Great American Rail-Trail In Pennsylvania

The Great American Rail-Trail in Pennsylvania is hosted by trails that showcase the state’s history and heritage, from its days before the country formally came into being to its heyday as an industrial powerhouse. Beginning at the Maryland–Pennsylvania border on the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage (gaptrail.org), the route travels to Pittsburgh and through downtown on the Three Rivers Heritage Trail.

Plans to complete the Great American through Pittsburgh also align with the vision of the Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition—one of RTC’s TrailNation™ projects—to connect Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and New York via a developing 1,500-mile trail network.

Related: Trails along Pittsburgh’s rivers are helping the region’s economy (The Allegheny Front | July 8, 2024)

Pennsylvania stories along the Great American Rail-Trail

Pennsylvania and West Virginia’s Panhandle Trail

Trail of the Month: September 2023 “The trail serves as a gateway for Pennsylvania for anyone coming from the west.” —Ned Williams, President, Montour Trail Council Stretching 29.2 miles through small towns and the countryside of West Virginia and western Pennsylvania, the Panhandle Trail is a key piece in connecting several longer routes, including the Great American Rail-Trail®, […]

10 Unique Lodgings Along the Great American Rail-Trail

As it unfurls across 3,700 miles of the nation’s varied landscapes, the Great American Rail-Trail® connects us to our shared culture and heritage. In addition to the innumerable historical sites, museums, parks and other attractions along the way, travelers taking this epic route between Washington, D.C., and Washington State will find unique places to stay […]

How the Great Allegheny Passage Transformed a Region

Since its formal inception in the 1990s, the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) (gaptrail.org) in Southwestern Pennsylvania and Western Maryland has gone from a vision to a premier rail-trail destination in the United States. The effort would take nearly two decades, but the results, achieved on a cascading tidal wave of collaboration, sweat equity and unwavering persistence, […]

The “Great American” Route Through Pennsylvania

The route through Pennsylvania connects several existing trails and includes a gap of fewer than 10 miles between Pittsburgh and Coraopolis. By connecting the trail through Pittsburgh, the Great American Rail-Trail also connects to the Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition (IHTC), a 1,500- mile network of trails that is part of RTC’s TrailNation™ portfolio. The IHTC network will stretch across 51 counties in four states—Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and New York—from the shores of Lake Erie to the confluence of the three rivers in Pittsburgh and on to the Ohio River and Appalachian foothills.

Trails Along the Route

Click the links below to view full trail descriptions on TrailLink.com.

• Great Allegheny Passage (gaptrail.org)
• Three Rivers Heritage Trail
• Montour Trail
• Panhandle Trail

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