RWBlue01

I am looking for a definitive list of bicycle trails with camping. I have been running the C&O on the weekends with the tour gear. I am looking for a different spot for this weekend, off the road, with camping or maybe even a B&B/Hotel as needed.

In case we need to start a list, here is a starting point.

There is the
C&O in Maryland between Cumberland and DC
GAP in Pennsylvania between Pittsburgh and Cumberland MD.

cyccommute 

I find this site covers most everything. I used there campground app this summer. It works quite well. Some of the places listed didn't even know about the application. I haven't tried the other apps but I might in the future.

jonc123

Tanglefoot Trail in Mississippi

Wife and I did the 43.6 mile 100% asphalt Tanglefoot Trail a few weeks ago. Runs from New Albany, MS to Houston, MS. We camped at the Howard Stafford Park in Pontotoc a couple miles off the trail (RVs, lake, showers and a "splash park") and did look at the campground in Algoma, called "The Algoma Country Store" which just has pit toilets and no showers. Both places were really nice, Algoma is real basic but right on the trail.

You are in the South on this one, summers can be unbearable with the heat, humidity and insects. Winter days can be quite warm, also.

You'll find other nearby campgrounds on this trail at the official website below:

Tanglefoot Trail

Tanglefoot Trail | Mississippi Trails | TrailLink.com

jonc123

Katy trail in Missouri

Most folks have heard of this 238 mostly crushed stone trail, many have done the trail. I've rode the trail 3 times, camping along the way. I won't go into details about the camping as I haven't camped on the trail in a few years and much information is out there on the trail.

If it stays on the tracks, Amtrak is an option with a station near the Eastern end. You can't get quite all the way to the Western end, the train stops short in Sedailia.

Katy Trail Missouri Trail Maps, Businesses, Events, Mileage, and more

Katy Trail State Park | Missouri Trails | TrailLink.com

https://mostateparks.com/park/katy-trail-state-park

jonc123

Sam Vadalabene Great River Road Bike Trail Illinois

I've done this one many times. It is a 21 mile part asphalt trail and part bike lane on shoulder and much of it hugs the Mississippi River. This trail was in pretty poor shape when I rode it a few weeks ago. Lots of debri on the trail, buckled asphalt in spots. What makes up for it though are 3 wonderful places...Alton, Grafton and at the Northern end Pere Marquette State Park which has camping, food and lodging. Wife and I normally park at the casino in Alton on Saturday and ride to the state park, camp & dine and back Sunday to the casino.

You may be able to connect to other trails in the area; this is just outside St. Louis, MO across The Mississippi river.

If you like to drink beer, wine, etc. you'll love Grafton. Lots of bikers around there (the bikes with motors on them) but the taverns are nice. Live Music outdoors sometimes.

Great Lodge with wonderful food at the State Park.


Sam Vadalabene Great River Road Bike Trail | Illinois Trails | TrailLink.com

Pere Marquette State Park

Sam Vadalabene Bike Trail - Madison & Jersey Counties, IL

Folks come from all over the world to this place in Alton:

https://www.fasteddiesbonair.com/

Rob_E

The Ohio to Erie Trail definitely has some B&Bs, at least along the southern stretch. I didn't find a wealth of campgrounds, but I guess you only need a few. Northeast of Columbus I didn't notice much camping or lodging adjacent to the trail, but I would imagine you'd find something if you went far enough off the trail. There's a state park near the trail in Canton and then the Cuyahoga River Valley. I've never gone that far. It seems like it ought to be possible to camp every night (Probably stealth camping is easy enough), but having ridden the trail from Cincinnati to Canton, I found myself using Warm Showers, friends, and private property for most nights. Doesn't mean there aren't options. I just am not in a position to confirm.

Machka 

Everywhere .... or just in the US?

fietsbob

Banks of the Danube river ..

Oregon Coast. (the Highway )

Louis and Clark Trail .. https://www.nps.gov/lecl/index.htm

cyccommute 

Allstays covers Canada too.

RWBlue01

I was thinking USA, but if someone wants to make this a sticky....Might as well do world wide.

indyfabz

Fly or drive to SD and ride the Mickelson Trail.

RWBlue01

Yes, but it doesn't answer the question or I can't figure out how to answer the question. It tells the camp grounds, but not the trails. If you were traveling across an area I think it would be great, but not exactly what I am looking for when it comes to finding a new trail to camp on. (Or maybe I just don't know how to get the data that I want?)

RWBlue01

Greenbrierer Railtrail State Park West Virginia. 80 miles. Greenbrier River Trail

mstateglfr 

Pick a town or region and google map it. Select display bike paths.
Stick to the dark lined paths as they are dedicated paths versus bike lanes on a road.


There really isn't some huge database which shows all the paved paths and camping on the paths.

Go to traillink.com and you can search trails all over the US.
I use Google Maps plus traillink.com plus a local site(bikeiowa) to find in state trails with campgrounds on/near the trails.
Oh, I've used the allstays site/app too. It's comprehensive, at least around me.

cyccommute 

For the trails, use Google maps and ask for bicycle mode. It'll show all kinds of solid green lines for off-road trails, dotted green lines for bicycle routes and some brown lines for mountain bike. It's not perfect but it's pretty close. I used it to ride around Lake Erie this spring and never had a problem with it. I live no where near Lake Erie and have never been there but I manage to navigate quite will with Google Maps.

Not all of the world is set up like the C&O and GAP. Those are special with people who have spent a lot of time planning them. There's lots of places that you just have to explore to find the best rides and best places to stay. Or even the marginal rides and marginal places to stay.

I dreaded riding in around the Texarkana area. But, honestly, it was one of the best tours I've done. Lovely roads, lovely places to camp, interesting people, etc. I had no expectations going into the ride and I was pleasantly surprised. Sometimes you just have to go and worry about the details as they arise.

RWBlue01

The reason I want the list is because most trails are NOT like the C&O and GAP. As far as finding other trails like them, I am doing pretty good starting with Traillink.com and then going to Google maps and then Allstays. I am looking for something specific. If you like the road, then great. Personally, I am not a road person.

Machka 

Australian Rail Trails: https://www.railtrails.org.au/index.php


I am most familiar with the ones in Victoria:
https://www.railtrails.org.au/trail-...=category&id=1


Especially ...

The Great Victorian Rail Trail which came through the town we lived in when we lived in Victoria. We watched it being built and have cycled most of it, but in bits and pieces, not all at once.
https://www.railtrails.org.au/trail-...ew=trail&id=90


The Murray to Mountains Rail Trail which is probably our favourite, with some of the best scenery. And it also has paved sections.
https://www.railtrails.org.au/trail-...ew=trail&id=50


We have been on the High Country Rail Trail, although at that point the bridge in the photo was not built, and in several places the beautiful, smooth paved shoulders on the road were a better option than the trail.
https://www.railtrails.org.au/trail-...ew=trail&id=83


We have done the Lilydale to Warburton Rail Trail, and for the most part it is pretty good, especially when it gets out into the country. In the built up areas it gets a little sketchy in places.
https://www.railtrails.org.au/trail-...ew=trail&id=64


We attempted the Port Fairy to Warrnambool Rail Trail a number of years ago. Port Fairy is one of our favourite places, so we've done quite a bit of cycling in that area, but mainly on the roads. At the time we attempted the trail, it was in pretty rough shape, but it looks like they have made improvements.


And we did a 100 km randonnee within Melbourne on trails, so we probably rode a number of the ones mentioned on that site located within Melbourne. I was just following the leader on that ride, trying not to get lost.
https://www.railtrails.org.au/trail-...w=trail&id=160



In Tasmania: https://www.railtrails.org.au/trail-...tions/tasmania

We have, of course, ridden the Intercity Cycleway ... a lot.

I actually think this site shows the trails here better. We don't have any really nice long ones like Victoria does, but there are some pleasant shorter ones:
Greater Hobart Trails | Bush walking, bike riding, mountain biking, horse riding and urban tracks in Hobart, Kingborough, Derwent Valley, Clarence, Glenorchy & Brighton, Tasmania Australia

We've ridden several on that list. For most, you'd probably want a mountain bike, so for me that's a bit of an adventure because I'm not really a mountain biker. And you probably wouldn't camp along most of them (they're short), but you could make a little trip of it to base yourself in Hobart and do day rides.

InTheAether

The Rock Island Trail: between Peoria, IL and Dunlap, IL has a primitive campground with pit toilets. Water is available about 1-2 miles south of the campground.

Machka 

In the Living Car Free Forum, I started a thread about trails ...

https://www.bikeforums.net/living-car...paths-etc.html

gpsblake

OP, good thread, can I ask one thing that will make it a much better thread and edit your OP to reflect the responses here, making it much easier to read and a much better resource.

Add the Chief Ladaga/Silver Comet trail in Alabama/Georgia to the list, several camp sites on the way.

GAP trail would greatly benefit from a camping site or on around Meyersdale (why not the train station/museum there?)

indyfabz

12 miles from Myersdale to Rockwood--down hill heading towards PGH.

cyccommute 

I think what you are asking for simply doesn't exist for most trails. I've done many trails and routes and not many have any kind of trailside campgrounds like the C&O or GAP has. There's no list because there's no services. I did a fair amount of the Erie Canal this spring and didn't find campgrounds along it...at least not like the C&O campgrounds. The campgrounds I did stay at were off the trail and commercial. I also rode a lot of the Delaware canal trail which also has no camping along the entire 60 mile length. The Katy Trail does have a lot of information for accommodations on their website but they are more B&B/hotel rather than campgrounds.

Here in the west, there are lots of campgrounds but they aren't usually tied to any kind of individual trail. You can camp more diffusely on US Forest Service land here but there aren't a lot of organized camps along a single trail.

Finally, as to roads vs trails, I use a mixture of both. I range over very large distances on tour and have found few completely off-road trails that will serve my needs. I ride roads because I have to. I ride roads because I don't want to be limited. Liking or not liking isn't the reason that I ride on roads. Needing to get from point A to point B is the reason I ride roads.

jonc123

Feel free to copy and paste if it helps anyone:

Trail Name:

Country:

State/Other:

Starts:

Ends:

Length:

Surface:

Condition of trail:

Camping/Lodging:

Food:

Water:

General Comments:

Links:


************SAMPLE***************


Trail Name: Bikeforums Trail Deluxe

Country: USA

State/Other: Texas

Starts: Houston

Ends: Dallas

Length: 642 miles (Everything in TX is far apart)

Surface: Gold Bricks

Condition of trail: Smooth as Butter

Camping/Lodging: Campgrounds in Lajitas, El Paso, San Antonio all with showers, they set your tent up for you at no cost while they wash and wax your bike and do your laundry.

Food: None of the towns along the way provide any but you get free beer and 5 hour energy shots as needed.

Water: See above.

General Comments: Really enjoyed the free drivetrain cleaning at the end. Not sure if the trail is really 642 miles long but it is Texas.

Links: texasisacountrynotastate.com

tarwheel 

Check out Rails to Trails at Bike Trails, Walking Trails & Trail Maps | TrailLink

They have trail listings for the entire US, if not more. I have found their trail descriptions, maps and reviews to be excellent. Photos of many trails as well.

RWBlue01

I tried to make the Chief Ladaga/Silver Comet trail work camping, but I couldn't with the miles I ride with gear. I ended up with a Hotel and day tripping.

Meyersdale has B&Bs (I stayed at the old Morgue) and there were several places people commando camped just past there.