I did not see this for myself, rather, I emailed the trail organization. They say the sewer work that had some of the trail torn up last summer is complete and the trail surface has been restored to standard condition with crushed stone. I have yet to ride the northernmost part of this trail, but the part I have covered is very nice. I'm going to give it 5 stars now that the sewer work is out of the way.

My wife and I parked at the Old Mill parking area. Plenty of room and felt safe enough. The trail is mostly crushed stone with some old pavement. It seems very isolated and I liked that. As you should expect, it is uphill from Freeport. We managed to get to Sarver and discovered the construction work. The trail has been repaired but after a week of tropical storm Lee, it was very soft and since it was still raining, we turned around. The trip back was easy and fun. We did have to swerve around 1 nice black snake sunning itself.

Hopefully the next time we try this trail it will be sunny and dry.

I rode the trail from Freeport to just north of Winfield Road 8/5/2011. The parking area at the southernmost end in Freeport, under the Buffalo Street (PA128) bridge is closed due to construction. The second Freeport parking area, at Old Mill Road is open and in good condition. The trail is fine up to Winfield Road (Cabot). North of Winfield Road, there is sewer work adjacent to the trail. Heavy equipment is using the trail for access. The crushed stone surface is gone and what remains is rough dirt. There is no "Closed" sign, so one can proceed, with caution. I saw a few bike tracks. I think you need fat tires for this. I have 35mm tires and found I didn't want to continue beyond about 300 yards. After rain, this is going to be plenty muddy. The trail website mentions the work as being between Sarver and Cabot. What I saw was north of Cabot, while the Sarver - Cabot section was fine. I do not know when this work will be finished.

The final four miles from Bonniebrook Rd. to Butler will be under construction starting
September 14, 2009. Drains will be put in and a final crushed limestone surface will pave
your way to Butler City. Check www.butlerfreeporttrail.org for updates.

Me and my brother took this ride on Fathers day to remember our Father that isn't with us any more.We loved the trail and maybe we will take our own kids to ride with us it was fun and something new.

" Recently, we biked this trail. This was our first mountain biking trail ride. it was very enjoyable. We biked from the Cabot trailhead to the Butler end at the Summit township building. It was very senic, and peaceful. We got to meet other freindly riders. The Jones Rd. trail head was the nicest, but there were many other nice places to stop and rest. All in all it was a great trip!"

"I have been riding this trail for several yrs now. Starting at Sarver Fire Hall and ending at Herman, an 18 mile ride all together. Lots to view, such as farms, riding through a golf course, wooded areas and a nice creek to follow along side, lots of Spring wildflowers and an important birding area, where I have spotted lots of indigo buntings, turkey, warbles and such, and listen to my favorite summer bird the wood thrush. It is a pleasure spring, summer, fall & nice x-country skiing in winter. One of my favorite spots. If you wish you can start at Freeport for a much longer ride 32 mls, all together, up hill 16 mls. Take a picnic basket ..lots of benches and tables to stop and rest!"

"My review is about the southern most end of the trail. The trail has since been finished on the Freeport end. There are two new parking areas. One under Laneville bridge and one off of Old Mill Rd in Laneville.

The section of trail in Laneville is asphalt, while the rest of the trail which goes north to Monroe Road in Buffalo Twp., along big Buffalo Creek, is crushed limestone.

It's a beautiful trail. The woodlands are full of wildlife. The Buffalo Creek Valley, where the trail is located, is designated as an Important Bird Area by the Audubon Society.

The Freeport portion of the trail was resurfaced May 11th to repair damage resulting from Hurricane Ivan. No more ruts or potholes!

Round trip from Laneville to Monroe Road, Buffalo Twp. is approximately 8.5 miles.

It's a wonderful ride...come and enjoy!"

"This trail has more faces than Jeckyl and Hyde. In Freeport it starts out as rough-rolled railroad ballast (street bikes beware!), then becomes a rough asphalt access road for a water treatment plant for about a mile and a half, starting when it crosses under Rte 28's massive bridge. Then its single-track packed dirt for a couple of miles, then improved limestone for more miles. Then untrimmed single track through the weeds.

The trail presently ends at a township line at a ""Berlin Wall"" barrier erected by a golf course to prevent trail riders from crossing on the trail's right-of-way, which runs right smack through the middle of the golf course. They've also appropriated about 1/2 mile of trail for the use of their carts.

Total length: About 14 miles one-way from Freeport.

Beware - washouts abound this season. Wait until it's been dry for a couple of days before riding the length of the trail. Back in June one 30-foot washout area was so bad that it was impossible not to get ankle-deep in mud if you walked through it (and you didn't want to ride through it because of the gullies).

But all in all it's a pretty good trail when it's not too wet. It will be better when it extends into Butler, but golf courses are worse to deal with than irate trail neighbors (who usually will listen to reason).

Cheers!"

"We started our ride at Sarver and rode south, going a couple miles south of the water treatment plant. This southern most portion of the trail is not completed so we headed back north after a couple miles on the larger gravel.

We rode to the northern end of the trail. This trail has a steeper grade than normally seen on rail-trails. The section south of Sarver is as pretty as any trail I have ridden. My wife Cathy and I really enjoyed our day on this trail."

"My wife and I live in Florida and were vacationing in the Pittsburgh area this past week and based on other reviews of this trail and a local book ""Freewheeling Easy"" we decided to ride this trail.

We parked at the Sarver trailhead and headed south. It is a beautiful, slightly downhill ride along the creek. The spring flowers were a pleasure to see. I was only expecting to be able to ride for about three miles or so, but we were able to ride all the way to Freeport!

I'm sure glad that we had our mountain bikes with us because after about three miles of developed trail we came to a gravel road that led to a water recycling plant, continuing through the parking lot we rode on some larger gravel stones along the trail all the way into Freeport.

Returning to Sarver and after eating a lunch that we had brought with us we headed north. The ride started out with a lot of blooming wildflowers along the side of the trail and also along the creek down below. The farther north that we rode the more the trail opened up to pastures and farmland we even rode through a Golf Course. Delightful!

I was somewhat surprised by the golf course and lack of warning signs for it, though. We crossed right in front of a teeing area.

I had read somewhere that the barriers that had been placed along this trail were supposed to been removed and that was the case for about seven miles or so until we got to Summit Township. There we found the trail blocked by a large amount of brush and an old metal barrier. We easily climbed around this barrier and we were able to ride another mile or so before the trail just sort of disappeared.

All in all we had an enjoyable 33 mile ride. The only problem, other than the barrier in Summit Township, was the lack of any restroom facilities along the trail and no place for water or snacks. We only passed two stores along the way and they were both closed. Porta johns would be a nice addition and maybe they are available during the summer months. "

"This trail is very scenic, especially the southern portion that parallels Buffalo Creek. My brother, recently returned from many years of living and biking in California, was particularly impressed with the quality and scenery along this trail."

The southern sections of this trail are beautiful & I love walking them. There's a slight grade plus there's streams & woods all along the way....very scenic. I do agree though that restroom facilities of some kind are greatly needed especially if you want to walk or bike several miles.

"A great setting in the woods, along working farms and through small villages. Friendly folks riding, walking, jogging and horesback riding."

"This is one of the more unusual Rail Trails I've ridden on because of the varying terrain and trail surface. The trail has a mild grade uphill for most of it's length from Freeport towards Butler. The trail surface varies greatly along it's length from standard wide crushed limestone, to narrow singletrack.

I started at the Sarver trail head and rode South towards Freeport. The trail has a mild downhill grade in this direction, and the surface is the typical wide crushed limestone surface until the Monroe area. The trail follows a small stream along this area and is very scenic. After Monroe the trail turns into a paved access road for the water treatment plant under the Route 28 bridge. At the water treatment plant the trail is unfinished but very rideable with a hard packed dirt and gravel surface, similar to a forest service road. The trail just dead-ends in a neighborhood in Freeport at this end of it.

From Sarver towards Butler the trail has a mild uphill grade and is the standard wide limestone surface until Cabot. After Cabot the trail cuts through the middle of a farmer's field and is a very narrow singletrack strip of trail and dirt until near Marwood. The trail surface here is very poor compared to the standard Rail Trail being very narrow, and with some washouts and ruts along the center.

At Cabot there is a bar/resturant and the Pit Stop convenience store. North of Marwood the trail changes from wide trail to narrow one and varying degrees of surface. I rode up the unfinished section of trail, past the golf course up until where it dead ends in the woods just past a pond on the left and a farm field. This end of the unfinished section is just narrow limestone, dirt and cinders.

The area of the trail south of Cabot is the most picturesque and wooded, while the section North of Cabot is mostly semi-open farm land and woods. The closest trails in Pennsylvania I could compare it to would be the Clarion-Little Toby Creek on it's Southern end, and maybe the Houtzdale Line Trail on it's Northern end.

Despite the previous person's review the trail really isn't that much like the Youghiogheny River Trail because the stream it follows is much smaller, and the trail is much closer to it. Also, because of the widely varying trail surface there were several places above Cabot where I thought I'd already reached the end of the trail, but after looking at the map I realised I still hadn't reached the Northern end yet. "

"There's no port-a-johns or restrooms anywhere on this trail. What an inconvenience. I enjoy riding many miles. We went 7 miles one way and three miles the other. There were four parking areas but no outhouses at any of them. There are many benches along the trail. This was my second time on this trail. I was last there in the winter. The trail is very soggy in the winter. The trail is woodsy, along a river. It's very senic. It's similar to Ohiopyle without the people and restrooms. There's a grade on this trail. If you go back going downhill, it's a good ride. "

the area from butler to herman is passible but about one milr south to freeport is impassible due to a barricade adjacent to a golf course hope this problem is corrected soon so butler people can enjoy the beauty of this area the presidnt judge issued a ruling on july 3lst 2000 that all obstruction are to be removed along the 21 mile stretch this litigation has been going on for years time will pass summit twp by as the other three townships have promoted the trail and benefited from this effort please contact your summit twp supervisors that do not have a vested interest to accept this treasure for future generations thank you