colorado dale

I'd doing SD park's Mickelson trail trek next weekend any one else?

will dehne

Reedsburg, Elroy, Sparta, Onalaska, Trempealeau. 100 miles (one way) of beauty in Wisconsin. Not paved.
Springfield, Xenia, Loveland, Cincinnati. Also called Little Miami Trail. 80 miles of great trail in Ohio. Paved.
Houston, Lanesboro, Harmony. Nice paved trail in Minnesota. I think over 60 miles one way.
Breckenridge, Frisco, Vail Pass, Vail. Paved and beautiful in Colorado. I think over 60 miles one way.
Aspen, Glenn Wood Springs, Glen Wood Canyon, Gypsum. About 80 miles one way of beauty in Colorado.

cyclinfool

I ride portions of the old Hudson Mohawk railroad and Erie canal. If you have some time the tour from Buffalo to Albany would be a lot of fun - this year there were 500 riders.

https://www.ptny.org/canaltour/

professorbob

Petit Train du Nord in Quebec. It starts about 15 miles above Montreal and heads way up into the Laurentians. Beautiful and hits all the towns with all the services all the way up.

mangosalsa

I'm heading up to the Virginia Creeper next month. Anyone have tire suggestions for this trail? Should I run MTB tires, or can I stick with my
"urban" tires? Also plan on camping at the top. If anyone has any info, personal experience, etc., about this trail, please let me know.

Thanks

staehpj1

We rode by some of it on the Trans America. We found that while the country was pretty we actually preferred the roads to dealing with the clueless tourists on rental bikes who clogged the trail. That was in the middle of the week and I imagine it would be worse on the weekend. We were going against the main flow of bike traffic though so it would have been better going the other way.

The surface on the part of the trail we saw was fine for our 32mm tires and I suspect that we would have found it OK with narrower tires.

Allegheny Jet

No one's mentioned the Justus Trail along the Allegeny River in W. PA. It's a paved rail trail that goes from Foxburgh to Oil City along the river with very little development. Just North of Oil City is the Oil Creek State Park Trail. The Justus Trail is flat, has two tunnels and there are several other trails that have access to the main trail. The Sandy Creek Rail Trail follows a winding valley and has some spectacular views. Food and lodging is available at either end of the Justus Trail. Our family has a cottage on the river near Emlenton and I will attest the area is beautiful year round. I especially like road biking in the area as the hills are challenging, roads are good and traffic is light. I do ride on the trail on family rides or when I do Z3 training intervals. Zipping through a dark tunnel at 20 mph is always fun, provided my light is working.
https://www.avta-trails.org/index.html

I will be riding the area around PA's Pine Creek Trail in early April. I am attending "hill climbing camp". We are staying at the Petty Coat Junction Campground on Ceder Creek near Watsontown. The campground borders the Pine Creek Trail. Three days of hill rides, hill repeats and uphill TT's, yea!!! I don't know if we will spend anytime on the trail since we will be on roadbikes and the trail is packed stone.
https://www.4thehealthofit.net/spring_cycling_camp.html

sedges

You didn't say if you wish to touring on a long trail or riding to explore several over the course of your vacation, or maybe both.

I would recommend traveling to one region to sample a several trails without having to drive so much. Wisconsin would be first on my list for the number and diversity of trails. Ohio would probably be next on that list.

For a real adventure I would recommend the Mickelson Trail in the Black Hills, SD. A spring vacation might be too early for that, however. The KATY is not far from you. It could be explored on day trips as well as a long tour.

cc_rider

North Central Trail near Baltimore. From Timmonium, MD to York, PA. 40+ miles in length.

sknhgy 

The Katy is my weekend trail - 20 miles from home. I did the Elroy-Sparta and liked it just as well.

capejohn

I did Pine Creek/Valley last year. You are right about the sights in my opinion. It was pretty much like those old movies with the revolving background. I even rode and additional 40 miles at the end to elimitate a day and get it over with.

I wrote it up in my Crazyguy journal.

I did the Erie Canal two years ago and was so impressed that I'm doing it again as the second week of my two week tour.

Daspydyr 

If you get through the Vegas area, there is a nice, though easy trail from Lake Mead to the Hoover Dam. You can park in the lot at Bootleg Canyon and take pavement to Lake Mead whre it connects with the old railroad bed that goes to Hoover Dam. There are 6 tunnels through solid rock that are kinda spooky to ride through. It is a good leaisurely ride. A new flyway bridge has been built south of Hoover Dam in response to Terrorist threats. It is a modern marvel of construction. Bring your camera. There is a lot at Hoover Dam to lock your bike and look around.

stevemtbr

On the Idaho/Montana border you have to do the 13 miles of the Hiawatha trail https://www.skilookout.com/hiawatha/ check out the pics on the web site. Lots of tunnels and trestles with stunning mountain beauty. It also ties in to the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes https://friendsofcdatrails.org/ which is mostly flat, 72 miles long and paved. While your at it we have the Centennial trail on the Idaho and washington side https://www.spokanecentennialtrail.org/. For a side trip take the Fish lake rail trail (paved) to the Columbia Plateau rail trail (crushed gravel).

ahsposo 

The Virginia Creeper is very nice. Someone asked about tire choice. When I rode it with a Boy Scout group there were all types of tires from knobbies to moderately skinny. My 700x35 smooth tires were fine.

Nearby to this is the New River Trail (https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/new.shtml) and it was very pretty.

rm -rf

I would pick MTB tires. Some sections can be loose dirt and gravel, and with the "steep" grade, your speed can get pretty fast. (That means steep for a rail trail: 1500 feet in 15 miles and 3% grade in spots) You would have more control with MTB tires.

I rode it on a week day and it wasn't crowded. But weekends are probably busy with the shuttle to the top riders coming downhill. You want to allow a lot of time to ride up to the top, so you can stop many times to see the views, bridges, waterfalls, rhododendrons, etc.

VT_Speed_TR

+1 rode this trail with my teenage daughter (journal onCGOAB), we enoyed the French culture and food in the B&B where we stayed.

The northern 60 miles are paved and the other 60 miles are packed gravel.

TrailDogger

I ride these. Now about 250 miles of interconnected paved trails mostly along the Little Miami River and the Great Miami River. And no this is not in Florida, it's in southwestern Ohio www.miamivalleytrails.org This is really a great site with video of the trails.

megaman

Bucket list. Hmm. To me that's a list of trails I'd like to ride.

I really enjoyed-

Mesabi Trail

Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes

Little Miami Scenic trail

Willard Munger Trail

Katy Trail

I ride the Elroy-Sparta, Root River, and Cannon Valley trails quite a bit so they aren't on my Bucket list.

My bucket list is all those trail connections in SW Ohio,
the Michelson Trail in S Dakota,
The trail around Glenwood Springs and all those Florida trails. These will all be done, but it's going to take a while.

screenwasher

Came across this website recently. Not sure if all these are Rails to Trails, but all are car-free.

https://bicycletouringoncarfreepaths.org/

DnvrFox

Colorado:

The Rio Grande Trail from Glenwood to Aspen, combined with the non-rail trail up Glenwood Canyon.

All the trails in Summit County (Keystone, Breckenridge, Frisco, Copper Mountain, Vail Pass, Vail, Edwards), some of which follow old rail beds, especially Frisco to Copper Mountain.

All but about 6 miles paved.

maddmaxx 

Billydonn has a point..........do you differentiate between paved rail trails and unpaved rail trails? It may have an effect on the equipment you ride.

Dellphinus

Completed-
Sparta-Elroy: loved it
Mickelson: loved it-must do. Will go back and ride it the other way some day.
Tunnel Hill (illinois): good, but flat
Katy: good, but flat

On my list:
Route Verte (any part)
C&O/Allegheney passage

rumrunn6

I think it's awesome that millions of dollars and hundreds of men with big impressive equipment including explosives worked to grade a trail that makes climbing uneven terrain tolerable over long distances.

https://www.old-picture.com/old-west/...s-Building.htm
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_UuI3A1TJ-2...h/DSC03914.jpg
https://members.kos.net/sdgagnon/mil.html
https://history.howstuffworks.com/ame...-railroads.htm

I have a rail trail near me but it isn't worth traveling for - at least not for the sake of just the rail trail alone. However, if you like the beach you might enjoy combining a trip to Cape Cod with some cycling. The rail trail isn't very long (20-23 miles) but it is laid out in one of my favorite places to vacation.

https://sh1.webring.com/people/bk/kin.../CapeCod1.html
https://orleanscyclecapecod.com/rail%20trail.htm
https://www.capecodbikeguide.com/railtrail.asp

trackhub

Some day, I would like to very much ride the Mass Central Rail trail. Alas, due to the political posturing and "Nimby" attitude of certain Massachusetts towns, it does not look like it will ever be built in its entirety.
The original plan was to have it begin in Waltham, at the Linden street bridge, and continue all the way to Northhampton.

Nice pic of the cape cod rail trail.

A few times in the past, I have ridden on the Provincelands bike trails, Provincetown MA. I won't put these on my list. For the un-familiar, these were built in the early 60's, and have a lot of steep grades with bad, frequently blind, curves. National park personnel deal with several bad crashes per summer, many involving tourists. As Steve Faust put it, the person designed these bike trails, and the person who designed the wild mouse amusement park ride, are probably the same guy. Link to article, with pics

DnvrFox

I assume everyone knows about the rails-to-trails web site. Just in case:

https://www.railstotrails.org/index.h...FQldagodAzA5UQ