Ideas for a day out
Pennsylvania's best old railroad beds for walking and cycling, from the Great Allegheny Passage to the Pine Creek gorge and the Schuylkill.
Photo: Jbro620, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Pennsylvania was once laced with railroads, and as the coal, timber and branch lines closed, many of their beds became trails. They make easy walking and cycling: the grades are gentle, the curves are wide, and the routes follow rivers and creeks through country you would never see from a road. The longest, the Great Allegheny Passage, is the start of a ride all the way to Washington, D.C.; others are just right for an afternoon with children. Surfaces range from smooth asphalt to crushed stone, which suits hybrids and gravel bikes better than road bikes. Most trails have parking at several trailheads, and the busier towns along them have bike rentals and shuttles.
1Rail trail · Rockland Township, Venango County
A paved trail that follows the Allegheny south from Franklin through a quiet, wooded valley where the river is protected as a Wild and Scenic River. Two old railroad tunnels make a cool, echoing break on a hot day.
2Rail trail · Cecil Township, Washington County
An arc of old coal-railroad bed around the western and southern suburbs of Pittsburgh, from near the airport to Clairton, where it meets the Great Allegheny Passage. It crosses high trestles and runs through tunnels, yet is never far from home.
3Rail trail · Stewart Township, Fayette County
About 150 miles of crushed-stone trail from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland, where the C&O Canal towpath carries on to Washington, D.C. The finest stretch climbs gently along the Youghiogheny through Ohiopyle, crosses the Salisbury Viaduct and tops out at the Eastern Continental Divide.
Photo: Jbro620, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
4Rail trail · Buffington Township, Indiana County
Named for the coal towns that sprang up along Blacklick Creek and then disappeared, this trail in Indiana and Cambria counties passes the stone stack of Eliza Furnace, an iron furnace from the 1840s.
Photo: Jet Lowe, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
5Rail trail · Brown Township, Lycoming County
About 62 miles from Wellsboro Junction south to Jersey Shore, much of it along the floor of Pine Creek Gorge. The grade is gentle, the creek is always beside you and bald eagles are often seen overhead. Many riders take a shuttle to the top and ride downstream.
Photo: Jakec, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
6Rail trail and towpath · Jim Thorpe, Carbon County
The D&L follows old canal towpaths and railroad beds for some 165 miles, from near Wilkes-Barre to Bristol on the Delaware. Its best-loved section runs about 25 miles through the Lehigh Gorge from White Haven down to Jim Thorpe, a gentle downhill beside whitewater.
7Rail trail · South Londonderry Township, Lebanon County
A level, peaceful trail on part of the old Cornwall and Lebanon Railroad, through farmland and woods past the iron town of Cornwall and the edge of Mount Gretna. At the Lancaster County line it carries on as the Conewago Recreation Trail.
8Rail trail · Railroad, York County
About 21 miles from York to the Maryland line, where it continues as the Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail toward Baltimore. Lincoln changed trains at the restored Hanover Junction station on his way to Gettysburg in 1863, and the trail runs through the Howard Tunnel, dug in the 1830s.
9Rail trail · Philadelphia, Philadelphia County
Starts in Center City, where a boardwalk runs out over the river, and follows the Schuylkill northwest past Boathouse Row, Manayunk and Valley Forge. Long sections continue toward Phoenixville, Pottstown and Reading, with more being added.
10Rail trail · Perkiomen Township, Montgomery County
Branches off the Schuylkill River Trail at Oaks, near Valley Forge, and follows Perkiomen Creek north for about 20 miles to Green Lane Park, through creekside woods and small towns.
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