Menu
Blog featuring travel tips, packing guides, videos and photography from around the world.
The Great American Rail Trail will stretch 3,700 miles, from Washington, D.C., to the Pacific Ocean.
Trails can take us to some of the most beautiful places on Earth, like a lush Hawaiian bay or an alpine lake surrounded by snow-capped peaks. But trails are about more than just giving people access to almost untouched parts of the world. They are also about making sure people can get from Point A to Point B safely.
This is what the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, an organisation that supports trails, wants to do. Their goal is to “connect the country through trails.”They work to make abandoned and overgrown corridors and railways safe places for people to walk, bike, and run, including a few routes that can be used by people in wheelchairs (like the Little Miami Scenic Trail in Ohio).
But the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s crown jewel is the Great American Rail-Trail, a 3,700-mile multi-use trail that will connect Washington, D.C., to Washington State. With the coast-to-coast project, more than 145 existing rail trails, greenways, and other multi-use paths will be joined together into one long trail. People can ride, run, or walk across 12 states and the District of Columbia on a trail that was made for long-distance travel. They can do just one or two segments, or they can do the whole cross-country route.
The Great American Rail-Trail website says, “Imagine the unique experience of exploring America’s heritage by trail: its potential, its beauty and bounty, its people and places.” It also says that the trail will be “safe, seamless, and scenic.”
By the end of 2022, the project was more than half done, and work is still going on. Here’s what you need to know about the Great American Rail Trail, including what to expect, when it should be finished, and which parts are already becoming popular.
The route of the Great American Rail Trail
On its ambitious coast-to-coast journey, the 3,700-mile route will cross the northern half of the U.S., passing through 12 states and the District of Columbia. The trail can be explored in either direction, but for simplicity’s sake, we’ll focus on the east-to-west route, which starts at the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and goes west through the National Mall on Maryland’s Capital Crescent Trail.
From Washington, D.C., the route goes through Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio before cutting through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska. The route then goes through the West, with trails connecting Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and finally Washington State. The Olympic Discovery Trail, which is still under construction, will be the final section of the Great American Rail-Trail.This trail goes through the Olympic Peninsula and ends at the Pacific Ocean.
What You Can Expect on the Great American Rail Trail
When completed, the Great American Rail-Trail will be completely separated from vehicle traffic and will not permit motorised travel.The trail’s surface changes, but the whole thing is made so that walkers and bikers can use it. The purpose of the route is to give bikers, walkers, and runners a quiet and safe place to explore the U.S., whether they want to see a different part of their own state or a state on the other side of the country.
There are already hotels, campgrounds, and a group of bike enthusiasts called Warm Showers who open their homes to trail users who need a place to stay in many states and trail segments. Even though the route can be done in one long trip, most people will enjoy the rail trail in smaller chunks. “The trail will directly serve nearly 50 million people within 50 miles of the route,” says the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.
Some of the Great American Rail Trail’s parts
The start and end of the Great American Rail Trail are both interesting, even though they couldn’t be more different. The finished Capital Crescent Trail, which is also called the Georgetown Branch Trail, starts at the U.S. Capitol and goes through the National Mall before going along the edge of the Potomac River. From there, the route gets more quiet and surrounded by trees as it heads toward the Maryland suburbs.
In Ohio, you won’t want to miss the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail, which connects cities like Cleveland and Akron to the beautiful Cuyahoga Valley National Park. In Iowa, the beautiful Cedar Valley Nature Trail, which was one of the state’s first converted rail trails, is a great place to see wildflowers or the American Goldfinch, the state bird.
As the Great American Rail-Trail goes through the border between Iowa and Nebraska, travellers will get to cross the Missouri River on the famous Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, a 3,000-foot cable-suspension bridge. As the trail goes deeper into Nebraska, it meets the Cowboy Recreation and Nature Trail, which is the longest and, some would say, most famous rail trail in the country.
The Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, which is in the Rail-Trail Hall of Fame, is one of the most beautiful parts of Idaho. It crosses into Washington, which is the last stop on the Great American Rail Trail.
The trail ends with a bang, crossing into the Seattle area. From there, the growing Olympic Discovery Trail heads toward the Pacific Ocean.
How long will it take to finish the Great American Rail Trail?
About half of the Great American Rail Trail is done. Trail-building teams in each state are working to connect already-built trails so that Washington, D.C., and Washington State can be linked by a single, continuous trail.
Viewing the whole cross-country route gives you a full list of which parts are done and which ones are planned or in the early stages of planning.
The Great American Rail-Trail is supposed to be finished “in the next few decades,” according to their website. However, that shouldn’t stop you from going out and exploring the many finished sections in each state.
© 2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Copyright © Defoes Lifestyle All rights reserved