Trail Use

How Trails and Outdoor Access Provide Important Mental Health Benefits

Posted 09/02/20 by Cory Matteson in America's Trails, Trail Use, Health and Wellness | Tagged with COVID-19, Encouraging Trail Use, Equity, Trail Moments, Trail Use Tips, Why Use Trails?

Three Rivers Heritage Trail | Photo by Healthy Ride, Pittsburgh Bike Share

One significant way millions of Americans are addressing their mental health needs during the coronavirus is through frequent activity in the outdoors. In Lincoln, Nebraska, where I live, the city’s robust trail system has been packed with more cyclists, roller bladers, runners and walkers than I’d ever encountered before in a spring trail season.

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Birdwatching in Tacony Creek Park | Courtesy Tookany-Tacony Frankford Watershed Partnership

Philly Birder Takes Fledgling Bird Enthusiasts Under His Wing

Posted 09/01/20 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Circuit Trails, Ecology and Environment, Encouraging Trail Use, Equity, Featured Magazine Articles, Trail Moments, Trail Use Tips, TrailNation, Wild and Wonderful

“For me, the special part of those experiences has been having so many different types of people participating,” enthused Keith Russell. “You have families come out with kids and people who are in their 70s and 80s. I’m always so thrilled that you have such diversity; birding doesn’t just attract one section of the community or one type of person.”

Dunes on the Pierre Stocking Scenic Drive Overlook | Photo by Robert Annis

Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail: A Pedal Along a Michigan Marvel

Posted 08/26/20 by Robert Annis in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with COVID-19, Michigan, Trail Destinations, Trail Use Tips

Sleeping Bear Dunes had almost everything I was looking for, even one of the best rail-trails in the country. I’d heard too many great things about the 22-mile Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail over the years, and I wanted to finally ride it myself.

Longeberger Basket Company former world headquarters along the T.J. Evans Panhandle Trail in Ohio | BY-NC-ND 2.0

America's Most Unique Trailside Attractions

Posted 07/27/20 by Amy Kapp in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Best Of, Tourism , Trail Destinations, Wild and Wonderful

For years, we’ve been hearing about those strange and extraordinary attractions that have made for classic road trips across the country. But what about trailside? Connecting some of the most diverse communities, landmarks and geography in America, trails are the perfect places to find the inspiring, the unique and—in some cases—the truly bizarre. In that spirit, here’s our developing list of 28 strange and cool trailside attractions.

Trail runner | Photo by Aarni Heiskanen | CC by 2.0

Here’s the Latest Expert Guidance on Outdoor Activity and COVID-19

Posted 04/18/20 by Amy Kapp in Trail Use, Health and Wellness | Tagged with COVID-19, Health and Active Living, Trail Etiquette, Trail Moments

As Americans work to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 across the United States, public health professionals continue to provide important safety guidance on engaging in outdoor physical activity. Experts are urging people to stay as close to home as possible when seeking places to be active in the outdoors, and to engage in physical activity on their own. They are also suggesting face coverings as a voluntary public-health measure. New guidelines from the CDC about the safe use of parks and outdoor recreation facilities reinforce these recommendations. Here’s the latest on how to safely be outdoors in the midst of COVID-19.

Minuteman Commuter Bikeway | Courtesy Friends of Lexington Bikeways

Good Trail Etiquette Has Never Been More Essential Than It Is Right Now.

Posted 04/02/20 by Amy Kapp in Trail Use, Health and Wellness | Tagged with COVID-19, Safety and Law Enforcement, Trail Etiquette, Trail Moments, Trail Use Tips

Where trails are open—especially in areas where parks and other outdoor recreation facilities have closed—there has been an influx of new users and recognition that safe use and trail etiquette have never been so vital to the health of our nation.

2018 St. Petersburg Open Streets | Photo courtesy CityofStPete | CC BY-ND 2.0

Closing Streets to Create Space for Walking and Biking

Posted 03/27/20 by Brandi Horton in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with COVID-19, Demand for Trails, Encouraging Trail Use, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?

Trail use has surged. An analysis of 31 trail counters for the week of March 16–22 by RTC found a nationwide trail usage increase of nearly 200% from that same week in 2019. Largely, this is good news.

Four Mile Run in Arlington, VA | Photo by Joe LaCroix

Using Trails and Outdoor Spaces Safely in the Wake of COVID-19

Posted 03/24/20 by Amy Kapp in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with COVID-19, Trail Use Tips, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?

It’s vital that people find ways to engage in physical activity during this time; the benefits to our immune systems and our mental health are significant. But it is critical that we do so in ways that will keep us safe and minimize the spread of the pandemic. While trails continue to serve as significant sources of health and wellness for Americans, RTC is urging everyone to practice safe and responsible trail use and self-care at all times.

Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge | Photo by John Carrel

Nebraska and Iowa’s Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge

Posted 03/10/20 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Best Of, Federal, Great American Rail-Trail, Iowa, Nebraska, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month, TrailNation, Walkability and Bikeability

Floating sinuously over America’s longest waterway, the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge straddles the Missouri River between bustling Omaha—Nebraska’s largest city—and the quieter-feeling hometown of Council Bluffs, Iowa. The graceful structure, once hotly debated, played a transformational role in the riverfront’s redevelopment and continues to serve as a catalyst for upcoming projects.

Family riding along the Cross Alameda Trail through Jean Sweeney Park | Photo by Laura Cohen and Rolf Bell

City of Alameda Celebrates Opening of Newest Trail Connection

Posted 03/04/20 by Ben Kaufman, Mary Elise Conzelmann in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with BATC, California, Community Events, Demand for Trails, Local Organizing, TrailNation

On Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, hundreds of people came out to celebrate the opening of a new segment of the Cross Alameda Trail (CAT), a developing 4-mile rail-trail across the island city of Alameda just south of Oakland in California’s Bay Area. The newly minted 0.9-mile section of trail—which stretches east from Main Street to Constitution Way along Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway and Atlantic Avenue—is a vital new walking and biking connection for Alameda and the region. This nearly mile-long trail segment connects to an existing 0.6-mile segment of the CAT to form 1.5 miles of continuous rail-trail between Alameda Point and the new 25-acre Jean Sweeney Open Space Park.

Thermal Belt Rail Trail bridge over Highway 74 | Photo by Dana Bradley

North Carolina’s Thermal Belt Rail Trail

Posted 02/11/20 by Cindy Barks in America's Trails, Trail Use, Health and Wellness | Tagged with Best Of, Funding, Health and Active Living, Healthy Aging, Heritage and Restoration, History Happened Here, North Carolina, RTC in Action, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month

Today, the 13.58-mile Thermal Belt Rail Trail lies where the old Southern Railroad, and later the Thermal Belt Railway, once ran. The trail has been a boon for Rutherford County on a number of levels.