Top Trail of the Month Features: Stories of Resilience, Reconnection and Renewal
A favorite of our readers for decades, Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Trail of the Month represents some of the most impactful and celebrated multiuse trails around the country. In these features, the Rails to Trails team details how the trails grew from vision to reality, discovers the key people and partnerships that made them possible, and examines why they’ve become treasured places in their communities and in America.
Here, we share some of our most popular Trail of the Month stories, but you can find more on the TrailBlog.
Little Miami Scenic Trail (Ohio)
Wending its way for 78 miles from Cincinnati to Springfield, Ohio’s Little Miami Scenic Trail plays a major role in a vast network of paved, off-road trails that drive tourism, commerce and outdoor recreation across the state’s Miami Valley region, centered around Dayton and Xenia. Development of the rail-trail followed efforts to restore its paralleling waterway, which earned the state’s first National Wild and Scenic River designation. As one of Ohio’s earliest rail-trail conversions, it became an inspiration for others, entering RTC’s Hall of Fame in 2009, and serving as a key piece of the cross-state Ohio to Erie Trail.
“We created an asset that has benefited millions of people to this day, improving the quality of life for Ohioans and also attracting visitors from outside the state to enjoy what we have to offer.”
—Bob Taft, Former Ohio Governor
High Bridge Trail State Park (Virginia)
Visitors flocking to the High Bridge Trail State Park—and its spectacular trestle towering 125 feet above the Appomattox River—have helped infuse new life and investment into the handful of communities along its 32-mile route through scenic Southern Virginia. The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation opened the rail-trail in the early 2000s, and the Friends of the High Bridge Trail State Park, a group of hands-on volunteers, have supported it in the many years since, turning former railhead hubs rich in the history of the Civil War and Civil Rights Movement into welcoming trail towns.
“Almost immediately, people were out jogging, photographing, pushing strollers, walking the dog. Everywhere you went, you really saw this pride of place happening.”
—Regina Schwabe, Former President, Friends of High Bridge Trail State Park
Burke-Gilman Trail (Washington)
Championed by the Seattle area’s bike and recreation community in the 1970s, the Burke-Gilman Trail has become a major transportation artery in the city. Its nearly 20-mile route connects to employment centers, hospital facilities, major cultural destinations and neighborhoods, as well as the University of Washington, making it a prime commuter pathway. It’s also a popular recreational corridor with access to many waterfront parks along its length and the beautiful Mount Rainier visible in the distance. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008, it’s now serving as a critical spine of the Great American Rail-Trail®, a 3,700-mile route developing across the country.
“What I know of the Burke-Gilman and its initial construction as a rail-trail was that there was a lot of push-back from the surrounding community. But now, it’s one of the most beloved trails we have; it’s one of the most widely used trails we have.”
—Gabriel Avila-Mooney, Special Projects Program Manager, King County Parks
Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park Trail (New Jersey)
Branching out from Trenton, the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park Trail takes a V-shaped route across central New Jersey, connecting vibrant historic towns that played important roles in the American Revolution, and providing access to a wildlife corridor nestled in this urban environment. Following an 1830s-era canal, the trail also serves as an outdoor history museum of sorts with 19th-century bridges, remnants of locks and cobblestone spillways along the way. With a length of more than 70 miles, it’s a key connector in the region, too, as well as part of the Circuit Trails network linking communities across Greater Philadelphia and New Jersey, and the 3,000-mile East Coast Greenway stretching from Maine to Florida.
“We have so many unique areas along the park’s multiuse trail. It runs through four different counties and is available to such a large population in central Jersey. We want the public to know these areas exist and are available to them.”
—Lauren Rojewski, Former Superintendent, D&R Canal State Park
Flint Hills Trail State Park (Kansas)
Already Kansas’ longest rail-trail, Flint Hills Trail State Park earned another feather in its cap in 2025 by entering RTC’s Hall of Fame. When fully complete, it will stretch 118 miles through rural eastern Kansas (96 miles are currently traversable), showcasing one of the last remaining tallgrass prairie ecosystems in the world, as well as preserving a historic railroad corridor and providing access to numerous historical and cultural sites. What began as a grassroots effort in the late 1990s blossomed into a state park in 2018 and now delivers economic benefits and recreational opportunities to the many communities along its route.
“Early on, many people thought it was a waste of money and a waste of time, but you don’t hear that too much anymore. … Public opinion has changed tremendously. As the trails developed, more people used them and they liked them. If you build it, they will come.”
—Doug Walker, Local Trail Advocate and Former Kansas State Senator
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