Missouri’s Katy Trail State Park is the nation’s second-longest rail-trail (at nearly 238 miles) and arguably one of its most celebrated.

There’s a spot on the Foothills Trail in western Washington where I always slow down. It’s not a sudden steep climb or dicey patch of gravel that causes me to feather my bike brakes on the outskirts of Orting.

The Rio Grande Trail is quintessential Colorado, featuring a sparkling river, rustling aspens and scented pines against a backdrop of towering mountains.

Chessie Nature Trail: In late fall, ash, oak and beech trees burn brilliant shades of red, orange and yellow in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, where the Blue Ridge Mountains meet the Allegheny range.

Southwest Virginia’s 34-mile Virginia Creeper Trail (VCT) is timeless. The trail is a beloved regional asset and economic boon.

The Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail (FKOHT) is approximately 76 miles of the in-progress passageway are complete. It will eventually extend 106 miles from Key Largo to Key West.

The railroad used to wind through the canyon as part of the Southern Pacific Railroad’s California-Oregon line, which was marketed in the early 1900s as “The Road to a Thousand Wonders.”