A new 4,000 mile trail has just opened that will give bike riders the opportunity to experience the beauty of the United States like never before.
The Great American Rail-Trail is a 4,000 mile path that will connect Washington D.C. and Washington state, according to the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, who just announced the initiative. To make this trail, the group will utilize extensive pre-existing rail trail networks through 12 states and make an east-west route on trails that follow old railroad beds.
Though there are already various trails like this one around the U.S., this bike trail will be special because it keeps bicyclists out of traffic, which makes it safer. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has described this as “the single greatest trails project in the history of the United States,” and they released the following map to show off how the trail will look.
Those traveling from east to west on the trail will begin on Washington, D.C.’s Capital Crescent Trail before riding through Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. They will then end up on the Panhandle Trail through Pennsylvania and West Virginia and connect to the Ohio and Erie Trail before moving on to Indian’s Cardinal Greenway and Illinois’ Hennepin Canal Parkway.
Bicyclists will cross the state of Iowa on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail and the plains using the Nebraska’s Cowboy Trail. After using the Casper Rail Trail to cut through Wyoming, the cyclists will get on the Headwaters Trail system in Montana and ride The Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes through Idaho’s panhandle. The final step is crossing Washington’s Cascade Mountains on the rail-trail network there, with the trail ending just 35 miles from Seattle.
Over the past 18 months, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has been talking with state agencies and local partner organizations to come up with ways to best design the trail. We can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s completed!
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.