America's Trails

Here Are 13 Ways to Celebrate Opening Day for Trails on April 13

Posted 02/14/19 by Amy Kapp in America's Trails, Trail Use, Health and Wellness | Tagged with Best Of, Community Events, Encouraging Trail Use, Health and Active Living, Healthy Aging, OpeningDay, Trail Destinations, Walkability and Bikeability

Fun run 5k on W&OD Trail in Arlington, VA | Photo courtesy Rails-to-Trails Conservancy

This year’s Opening Day for Trails is going to be one of the best yet, as people across the country officially kick off spring by hitting their favorite pathways (or new ones!). Below are just 13 ways you can celebrate Opening Day in your own neighborhood and beyond.

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Pennsylvania’s Mahoning Shadow Trail

Posted 02/12/19 by Danielle Taylor in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Best Of, Community Events, Connected Systems, Cross-Sector Collaboration, Demand for Trails, Funding, Health and Active Living, Heritage and Restoration, History Happened Here, Local Organizing, Maintenance and Volunteers, Pennsylvania, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month, Walkability and Bikeability

Learn how the legendary groundhog Punxsutawney Phil helped create the Pennsylvania's Mahoning Shadow Trail in RTC's trail of the month feature.

Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail in Washington | Photo by TrailLink user biggerdawg

A View From … The Great American Rail-Trail

Posted 01/23/19 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Building Trails | Tagged with Best Of, Connected Systems, District Of Columbia, Featured Magazine Articles, Great American Rail-Trail, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, TrailNation, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming

Imagine what’s possible with a trail that connects the country. Imagine ... pedaling across the entire country on a safe, seamless and scenic pathway—or walking a local trail that connects along historic routes. That vision will become a reality thanks to the Great American Rail-Trail, a signature project of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) and the organization’s most ambitious TrailNation™ project yet.

Tony Knowles Coastal Trail | Photo by Jody O. Photos, courtesy Visit Anchorage

Alaska’s Tony Knowles Coastal Trail

Posted 01/15/19 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Alaska, Best Of, Biking, Demand for Trails, Encouraging Trail Use, Heritage and Restoration, History Happened Here, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month, Transportation and Health, Walkability and Bikeability, Wild and Wonderful, Winter Uses

With views of the rugged Chugach Mountains and tidal inlets, Alaska’s Tony Knowles Coastal Trail offers a breathtaking experience unlike any other rail-trail in the country. Learn more in our Trail of the Month feature.

Keith on the Route of the Badger in Wisconsin | Photo by Ben Carter, courtesy RTC

Embracing Change

Posted 12/21/18 by Keith Laughlin in America's Trails | Tagged with History Happened Here, RTC in Action

As I reflect on my tenure and how our work has evolved since that day in 2001, I’m proud of RTC’s position at the forefront of the active transportation movement. We have grown significantly in the past two decades, seizing new opportunities to first build rail-trails and now to maximize those trails by connecting them with each other. Today, we have powerful initiatives underway designed to catalyze the development of trail networks nationwide.

Pat Jones (left) on Katy Trail State Park in Missouri | Photo courtesy Missouri Department of Natural Resources/Twitter

Missouri Trail Patron and Conservationist Pat Jones Passes Away at 93

Posted 12/19/18 by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in America's Trails, Building Trails | Tagged with Champions, Missouri, Rail-Trail Champion, Rural Communities

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy was deeply saddened to learn that Hilda P. Jones—known to family members, friends and colleagues as “Pat,” passed away on Dec. 17 at her home in Williamsburg, Missouri. Pat and her husband the late Edward Jones, who died in 1990, are known for their important contributions to the conservation movement, including supporting the creation of two epic rail-trails in Missouri: the 240-mile Katy Trail State Park and the developing 144-mile Rock Island Trail.

Ribbon cutting ceremony for the launch of phase 1 of the Wasson Way rail-trail in Cincinnati, Ohio | Photo courtesy City of Cincinnati

Meet America's New Rail-Trails of 2018

Posted 12/17/18 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Building Trails | Tagged with Best Of, California, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington

This year was an exciting one for the rail-trail movement; as 2018 comes to a close, nearly 2,100 rail-trails are now open across the country. These trails add value in so many ways—increasing our mobility, improving our health, spurring economic development, protecting our environment and creating powerful connections within and between communities. Please join us in welcoming some of these newest arrivals!

Baltimore, Maryland | Photo by Side A Photography

Eight Critical Wins for TrailNation in 2018

Posted 12/05/18 by Liz Thorstensen in America's Trails, Building Trails, Success Stories | Tagged with Baltimore Greenway Trails Coalition, Best Of, Biking, California, Capital Trails Coalition, Circuit Trails, Connected Systems, Demand for Trails, Encouraging Trail Use, Facts and FIgures, Florida, Funding, Health and Active Living, Health Organizations, IHTC, Local Organizing, LowerRioGrande, Mapping and Technology, Maryland, Miami LOOP, New Jersey, Route of the Badger, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, TrailNation, Transportation and Health, Urban Pathways, Virginia, Walkability and Bikeability, West Virginia, Wisconsin

This past year, RTC worked with hundreds of partners across TrailNation to secure funding, provide technical expertise and generate public support for trail networks that are proving vital to the people and places they serve. Here is a spotlight on some of the critical project advances we made in 2018—and how they are bringing to life our vision of trails at the heart of healthy, thriving communities.

A view of the Junction Bridge from La Petite Roche Plaza along the Arkansas River Trail, part of the Southwest Trail | Photo by Scott Stark

Arkansas’ Southwest Trail

Posted 11/29/18 by Robert Annis in America's Trails | Tagged with Arkansas, Best Of, Biking, Connected Systems, Demand for Trails, Health and Active Living, Heritage and Restoration, History Happened Here, Local Organizing, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month, Walkability and Bikeability

Arkansas isn’t known for its rail-trails … yet. But after some recent success with paved corridors and unpaved, single-track paths, the Natural State’s newest rail-trail venture—the Southwest Trail—could bring both national attention and important local benefits.

Baltimore, Maryland | Photo by Side A Photography

Protecting Trails in 2018: Five Ways We Mobilized in Communities This Year

Posted 11/15/18 by Amy Kapp, Brandi Horton in America's Trails, Building Trails, Policy, Taking Action, Success Stories, Health and Wellness | Tagged with Baltimore Greenway Trails Coalition, BATC, Best Of, Case Studies, Community Events, Corridors and Railbanking, Demand for Trails, Disparities and Underserved Communities, Federal, Funding, Health and Active Living, IHTC, Legal Issues, Local Organizing, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rock Island, Route of the Badger, RTC in Action, State and Federal Programs, Success Stories, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, TrailNation, TrailsTransform, Transportation and Health, Urban Pathways, Walkability and Bikeability, Washington, Wisconsin

All across the country—from the great redwoods of California, to the trestles of Missouri, to the stream valleys and neighborhoods of Baltimore, Maryland—Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) and the national trail community put itself on the front lines to protect and defend trails in 2018. Here are five ways we mobilized in communities this year.

Ohio to Erie Trail | Photo by Eric Oberg, courtesy RTC

Ohio’s Year of the Trails: Three Major Trail Developments in the Buckeye State

Posted 11/14/18 by Leeann Sinpatanasakul in America's Trails | Tagged with Repairs and Trail Safety, Demand for Trails, Disparities and Underserved Communities, Funding, Government Agencies, Health and Active Living, IHTC, Ohio, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Communities, TrailsTransform, Transportation and Health, Walkability and Bikeability

It’s officially the Year of the Trails in Ohio, and the Buckeye State is building significant momentum on trail projects, from Cleveland to Cincinnati and beyond. These projects are showing how cities and entire regions can leverage the impact of existing trails to create trail "spines," and biking and walking networks that connect people and places—providing safe and healthy ways to get outdoors, while generating new economic opportunities that revitalize neighborhoods and communities.

Flint Hills Trail State Park | Photo courtesy Kansas Tourism

Kansas’ Flint Hills Trail State Park

Posted 11/13/18 by Laura Stark in America's Trails | Tagged with Best Of, Demand for Trails, Federal, Funding, Health and Active Living, Heritage and Restoration, History Happened Here, Kansas, Local Organizing, RTC in Action, State and Federal Programs, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month, Walkability and Bikeability

Nestled into the gentle greens and golds of a vast prairie, rolling under leafy branches arched overhead like cathedral rooftops, and connecting small towns with friendly Midwestern charm, the Flint Hills Trail State Park proves there’s no place like Kansas.