Katy Trail State Park in the context of "Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail"

Columbia is a city in Boone County, Missouri, United States, and its county seat. It was founded in 1821 and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Missouri. Columbia is a Midwestern college town, home to the University of Missouri, a major research institution also known as MU or Mizzou. In addition to the university and surrounding Downtown Columbia are Stephens College and Columbia College, giving the city its educational focus and nearly 40,000 college students. It is the principal city of the Columbia metropolitan area, population 215,811, and the central city of the nine-county Columbia–Jefferson City–Moberly combined statistical area with 415,747 residents. The city is the fastest-growing municipality in Missouri, with a growth of almost 40% since 2000, and a population estimated at 130,900 in 2024. Columbia is among the most-educated cities in the United States with about half of citizens being college graduates and about a quarter holding advance degrees.

The city is built on the oak-forested hills and rolling prairies of Mid-Missouri, near the Missouri River, where the Ozark Mountains transition into plains and savanna. At the city's center is the Avenue of the Columns (8th Street), connecting Francis Quadrangle and Jesse Hall to the Boone County Courthouse and City Hall. Surrounding Columbia is a greenbelt including Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, the Mark Twain National Forest, Katy Trail State Park, Finger Lakes State Park, and the Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. Limestone bedrock forms bluffs and glades while rain dissolves the bedrock, creating karst (caves and springs) which water the Hinkson, Roche Perche, Flat Branch, and Bonne Femme creeks. Within city limits, there is an extensive city parks and trails system with a focus on non-motorized transportation, including the MKT Trail. The Columbia Agriculture Park is home to the nationally-regarded Columbia Farmers Market.

Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area is a nature preserve and wetland in Boone County, Missouri. Located mainly in the Missouri River floodplain southwest of Columbia, Missouri and managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation, the wetlands are a refuge for migrating birds and home to several breeding pairs of bald eagles. The area is named after these eagles and the tall bluffs along the eastern edge of the Missouri River floodplain. Perche Creek flows through the refuge. McBaine, Missouri is located at the north entrance to the area. The Katy Trail State Park traverses the area.

The conservation area was created after the Great Flood of 1993 destroyed farmland. Water for the wetlands is provided by the Missouri River, but also, an innovative system to supply wastewater from the City of Columbia's treatment plant.

The MKT Nature and Fitness Trail is a recreational rail trail in Columbia, Missouri, that runs nine miles (14 km) in the right-of-way of the former Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad. Developed from 1982 onward, it is a spur of the longest rail trail in the United States, the Katy Trail. It is open for use by hikers, joggers, and cyclists year-round, from sunrise to sunset, with snow covering in the winter offering users cross-country skiing opportunities. The trail is made up of "limestone pug" (crushed limestone), creating a hard, flat surface. The trail follows Flat Branch Creek and Hinkson Creek for much of their distance and is part of a larger system of recreational pathways in the Columbia Metropolitan Area.

Marthasville is a city in Warren County, Missouri, United States. The population was 1,136 at the 2010 census. The Katy Trail, a 240-mile long bike path, passes through Marthasville.

The original graves of Daniel Boone and his wife were located near there. In 1845, Boone's remains were disinterred and moved to Kentucky for burial. Resentment in Missouri about the disinterment grew over the years, and a legend arose that Boone's remains never left Missouri.