daf1009

I do a lot of riding here in the Atlanta area on the Big Creek Greenway and the Silver Comet Trail. When I lived in New Hampshire, I spent a TON of time on the Nashua River Rail Trail and the Minuteman Bikeway...

Does my C&V brethren here have any particular rail trails and/or Greenways that you truly love doing?

icepick_trotsky 

I am really fortunate to live close to the Katy Trail, the longest continuous rail trail in the U.S. Anyone passing through Missouri should really give it a go.

oddjob2

Hudson River Greenway in Manhattan, although crowded on weekends, is hard to beat.

Cape Cod Rail Trail too.

Sir_Name 

I live right along the East Coast Greenway, or will for the next week anyways. It's great for getting around and between towns. The only two drawbacks are that it's relatively flat for the entire length I ride (norther CT and into MA), and it can get congested at specific times and locations. It's nice not having to worry about passing traffic. Wildlife can be an issue at night, however (I hope people aren't feeding animals along the trail...).

Ex Pres 

I have ridden the Chief Ladiga/Silver Comet multiple times, but haven't made it past Rockmart (& Frankie's) on the Comet yet.

Little Darwin

In New England, many trails seem to be paved. Here in the mid-Atlantic, they seem to be mostly gravel or crushed stone.

In PA, I like the Black Diamond trail, and the Lehigh Gorge trail (the two are part of the same rail system, just a small gap between them). The entire Delaware & Lehigh trail system that they belong to is about 165 miles, with a few significant gaps that they are working to close. A new bridge was just approved, which will open in the next couple of years, to connect the Lehigh Gorge section to the section starting in Lehighton. There is also some talk of extending from Mountain Top to Wilkes-Barre... Once completed, I could basically ride from Wilkes-Barre to Philadelphia via rail trail. I have ridden about 55 miles or so of the system at various times, and it is virtually all crushed stone and gravel except the short road excursions and parking areas. I ride the Black Diamond section most because a round trip is a nice ride for me (17 miles or so round trip) and it i the closest section of the trail. The Black Mountain trail crosses a couple of driveways, and no other possibility of traffic in 8.5 miles I ride. The Lehigh Gorge passes one road and a parking lot for the 25 miles or so that it travels next to the Lehigh River.

I also like the Pine Creek trail, which is a little further away. It is a little over 60 miles of rail trail with almost nothing except a few small villages and summer camping areas to pass through. The northern section is through the "Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania" which is pretty scenic, even if I think the name is a little bit of hype. I have ridden that whole trail once, and sections of it a couple of times, it is very nice.

A shorter trail that I like riding sometimes is the Hazelton Rail Trail, which currently is pretty short, but if they can get over some hurdles with the bureau of mines (safety, etc. since there is a working mine in the area), there is a new section ready to open... and even that could be extended at some point to connect with the Lehigh Gorge trail. Don't tell anyone, but before I found out that getting caught means a $300 fine, I may have accidentally ridden part of the new section.

ksryder

I'll be on the Ladiga/Comet trail as part of a tour next summer to Atlanta with my dad. I'll be joining him somewhere in western Kentucky or Tennessee. I think after the mountains & highways it'll be a welcome respite.

gomango

I love the Minneapolis Greenway.

A member-based group of neighborhoods | Midtown Greenway Coalition

I can do a 54 mile loop in Minneapolis and a very refined 55+ mile loop in St. Paul.

They are in the process of connecting these loops into a true 110 mile inner city giant loop.

I use the Greenway six days a week in the summer, as it connects to many of my favorite riding destinations out west of the Metro.

Easily one of the better trail/path systems I have ridden on. That means anywhere in the world, including my favorite routes in Bayern.



Looking over the Hiawatha light rail line into DT Minneapolis.

[IMG]IMG_0187 by gomango1849, on Flickr[/IMG]

rgver

In my town we have a great trail that in an agreement with neighboring towns is supposed to form a 25 mile or so loop, I think Milford is the only town to complete or even start their section.

RobbieTunes

I like highways.

daf1009

I did my first full century on these trails last year...for my 50th birthday...had to "loop-de-loop" to get the full 100 in...but...it was cool...except for the part from the AL/GA line to Rockmart...lots of hills there!

daf1009

Let me know when you are coming through...

Ex Pres 

+1

I need to make the full trail over to ATL some time. Maybe this could be the impetus.

Giacomo 1 

I do the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway nearly every weekend I can.

It hits all of our great parks, from Flushing Meadows, the home of the 63 Worlds Fair, Cunningham Park, Kissena Park, home of our velodrome and the place where George Hincapie got his start, Alley Pond Park, Little Bay Park, and along the Cross Island Parkway, with beautiful views of LI Sound and the Throgs Neck Bridge, Ft. Totten and Forest Park, which is my park, and runs along some quiet residential streets in this "Borough of Home's"

A great refuge in a big, bustling city...

Prowler 

I ride our rail trails a lot as I don't have to worry about distracted driving, though the public roads out west of T-town towards Lyons are very nice and low traffic. Youse-all get tired of my travels on the Schuylkill River Trail but it is a gem. Beautifully paved for the 26 miles from South Street to Port Providence. Mostly unpaved sections (but pretty nicely groomed) from there west with several sections missing but planned. Maybe my grandchildren will enjoy the whole thing.

Our Perkiomen Trail is also very popular, 20 miles E2E and connects to they Schuylkill.

I've also enjoyed the York Heritage, Lebanon Valley, Nashua River, Virginia Creeper, New River, Cape Cod, D&L, Hazelton, Lehigh Gorge and a few others. I'm looking forward to the Delaware Canal Tow Path (and the "joisey side") but it keeps getting flooded out and wrecked. Ugh.

I really prefer just enjoying the ride and not focusing on my mirror and hugging the micro-shoulders on Pennsylvania roads.

pastorbobnlnh 

Bicycle interstates like the one pictured in Minnie Soda below?

Dang! That's a Super Highway by NH standards. I bet they even plow and salt that beauty in the wintertime.

We're fortunate if we can have the entire packed gravel trail as wide as the space between the dashed and solid line, let alone the grass cut and the trees cut back. In many places the trail narrows down to not much better then MTB single track standards.

But I'm not complaining (just observing)! I love our Northern Rail Trail which runs 60 miles from Lebanon to Concord through wilderness, small towns and villages (and about 8 miles from home). I've heard that it is the longest rail trail in New England.

Recently we gravel and acorn grinded our way the entire length across the divide separating the watersheds of the great Connecticut and Merrimack River systems.

As we ended our journey at the recently completed section near the Boscawen/Concord town line.

gomango

"Bicycle interstates like the one pictured in Minnie Soda below?"

I jokingly call it the "bicycle autobahn" on the weekends.

It gets loaded up with weekend warriors that routinely are in the 20+ mph range.

I try to stay off it on the weekends and ride one two or three dozen other routes around the metro.

Gravel, paved trails, country roads, mtb playgrounds and even cow trails are all available here.

They just keep building bike capacity here in the state.

edit: Online Minnesota Biking Guide

https://bluetoad.com/publication/?i=151121

daf1009

So...to further this thread a bit...although it seems to be going just fine...how about any "Tales from the Rail Trails?" Interesting/crazy/etc. events that occurred while riding a rail trail...I have several...but...will see what we get before I chime back in...

likebike23

I'm lucky to have a nice trail right in my town. The Columbia (as in Columbia bikes) trail has been started in earnest and connects to the Farmington valley greenway. I can ride about 35 miles each way without going on roads. Eventually the trail is supposed to connect New Haven, CT to Northampton, MA. My town's section when complete, will be one of two elevated trails running through an urban area in the US.

pastorbobnlnh 

I'll bite.

Mrs. PB, our Corgi Biscuit (RIP), and I were riding the Northern Rail Trail. Well, Biscuit would run about a mile, then rest in the basket on the front of Mrs. PB's bike for a mile. Biscuit would do this for about 15-20 miles.

The sun had set and I was leading the way about 20 or so feet ahead of my dog and wife. Biscuit was in the basket for a rest. She'd never jump out of the basket. We'd have to stop and lift her out of the basket and put her on the trail.

All of a sudden, about 15 or so feet ahead of me, a large black bear (guessing in the 300-400 range) decided to cross the trail. For some reason the bear didn't hear us and thus hide. Well Biscuit was not about to let that bear come near us, and for the first and only time, jumped out of her basket and chased the bear into the woods! She came trotting back to us where we had stopped.

I've encountered a lot of wildlife on the trail, but that was the best one ever!

daf1009

Good one Pastor Bob!!!! That was a cool story!

ksryder

Will do. If you have any tips on western Tennessee I'm all ears, btw.