Peru is known as the Circus City or the Circus Capital of the World for a big reason. It really was.

This History Along the Great American Rail-Trail® feature explores the timber industry and creation of two railroads on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula in the early 1900s. The late-1918 completion of the Spruce Railroad, which was meant to aid the war effort, led to a national scandal.

The 109-mile George S. Mickelson Trail, named after the South Dakota governor who championed the trail before dying in a plane crash in 1993, was officially dedicated in the midst of much fanfare in 1998.

After more than two decades of effort and an infusion of cash from the state legislature in 2020, Vermont’s Lamoille Valley Rail Trail (LVRT) is finally complete.

We need a little help picking which trail should take the title for 2023. We’ve narrowed the list down to three stellar nominees.

It’s a popular route for children heading to school, a place for retirees to get in a morning walk and a crucial link for bicycle commuters on their way to work. As any of its numerous advocates will tell you, coastal California’s Mill Valley/Sausalito Multiuse Pathway more than lives up to its multiuse name.

On Aug. 22, 1883, the final tracks of the Northern Pacific Railway were laid when a Chinese crew from the West met an Eastern crew of mostly Irish and Slavic workers near Inde­pendence Creek, Montana.

The River Mountains Loop Trail (RMLT) is a 35-mile paved path that zips through a wild fusion of landscapes—mountains, desert and lake views.

On Sept. 22, 2020, I started my four-day, 300-mile skate journey. The route took me through many cities, such as Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, as well as rural forest areas and cornfields. Although I faced a lot of obstacles along the way, the weather was generally perfect—warm days feeling that dimming autumn sun.

This is the Ozaukee Interurban Trail, a paved, 30-mile route flanking the Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan through the northern suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.