The distance from Weldon Spring to Greens Bottom is 10.30 miles. From the trailhead, Katy Trail State Park runs through the 8,000-acre Weldon Spring Conservation Area for five miles until milepost 51.2. Besides providing a scenic background for Katy users, the conservation area has four trails, boat access to the Missouri River, and hunting and fishing in season. From milepost 55, the Katy Trail follows the Missouri River shore a mile and a half. At milepost 53.5, a footpath intersecting the Katy leads left, or north, into the 385-acre Weldon Spring Hollow Natural Area, a piece of the conservation area that preserves the character of the state's Missouri River upland and bottomland forests. At milepost 54.4, expedition events from May 1804 are associated with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Look for a wetland created by a beaver dam around mileposts 53 and 52. Railroad ties piled next to the trail in this area are left from the abandonment of the Katy line in 1986. Right before the Highway 40/60 overpass at milepost 51.3 are the remains of a structure from the quarry once located at the old Weldon Spring railstop. From the Weldon Spring trailhead to milepost 49, the Missouri River is often visible through a picturesque screen of trees. The trail then enters an inside bend of the Missouri River called Greens Bottom.
