplain as it approaches Treloar. Treloar, another railroad town founded with the arrival of the Katy in 1892, has two old grain elevators as reminders of how important the railroad was to local economies.