Trail Use Page 5

Illinois Wheelchair Bike Program Restores Health, Happiness One Ride at a Time

Posted 11/07/16 by Maureen Hannan in Health and Wellness, Trail Use | Tagged with Encouraging Trail Use, Health and Active Living, Healthy Aging, Illinois

Barbara Brown, founder of Healing Rides, with her mother on the Constitution Trail in Illinois | Photo courtesy Barbara Brown

On a summery Saturday morning, 23-year-old T.J. sets out to ride a stretch of trail in his hometown of Bloomington, Illinois. As he gathers speed on the canopied straightaways of the Constitution Trail, he shouts for joy and races the other riders. T.J. rides as a passenger in a wheelchair bike. He’s a participant in a community-based program called Healing Rides, which pairs disabled or elderly “guests” with trained volunteer “pedalers.”

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The trail's rocky tunnel is located on the northern end of the route | Photo by J. Foster Fanning courtesy Ferry County Rail Trail Partners

Washington's Ferry County Rail Trail

Posted 10/10/16 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Tourism , Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month, Washington

It sounds too good to be true. Northeast Washington’s Ferry County Rail Trail winds through a forested valley carved by the pristine Kettle River, passes through an otherworldly rock tunnel and crosses a 770-foot trestle that skims over a vast lake. Framed by mountains, the 25-mile trail is especially breathtaking this time of year, brightened with the golden hues of aspen, western larch and cottonwood. Every few miles, a quaint town welcomes visitors in a place so remote there’s not even a single stoplight in the whole county.

Iowa's Riverfront Trail as seen during an RTC Rail-Trail Mapping Trip| Photo by RTC/Suzanne Matyas

10 Stunning Photos from RTC’s Midwest Rail-Trail Mapping Trips

Posted 10/07/16 by Suzanne Matyas in Trail Use, America's Trails | Tagged with Best Of, Mapping and Technology, Trail Destinations

Every year, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy team is sent out of the office on a mission: to collect data for the next rail-trail guidebook. This year was great, and we wanted to share our top 10 photos and incredible experiences in the Midwest—our “#MappingMoments”—from this year with you!

Schuylkill Banks River Trail (part of the Circuit Trails network) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Photo by Laura Pedrick/AP Images

What Tops the Charts in Trail Use? Here Are Our 2016 Survey Results.

Posted 09/16/16 by Ben Carter in Trail Use | Tagged with Demand for Trails, Facts and FIgures

In August 2016, we asked our awesome members and supporters via our 2016 Trail Survey about their best (and least) trail use habits and received an overwhelming response with approximately 54,000 completed surveys. Here's what they said!

An equestrian trail parallels the Pine Creek Rail Trail between Ansonia and Tiadaghton | Photo by Linda Stager, author of the Pine Creek Rail Trail Guidebook

Pennsylvania’s Pine Creek Rail Trail

Posted 09/15/16 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Pennsylvania, Tourism , Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month

We’re going to let you in on a little secret: If you’re looking for a trail trip to take this fall, stop your Google searching; northern Pennsylvania’s Pine Creek Rail Trail offers the perfect outdoor destination for autumn (or any season, really). Stretching 62 miles through a pristine valley dubbed the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, the variety of trees here—sugar maple, red maple, ash, oak, white pine and hemlock—form an ever-changing kaleidoscope of landscapes. In this lush wilderness, travelers will often cross paths with deer or, much less frequently, black bears.

Eastside Trail, part of the Atlanta BeltLine | Photo by Jim Brown

The Results Are In from Our 2016 Share the Trail Poll!

Posted 09/01/16 by Suzanne Matyas in Trail Use | Tagged with How-to, Safety and Law Enforcement, Trail Etiquette, Trail Use Tips

As RTC wraps up a second summer of our Share the Trail campaign, we wanted to thank everybody who pledged to be unofficial trail ambassadors. Special thanks to those of you who participated in our Share the Trail polls on social media. We were excited to see the poll results, and we have shared them here with you!

Grand Teton Multi-use Pathway/Greater Yellowstone Trail, Wyoming | Photo by Camrin Dengel

Five Rail-Trails in America’s National Parks

Posted 08/11/16 by Suzanne Matyas in Trail Use, America's Trails | Tagged with Best Of, Ecology and Environment, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, Ohio, Tourism , Trail Destinations, Utah, Washington, Wyoming

Rail-trails travel through some of America’s most iconic places—including our national parks, which officially turn 100 years old this year (Aug. 25)! On the eve of the U.S. National Park Service centennial, we thought it was a great time to bring you this list of five national park rail-trails, which dot the country’s landscapes from the Great Lakes to Western Washington. So lace up your shoes—and go explore!

Image courtesy Virginia State Parks | CC by 2.0

Pokémon GO for Rail-Trails 101: Tips for Trail Users and Managers

Posted 08/10/16 by Ryan Cree in Trail Use, Health and Wellness | Tagged with Encouraging Trail Use, How-to, Mapping and Technology, Trail Use Tips

Pokémon GO is sweeping the nation—and getting people outdoors. For those who play the game, it’s a fantastic way to get out and enjoy your local trail! For trail managers and organizations, the game offers a lot of opportunity to get visitors out to your specific trail and even reach out to new trail users. Here are some quick and easy Pokémon GO tips for trail users and trail managers.

Ke Ala Hele Makalae offers expansive views of the Kauai coast | Photo by Kevin Clark

Hawaii's Ke Ala Hele Makalae

Posted 08/03/16 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Hawaii, Tourism , Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month

Kauai is picture perfect—literally. Hawaii’s “Garden Isle,” blanketed in emerald green rainforests and encircled with soft, sandy beaches has been featured in dozens of movies and TV shows. The dinosaurs of Jurassic Park, the monstrous beast of King Kong and the adventurous Indiana Jones have all roamed its mountainous terrain and mysterious jungles. Hugging the island’s Coconut Coast, the musical sounding Ke Ala Hele Makalae provides an easy way to experience a piece of this paradise in 7.3 miles of paved pathway along the eastern shoreline.

High Trestle Trail | Photo by David V. Johnson

Iowa's High Trestle Trail

Posted 07/14/16 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Iowa, Tourism , Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month

Like the entrance to an alien starship, the fantastical channel of blue lights along the signature bridge of central Iowa’s High Trestle Trail beckons curious travelers to explore. Wrapped in 43 twisting diamond-shaped steel ribs lined with LED lights, the bridge is meant to elicit the sensation of traveling down a mine shaft, a nod to the area’s coalmining history. Towering 130 feet above the Des Moines River, it is just as impressive in daylight, providing an ever-changing picture of the scenic river valley hung with an elaborate frame.

Statue of Neptune along the Virginia Beach Boardwalk | Photo by Scott Stark

Destination: Virginia Beach

Posted 07/11/16 by Scott Stark in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Biking, Featured Magazine Articles, Tourism , Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, Virginia

Experience the diverse sights and wonders of four trails around Virginia Beach—one of the state’s most popular destinations. Working together to help create a complete cultural experience, the Cape Henry Trail, Elizabeth River Trail, Norfolk Avenue Trail and Virginia Beach Boardwalk are also part of the proposed Beaches to Bluegrass Trail System, which could one day span all of southern Virginia.

Trail's End Monument in Sedalia, 35 miles east of the Katy Trail's western end in Clinton, celebrating Sedalia's history as the first "cow town" | Photo by Danielle Taylor

Destination Missouri: Katy Trail State Park

Posted 07/11/16 by Danielle Taylor in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Biking, Featured Magazine Articles, Missouri, Tourism , Trail Businesses, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations

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.The route bisects Missouri at its waistline, allowing trail users to glimpse a 100-foot-wide slice of the state and revealing some of the geographic variety, cultural diversity, historical significance and exceptional people therein.