Fifty Plus (50+) - RAIL TRAILS - Anyone riding them?

I have been having a fun summer riding rail trails from California to Washington. Hope to get off to Idaho to do some more of them next month. These trails are habit-forming.

Wondering if there are others out there with a similar affliction. Compare notes and pix?

These trails are great when you don't want to play in traffic or lack the qualities needed for successful mountain biking (Agility of a gymnast, reflexes of a fighter pilot, wits of a gerbil - I am one for three there. Add ability to heal quickly.)

Check out the Rails to Trails Trail Link web site...

<http://www.traillink.com/home.aspx>

Our 50+ annual ride will be next Monday - 8?31/2009 - on the Rio Grande Trail, a rail trail from Glenwood Springs to Aspen - 44 miles one way.

http://www.ourwebs.info/riograndetrailmap.jpg

Roughly 95% of my riding is on Wisconsin and Minnesota rail trails. Plan to be in Lanesboro, MN to ride the Root River Trail in a couple of weeks.

I live adjacent to a rail trail, which intersects another trail, for a total length of about 85 miles. They are supposed to link it into two more trails this fall, which will make it about 140-150 miles.

I agree that riding rail trails is addictive. Most of the trails I have ridden are here in Quebec as well as a few in Ontario and Manitoba. This past weekend I rode the PPJ or the Pontiac Pacific Junction Railway in the Pontiac region of Quebec.

My father and his family all worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway so riding the rails is in my blood. Traveling by train is one of my favourite was to travel and I have traveled across Canada twice by train as well as all over Europe and in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.

So does anyone know which rail trail is the longest?

Gordon p

When we lived in NJ I loved riding the rails to trails paths. They were great!

Although San Diego County has grandiose plans for a 43-mile trail parallel to the San Diego Northern Railroad, the project has numerous constraints, including multiple lagoons and rivers to be crossed and a relatively narrow right-of-way, plus the fact that this is the second-busiest rail corridor in the U.S., with almost 50 trains per weekday. (I guess we are a rail plus trail, rather than a rails to trails scenario. :) )

I ride them quite a bit. I'm sure that over 50% of my riding is rail trail conversions.

I live about 2 miles from Missouri's Katy Trail. It's over 200 miles long so I can coast down to the trail, ride until I'm halfway tired and ride home. Did I mention it's a downhill coast from my house to the trail?

East of St Louis is Madison County, Illinois. It has a network of blacktop paved rail trail conversions that are great. Whenever I'm not working on a Friday morning I meet with a group of folks (most of whom would qualify for 50+) for a 30 to 40 mile ride.

This summer, my wife and I took a week long tour in Wisconsin. Mostly we bicycled on the road but we did about 70 miles on rail trails which we loved.

Rail trails aren't a panacea. The injuries that I'm recovering from right now occured while bicycling with my grandson on the Katy Trail.

I ride them quite a bit.......

Rail trails aren't a panacea.

No. They're a pain elbowea! :o (Sorry Grouch)

N.Y. is a bit behind many other parts of the country in the Rail Trail theater, but our Governors have pretty GF's. :rolleyes:

I hope to someday ride some of the Wisconsin, Minnesota, or Illinois trails with my daughter. Meanwhile I'll ride along the lakeshore and on the Erie Canal towpath.

My wife and I ride the Tammany Trace several times a week. It's 26 miles long. My wife does not like hills so I get to ride around where we live in the hills only when she does not feel like riding.:)

We plan to ride the Long Leaf Trace in Mississippi later this fall.

Love the rails to trails. Let's get more of them linked up.

I keep hoping they'll do something with the old Red Car (Pacific Electric) rights-of-way.

I ride the Withlacootchee trail here in Central florida probably 75% of my riding. I alow enjoy a few other trails. I was in Des Moines Iowa for a week this summer and rode on thier trails also. Iowa has some very nice trails.

Wisconsin has hundreds of miles of rail trails. Here's a map of them:
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/parks/specific/findatrail.html

You can click on any trail for more info. I live next to the Badger trail. It's a 12 mile ride from my house to the tunnel shown in the pics of the Badger trail.

There are a number of county trails that aren't shown on this map.

There don't seem to be many in our neck of the country. Maybe that's because the BNSF hasn't abandoned their rails yet... We get up to 100 trains a day along the Bolin to Needles run. I have no desire to ride along side one of those behemoths either!

I love riding the trails. We have 323 miles of paved trails in the area and many of them are rails-to-trails.

http://www.miamivalleytrails.org/

Roughly 95% of my riding is on Wisconsin and Minnesota rail trails. Plan to be in Lanesboro, MN to ride the Root River Trail in a couple of weeks.

I live adjacent to a rail trail, which intersects another trail, for a total length of about 85 miles. They are supposed to link it into two more trails this fall, which will make it about 140-150 miles.

My wife and I were in Lanesboro a couple of weeks ago. We had a very good time on their paved trails. I used to live in Elroy in the 70's and did ride the Elroy-Sparta back then a bit and now live in Menomonie near the Red Cedar Trail.

I do find the unpaved trails to be hard on my wrists and neck so I don't use them often. But Tom, should you be up this way, I would enjoy riding with you.

My wife and I ride the Tammany Trace several times a week. It's 26 miles long. My wife does not like hills so I get to ride around where we live in the hills only when she does not feel like riding.:)

We plan to ride the Long Leaf Trace in Mississippi later this fall.

Love the rails to trails. Let's get more of them linked up.

We spent a couple nights in Covington, LA earlier this year. We had three couples in our group and all six of us had a great time riding the Tammany Trace. IT IS FLAT. Enjoyable riding experience.

CT has a reasonably large rail trail/linear park network. Few are paved however. They range from limestone rock dust highways to gravel, mud and traprock surfaces. In many areas there are spurs that are little more than cart tracks. In the vacinity of my home, its common to use parts of these trails to connect paved road sections on a ride. That makes my primary bike a mixed media MTB based hybrid.

I rode the West Orange Trail near Orlando, Fl, last year. It was the absolute best use of public money I have ever seen. If you go to Disney, look it up. They have bike rentals at the trail head.

It is something like 30+ miles one way, no car traffic, and goes through varied terrain. It is great.

Rails to Trails is what I do.
I have traveled on wonderful R to T in: Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Florida, Colorado.
There are many more in more States but life is to short to do them all.
BTW, there are great R to T's in Europa also.

Almost all of the riding my wife & I do is on a rail trail - the Little Miami Scenic Trail. The only real problems I've run into are related to horses and deer; the first is the obvious problem of the evidence they leave behind on the trail :notamused: The second problem is that the horses are almost always spooked by our recumbent trikes. The only safe way we've found to deal with that is to just stop on the far side of the trail from the horse, unclip and stand up next to the trike and talk to the horse in a soft, soothing tone. Even then, most of the horses are obviously just short of terrified; I guess it takes a long time to convince a horse that something low, quiet and fairly fast isn't a predator!
- Bob

In the city of Springfield, IL there is the grand total of 3 trails, one 5 miles long, one 2 miles long and one 7 miles in length. The 2 mile and 7 mile trail join. They are the best places to ride on the weekend; they have shade on those hot days! More bike lanes are being included in new road projects, but will take time to do. To ride any longer trails you have to go out of town. I plan on riding the I & M Canal trail in northern IL one of these days and also in Madison County where they know what strings to pull for trail funding. Local trail development is always on the backburner here. They do have a 38 mile trail in future plans, but who knows when that will happen. Thank goodness for county roads!

My wife and I were in Lanesboro a couple of weeks ago. We had a very good time on their paved trails. I used to live in Elroy in the 70's and did ride the Elroy-Sparta back then a bit and now live in Menomonie near the Red Cedar Trail.

I do find the unpaved trails to be hard on my wrists and neck so I don't use them often. But Tom, should you be up this way, I would enjoy riding with you.

I was in Lanesboro for 4 days last year and really enjoyed it.

I don't find the unpaved trails to be a problem. But my smallest tire on any bike is 32mm, have 1.5" on my RANS recumbent that I ride the most. That soaks up a lot of the vibration.

Just where is "up this way?"

I ride the Row River Trail in Cottage Grove, Oregon quite a bit. If you are ever in the southern Willamette Valley don't pass up the opportunity to ride this beautiful trail.

http://www.americantrails.org/nationalrecreationtrails/blm/rowriver-or.html

An organisation called Sustrans has converted a lot of disused rail lines into MUP's over here and we do have one locally called the Cuckoo Trail. Goes for about 12 miles and good surface- no hills to speak opf and very popular with family groups- dog walkers and cycle commuters. That is the problem- too many users to be completely suitable for cyclists.

I ride the Gainesville to Hawthorne trail in North Florida quite often. Very, very nice trail..maybe 18 miles long with turn-offs to little stores, side trips out into Paynes wildlife area, some nice small hills..very scenic. Almost for sure you will see a gator or two along with some aggressive geese. It goes right into downtown Gainesville, not too far from some coffee shops. :)

Mike

I have been riding rail trails since 1995. I have been on about 50 in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, perhaps others. My website is Ontario Rail Trails at http://webhome.idirect.com/~brown/

Someone mentioned the Erie Canal and I consider canal trails to be as good as rail trails. Have cycled on the C&O canal many times, the Erie a couple of times.

My wife and I look for them when we are traveling. For example, on a recent trip to Boston we stopped at a B&B in the Farmington Valley and rode a trail there. Rode from Baltimore up to York PA and back; ride the WO&D from home frequently. We always look for trails long enough for a good out and back round trip or a stop at a B&B after a day, then back the next. We planned a trip to the Laurention Mountains trail last year but had to cancel. They have good options for leaving you car at one end and then biking back from the other stopping at B&Bs.

If anyone does a really fun cross country (or other) trip from trail to trail, please post your itinerary for others of us who are interested to consider.

Don, following are links to two reports where we used shuttle services:

The best bike ride in America
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=302572

Le P’tit Train du Nord
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=112056

Being from DC you are obviously familiar with the C&O Canal, and the other is the one you mention in the Laurention Mountains. I recently saw a poll where Amtrak is considering carrying bikes between DC and Pittsburgh:
http://www.examiner.com/x-2429-Bicycle-Transportation-Examiner~y2009m8d5-Touring-cyclists-Take-this-Amtrak-survey

I've found trails in the USA to be a mixed bag. Some have been as close to heaven-on-a-bicycle as I could imagine, others have been ill conceived, poorly executed, badly maintained, paved in deep sand/mud/loose rock/goathead thorns, shared with other users who had a distain for both nature and humanity and even paralleling much nicer, quiet, scenic country roads. I'd love to ride any trail I got a good report on from a rider I knew, but I don't think I'd head off on an unfamiliar trail or one that came recomended only by a local tourist board or CoC.

I've heard good things about the trails in Germany, and I'd like to ride on some of them and also some Sustrans routes the UK.

tcs

Had a very nice and relaxing Saturday morning ride on the Frisco Highline trail, Springfield MO, where the trail starts (or ends, depending) to Wimpy's corner. A nice breakfast of two pancakes, (extra dark and crispy at the edges, mmmm) one egg and one sausage patty, then back to the trailhead. Great way to spend three hours if I do say so myself.

I trust that qualifies as a yes.

...

Just where is "up this way?"

Menomonie. I live about two miles from the trail head. There is a city trail four blocks from my home that connects to the Red Cedar.

The second problem is that the horses are almost always spooked by our recumbent trikes.

Our cycling group got a letter from local equestrians explaining how their horses are easily spooked by small, quiet bicycles and we should stand stone-still to the side of the trail as they amble past.

We forwarded the letter to our local July 4th parade organizers and suggested they ban horses from the parade before a child was trampled and the city got sued. The equestrians replied indignantly that their horses were perfectly safe and predictable around fire truck sirens, marching bands and parade floats that shot clouds of steam.

tcs

I have always assumed that horses and pedestrians have the right of way on trails. The trails are multi use.......they have to be for the finances to flow. The other users pay taxes just as I do. We need to accomodate each other.

Most bike groups advise stopping and dismounting in the presence of horses. At the very least, request permission to pass.

My wife and have used Ken Brown's website for a lot of riding. (Thanks Ken). Wish we had more of those rail trails up here.

There are no rail trails close to where I live. I have ridden the Silver Comet Trail out of Atlanta and the Chief Ladiga Trail which connects to the Silver Comet at the Alabama border. I only get up there once or twice a year as it is about a 3 hr. drive each way. I find them relaxing and great for encouraging more people to get out and ride or walk, but given a choice I would rather ride on a low traffic rural road like the ones right out of my driveway.

There is an abandoned railway that runs within a short ride from my house which has been talked about converting to a rail trail for several years. I would use it as it would run right by where I work, eliminating some big hills and terrible morning traffic. Many people think it would be a great idea, but nobody can come up with a way to raise millions of $ to make it happen. There is not enough support from local taxpayers to support even the matching funds required to get available grants.

We love to ride the trails (my daughter and I) Our goal is to ride every trail in Florida.
Below are the completed rides:

Cady Way Trail, Orlando
Cross Seminole Trail, Seminole County
Ft Desoto, not a designated R to T but a nice bike path
James Van Fleet, Polk County
Lake Mineola, Lake County
The Legacy, Sarasota
Pinellas Trail, Pinellas County
Rinehart Road crossing, Lake Mary
Seminole Wekiva Trail, Seminole County
Sun Coast Trail, Tampa
VABI Trail, Sarasota
West Orange Trail, Orange county
The Withlacoochee Trail, Our favorite
Flagler Beach trail, Flagler County

:cheers:

You mentioned Idaho. I just got back from the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes in northern Idaho, a 72 mile trail across the pan handle. East to west a slight downhill grade, west to east, typically a tail wind. Can't lose. Loved it.

I thoroughly enjoyed my ride on the feeder canal section of the D&R Canal Park Path in NJ.

http://backroom.hardsdisk.net/canalpath.html

It's a well groomed path, suitable for a rigid MTB or hybrid and just long enough for a good fix. I'm hoping to do it again soon.

An organisation called Sustrans has converted a lot of disused rail lines into MUP's over here and we do have one locally called the Cuckoo Trail. Goes for about 12 miles and good surface- no hills to speak opf and very popular with family groups- dog walkers and cycle commuters. That is the problem- too many users to be completely suitable for cyclists.

That seems to be a problem in much of Europa.
Germany has beautiful bike paths along rivers. On weekends they are so crowded that it is no fun for fast road cyclists. We took hybrids and that is OK. Road cyclists must content with very fast moving car traffic to do their sport.
Germany has a population density of 85 Million in an area smaller then Montana. Just imagine that.
England is not better and Holland, Belgium is worse.
Depending on the area, the USA is sparsely populated. The MUP from Reedsburg, WI to Trempealeau, WI is 100 miles long. I go there in September during the week. It is not unusual to see less then 10 bikers over 100 miles at that time of the year.
Some of us like that. It is great to be on your own in nature and deal with it.
Europa has some nice features but this is one where the USA exceeds.

Our cycling group got a letter from local equestrians explaining how their horses are easily spooked by small, quiet bicycles and we should stand stone-still to the side of the trail as they amble past.

We forwarded the letter to our local July 4th parade organizers and suggested they ban horses from the parade before a child was trampled and the city got sued. The equestrians replied indignantly that their horses were perfectly safe and predictable around fire truck sirens, marching bands and parade floats that shot clouds of steam.

tcs

Disagree.

Around here, horses have the right-of-way, and there is a reason for that - they ARE easily spooked, unless well trail trained.

I wonder about a club that can't stop for a moment to pass horses safely. Is speed really that important, especially on a MUP?

You might think of it as forced interval training. Go fast, stop for horse, go fast . . .

I have always assumed that horses and pedestrians have the right of way on trails. The trails are multi use.......they have to be for the finances to flow. The other users pay taxes just as I do. We need to accomodate each other.

Most bike groups advise stopping and dismounting in the presence of horses. At the very least, request permission to pass.

Just for general information.
The rules for horses are not uniform. In Wisconsin they are not allowed on the trails because they chew up the limestone surface. Some trails have a strip with grass just for horses. They go sometimes anyway on the trail and damage it.
Florida is also telling horses to stay of the thinly paved trails. Same problem that they damage the trails. Some FL trails have separate paths for horses.
Illinois has few horses on trails that I have seen.
I ride a Road bike. Horses seem to be OK with that assuming I go slow and as far away from them as I can. There was one occasion where a horse ran away from the owner galloping at full speed toward us. A horse is a lot of mass in motion. Seeing that mass running toward you can be scary and it was. That horse decided not to run into us.

I just got back from riding one - the Pine Creek Trail, through what's known as "Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon."

We love to ride the trails (my daughter and I) Our goal is to ride every trail in Florida.
Below are the completed rides:


With that avatar ... have you ridden the rail trails in and around Morgantown, WV? I have. They are really nice. One runs beside the Monongahela River all the way to Prickett's Fort, near Fairmont. A truly beautiful ride, as you are surrounded by hills as you ride on the old railroad bed that was cleared off on the river banks. It's about a 40 mile round trip from downtown Morgantown.

Tom B. B.S., M.S. Statistics, WVU 1973-1979

I posted my experience riding the Caledon trail a few weeks ago. It's just a straight shot of about 34km and not spectacularily scenic, but pleasant enough. Most of the road crossings are pretty easy.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=560850

Right within the City of Toronto, the trail in Moore Park ravine and the Kay Gardner beltline park are part of an old trolley route. I've marked the original rail route on this map (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3126051), but not all of it is preserved, so here and there you would have to do detours around obstructions, and there are a lot of street crossings.

The longest rail trail in the State of Michigan passes through my little town of Rockford. to date about 35% of it is paved, but that is due to change because some local billionaire is funding the pavement of the whole thing. Anyway I do ride it quite often. It reaches far north of here where i can access paved roads that have very minimal auto traffic on them. This makes training on the bicycle very nice.

Disagree.

What exactly are you disagreeing with in my post?

Best,
tcs

With that avatar ... have you ridden the rail trails in and around Morgantown, WV? I have. They are really nice. One runs beside the Monongahela River all the way to Prickett's Fort, near Fairmont. A truly beautiful ride, as you are surrounded by hills as you ride on the old railroad bed that was cleared off on the river banks. It's about a 40 mile round trip from downtown Morgantown.

Tom B. B.S., M.S. Statistics, WVU 1973-1979

Tom,
No we haven't had the pleasure of riding any trails in WV but we plan to change that next spring. When I was growing up their all of my riding was on the highways. No such thing as a R to T then. Over the years when I would return to WV (Parkersburg) it was just time spent with family. Now the family is gone so we (wife, daughter and I) plan a trip next spring to do some serious riding in Gods Country.
:cheers:

We have a new one that is almost complete, 2-3 miles left which will make a 13 mile one way trail. I use it as an expressway back home after a 25 -30 mile ride making the return a little easier. It is nice as I am there later in the day after work and it is rather less traveled and there are deer and wildlife along it so it is very peaceful.

Disagree.

Around here, horses have the right-of-way, and there is a reason for that - they ARE easily spooked, unless well trail trained.

I wonder about a club that can't stop for a moment to pass horses safely. Is speed really that important, especially on a MUP?

You might think of it as forced interval training. Go fast, stop for horse, go fast . . .

Not many horses on our MUP but on the road and offroad trails there are plenty. I once had a horse be spooked by me from about 100yards back so I now take a couple of things in mind whenever I come across a horse. If from the front- slow down and see if the rider is happy. If from the rear- I start talking to myself or ride partners from way back. If the horse knows I am there- it may turn and look at me but normally the rider turns and thanks me for considerate cycling.

But just like every other group- there are horse riders that should not be there. I once gave warning to a rider from 50 yards back when I came round a corner fast and saw him in front of me- only to get a load of abuse about inconsiderste Cyclists

Here in Louisiana, horses and pedestrians have the right of way on the trails I have been on. The good news is that there are side grass trails in many places and there are not many horses on the trails.

BTW - unless a horse is specially trained, it will do just about anything it can not to collide with a human even in most panic situations. They will also do just about anything they can to keep from stepping on a human, again, unless specially trained to do so. That does not mean they will not kick you though :).