Rail Trails, Towpaths, and Other Great Trails Along Failed Transportation Routes

A tunnel along the Great Allegheny Passage rail trail. Some of the best trails run along failed transportation routes. Today you can bike or hike along abandoned canal towpaths, logging roads, railroads, or road roads. My favorites are the rail trails. They’re usually wide, smooth, and only as steep as the steepest grade a freight train could handle. I’m sure some mountain bikers and Tour de Francers think rail trails are bunny slopes for babies, but I love them. I also love the great transfer of property from exploitative, extractive, polluting industries to public lands. It’s like beating swords into ploughshares, only for recreation. Lots of parks have interpretive signs that show the history of the trails and the land around them. Each one tells a specific story, but the general message is: Logging and mining companies bought the land for a pittance, brought in workers who had little power because they were Black or recent immigrants, paid them and their children miserable wages…