Best Of Page 23

Pere Marquette Rail-Trail | Photo courtesy Isabella County Parks Staff

Michigan’s Pere Marquette Rail-Trail

Posted 10/01/09 by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in America's Trails | Tagged with Best Of, Hall of Fame, Michigan, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month

Few pathways take more pride in upkeep and user experience than the 30-mile Pere Marquette Rail-Trail of Mid-Michigan, which runs from Midland to Clare. There's no pea under the mattress on this evenly paved trail, and visitors are always quick to point out what a pleasant ride the Pere Marquette provides.

Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park | Photo by Scott Stark

Virginia's Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park

Posted 12/01/08 by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in America's Trails | Tagged with Best Of, Hall of Fame, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month, Virginia

You'll find the eastern trailhead of the 44.8-mile Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Railroad Regional Park in Arlington, smack in the middle of northern Virginia's vibrant scene and only a few miles from downtown D.C.

Elroy-Sparta State Trail | Photo by Eric Reischl Photography

Wisconsin's Elroy-Sparta State Trail

Posted 09/01/08 by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in America's Trails | Tagged with Best Of, Hall of Fame, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month, Wisconsin

Much is memorable about Wisconsin's 32-mile Elroy-Sparta State Trail, but visitors often leave especially chirpy about the pathway's three tunnels—and particularly the spontaneous chorus of singing and whistling that echoes through them on busy days.

Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail | Photo by Eli Griffen

Florida's Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail

Posted 10/01/07 by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in America's Trails | Tagged with Best Of, Florida, Hall of Fame, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month

Great rail-trails very seldom sit still. They branch out; they bridge; they knit together communities. They turn pathways into parks, commutes into convenience, stress into safety, exercise into recreation. And few rail-trails have worked harder to inspire healthy activity than Florida's 34-mile Pinellas Trail, built along the old CSX Railroad right-of-way from Tarpon Springs south to St. Petersburg—where average winter temperatures in the 70s, tidal waterways and the salt-sticky smell of ocean have made the greenway one of the most trafficked in the country.

Great Allegheny Passage | Photo by Blase Ur

Pennsylvania and Maryland's Great Allegheny Passage

Posted 07/01/07 by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in America's Trails | Tagged with Best Of, Hall of Fame, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month

Imagine a continuous rail-trail 150 miles long where annually more than half a million visitors hike, bike, ride horseback, ski or fish. Imagine that trail in the making for more than two decades, growing 20 miles one year, three miles the next, a mere mile the following year, 13.5 the next—and so on. Piecemeal—the work of seven different trail-building organizations in two states.