Sho-Me Santa Fe Trails
Sho-Me Santa Fe Trails is a State Scenic Byway in Missouri. Within Missouri it covers roughly 9 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Sho-Me Santa Fe Trails with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
Sho-Me Santa Fe Trails is a Missouri scenic byway starting in Waverly on US 65 and running west on US 24 to Lexington, where it connects with the Old Trails Road byway at State Highway 224. The road follows a stretch of the historic Boone's Lick Trail along bluffs above the Missouri River, the same river corridor Lewis and Clark traveled decades earlier, passing orchards, vineyards, and roadside fruit stands along the way. Beyond Missouri, the road the byway is named for continues for hundreds of miles as the historic Santa Fe Trail, the 19th-century trade route that once carried stagecoaches and covered wagons deep into the American Southwest before ending in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Civil War troops marched this same corridor toward the 1861 Battle of Lexington, adding a wartime layer to the fur-trade and westward-expansion history already present. It's one of two connected Missouri byways tracing the state's overland trail heritage, paired directly with the neighboring Old Trails Road.
- Waverly to Lexington on US 65/US 24
- follows part of the historic Boone's Lick Trail
- connects to the historic Santa Fe Trail corridor
- Missouri River bluffs, Lewis & Clark route
- connects to Old Trails Road at Lexington
Plan a drive on Sho-Me Santa Fe Trails →
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along Sho-Me Santa Fe Trails
No campgrounds are listed close to Sho-Me Santa Fe Trails yet, but there are rooms near the route.
Campsite and lodging links are affiliate links — booking through them may earn Road Sorties a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Recreation.gov links are not affiliate links.