Rail-Trails Mid-Atlantic. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
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Staff Picks
Staff members at Rails-to-Trails Conservancy handpicked the following trails as their favorites, based on such merits as scenic value, unique attractions, bike-friendly communities, and excellent maintenance of the trails and their trailside amenities.
10 Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway Trail
19 Western Maryland Rail Trail
34 Virginia Creeper National Recreation Trail
35 Washington & Old Dominion Regional Park
38 Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park
48 Mon River Rail-Trail System: Deckers Creek Trail
Foreword
For those of you who have already experienced the sheer enjoyment and freedom of riding on a rail-trail, welcome back! You’ll find Rail-Trails: Mid-Atlantic to be a useful and fun guide to your favorite trails, as well as an introduction to pathways you have yet to travel.
For readers who are discovering for the first time the adventures possible on a rail-trail, thank you for joining the rail-trail movement. Since 1986, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has been the leading supporter and defender of these priceless public corridors. We are excited to bring you Rail-Trails: Mid-Atlantic, so you, too, can enjoy this region’s rail-trails, as well as other multiuse trails that provide the same high-quality experience that you expect from a rail-trail.
These hiking and biking trails are ideal ways to connect with your community, with nature, and with your friends and family.
I’ve found that trails have a way of bringing people together; as you’ll see from this book, you have opportunities in every state you visit to get on a great trail. Whether you’re looking for a place to exercise, explore, commute, or play, there is a trail in this book for you.
So I invite you to sit back, relax, pick a trail that piques your interest—and then get out, get active, and have some fun. I’ll be out on the trails too, so be sure to wave as you go by.
Happy trails,
Keith Laughlin, President
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to the following contributors and to all the trail managers we called on for assistance to ensure the maps, photographs, and trail descriptions are as accurate as possible:
Cindy Dickerson
Eli Griffen
Kathryn Harris
Jennifer Kaleba
Amy Kapp
Timothy Rosner
Laura Stark
Introduction
Of the more than 1,900 rail-trails across the United States, 147 thread through the Mid-Atlantic region of Delaware; Maryland; Virginia; Washington, D.C.; and West Virginia. These routes relate a two-part story: The first speaks to the early years of railroading, while the second showcases efforts by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, other groups, and their supporters to resurrect these unused railroad corridors as public-use trails. Rail-Trails: Mid-Atlantic highlights 57 of the region’s diverse trails, each serving as a window into the communities the railroad once served. Some trails delve into the particular history of an area, such as Virginia’s Hanging Rock Battlefield Trail, which tells of Civil War battles and the importance of the railroad to the troops. Other trails, such as Maryland’s Savage Mill Trail, tell a more docile tale. At its trailhead stands a renovated 1822 textile mill.
In this updated edition, we’ve also included some of our favorite multiuse trails. These trails were not previously railroad corridors, but many still have the look and feel of the rail-trails that you’ve come to love. The Mount Vernon Trail in Northern Virginia is a great example of a multiuse trail full of scenic, cultural, and historical charm that is a wonderful corridor to walk, run, skate, or bike.
With the most trails of the region, West Virginia also boasts some of the most rural and unique rail-trails. Not always the flat and even pathways you might expect from rail-trails, West Virginia’s trails offer a variety of backwoods treks, such as the Limerock and Green Mountain Trails of the Monongahela National Forest. Complementing these rustic pathways are the well-groomed yet still wild and wonderful Mountain State trails, such as the gorgeous and popular 77-mile Greenbrier River Trail or Deckers Creek Trail in Morgantown, which is part of the Mon River Rail-Trail System.
Next door, Virginia is also a keeper of rail-trail gems. No guide to the area would be complete without featuring the state’s southern