Say hello to the newest batch of rail-trails in 2017

The Oak Leaf Trail, covering a whopping 120 miles, encircles Milwaukee, the state’s largest city, and spans Milwaukee County nearly edge to edge.

In recognition of Veterans Day, we’ve highlighted three rail-trails that offer quiet, reflective places to honor and remember our country’s servicemen and women.

For walkers and bicyclists along the town’s scenic Animas River Trail, the white-and-gray plumes of steam rising from the old locomotives and the echo of train whistles are common sights and sounds.

The 22.9-mile Chief Standing Bear Trail helps memorialize the 1877 walk of the Ponca Tribe back to their homeland, led by Chief Standing Bear and known as the Ponca Trail of Tears.

Western Ohio’s Simon Kenton Trail offers the perfect opportunity for today’s travelers to do their own exploring of the state’s scenic woodlands and rural landscapes on a 35-mile adventure stretching from Springfield to Bellefontaine.

Nebraska’s Cowboy Recreation and Nature Trail offers an authentic Old West experience, small towns and picturesque landscapes.

Spanning 27 miles, the Tammany Trace is a Southern belle nestled in the pristine natural surroundings of New Orleans.

South New Jersey’s Cape May County offers an outdoor recreation mecca within easy driving distance of Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Nestled in an iconic vacation destination about 75 miles down the coast from Boston, the flavor of the Cape Cod Rail Trail is pure summertime.