Many great stories came to us from Celebrate Trails Day participants about the special moments they had on the trail.

This vision is becoming a reality with nearly 60% of the 2,590-mile Bay Area regional trail network complete. Leading the charge is the Bay Area Trails Collaborative, a group of more than 50 businesses, agencies and organizations that is chaired by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC).

Meeting these targets can help improve your health and your quality of life; reduce health-care costs and the risk of chronic disease; and simply make you feel better physically, mentally and emotionally.

Here is a spotlight on some of the critical TrailNation project advances we made in 2018—and how they are bringing to life our vision of trails at the heart of healthy, thriving communities.

Empire State Trail (EST): Shaped like a giant sideways T intersecting near Albany, the EST will connect three corners of the state: Manhattan, Buffalo and the Canadian border near Lake Champlain.

The P2P: It’s a small acronym that holds a world of promise. Extending from Parkersburg to Pittsburgh (P2P), the developing 238.5-mile route connecting northern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania by trail.

Spanning more than 2,007 miles between Alabama and Canada, the Underground Railroad (UGRR) Bicycle Route, memorializes the network that helped slaves escape to freedom before and during the Civil War.

Louisvillians officially named the Louisville Loop in 2005, but you could argue that trails run in this city’s lifeblood.

RTC's put together this little trail-geek cheat sheet so that we can all bone up on our trail and active-transportation policy speak.