Machens

Someone asked me if going through the high grass, chiggers, ticks, and no shade at the end of the trip was really worth the hassle to reach Machens. Hmmmm, let me think. I might be alone here but I’ll try my best to answer this for you. My goal was to backpack the entire Katy Trail from end to end. After walking 219 miles with a 30 pound backpack and another 19 with a 12 pound pack, I felt that I couldn’t quit so close to my goal. I didn’t want to hike the roads that parallel the Katy to Machens so I could honestly say that I hiked the entire trail from end to end. Maybe I just viewed the hot, bug infested part between St. Charles and Machens as a gut check to see how bad I wanted to reach my goal. I didn’t think that overcoming adversity to reach a goal was a bad thing. It gave me a greater feeling of accomplishment when I hit mile marker 27 and the end of the trail. In regards to the restroom. It was new and an improvement to the EOT (end of trail) indicating they were starting to make improvements to that end of the trail.
Would I do it again? I'll answer that in my next post: Final Thoughts.