Explore the best rated trails in Binghamton, NY. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail and South Hill Recreation Way. With more than 14 trails covering 127 miles you’re bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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The South Hill Recreation Way follows the southern rim of the Six Mile Creek gorge from the outskirts of southeast Ithaca to Burns Road, near the Ithaca Reservoir. The gravel path follows the former...
The multi-use Lackawanna River Heritage Trail (LRHT) follows Pennsylvania's Lackawanna River and, when complete, will be more than 70 miles. The trail begins at the confluence of the Lackawanna and...
Enjoy a smooth ride along the Catharine Valley Trail, a well-maintained multiuse pathway that provides a comfortable and shaded biking experience through Upstate New York. High points include entering...
The Vestal Rail Trail runs for nearly four miles through the town of Vestal along an abandoned right-of-way once used by the Delaware–Lackawana & Western Railroad. Today, the 12-foot-wide trail is...
The Iroquois Trail is scenic and remote, stretching about 2 miles through Tunkhannock, a gateway community to the Endless Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania. The rail-trail follows the route of...
There are two trails named the O&W: one in New York and this one in Pennsylvania. Although the trail stretches 32 miles (as shown on the map), only the first 8 miles of trail (from Simpson to...
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The Trolley Trail uses a former interurban line to link several communities north of Scranton. The trail comprises two disconnected sections that total 4.7 miles, although the nonprofit Countryside...
Update: Please also note that the trail head at Simpson is closed owing to gas pipe line digging and construction until the beginning of 2018. Thereafter, verify that the trail may actually be...
The East Ithaca Recreation Way on East Hill is primarily built upon the rail bed of the old Ithaca and Cortland Railroad, which later became part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The trail skirts the...
The Lackawanna Rail Trail traces a short stretch of the old Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad from Lowman to Elmira in southern New York. Much of it follows the meandering Chemung River, meaning...
The South Hill Recreation Way follows the southern rim of the Six Mile Creek gorge from the outskirts of southeast Ithaca to Burns Road, near the Ithaca Reservoir. The gravel path follows the former...
The multi-use Lackawanna River Heritage Trail (LRHT) follows Pennsylvania's Lackawanna River and, when complete, will be more than 70 miles. The trail begins at the confluence of the Lackawanna and...
Black Diamond Trail will one day stretch 15 miles to link four state parks in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Currently, 8 miles of the trail are open, which follow the Lehigh Valley Railroad...
The Trolley Trail uses a former interurban line to link several communities north of Scranton. The trail comprises two disconnected sections that total 4.7 miles, although the nonprofit Countryside...
There are two trails named the O&W: one in New York and this one in Pennsylvania. Although the trail stretches 32 miles (as shown on the map), only the first 8 miles of trail (from Simpson to...
The Ridgeway Trail skirts the banks of Willseyville Creek along the abandoned rail bed of the Delaware & Lackawanna Railroad and the former Lehigh Valley Railroad. From south Willseyville the trail...
The Vestal Rail Trail runs for nearly four miles through the town of Vestal along an abandoned right-of-way once used by the Delaware–Lackawana & Western Railroad. Today, the 12-foot-wide trail is...
The Jim Schug Trail offers a short, sweet excursion in New York's Finger Lakes region. The trail was known as the Dryden Lake Trail until it was renamed in 2002 in memory of the late town supervisor...
Enjoy a smooth ride along the Catharine Valley Trail, a well-maintained multiuse pathway that provides a comfortable and shaded biking experience through Upstate New York. High points include entering...
Update: Please also note that the trail head at Simpson is closed owing to gas pipe line digging and construction until the beginning of 2018. Thereafter, verify that the trail may actually be...
The Lackawanna Rail Trail traces a short stretch of the old Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad from Lowman to Elmira in southern New York. Much of it follows the meandering Chemung River, meaning...
The local riding club enjoyed this former rail line, which was purchased in 1944 for a dollar from the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, as a bridle trail for many years. It changed management...
The East Ithaca Recreation Way on East Hill is primarily built upon the rail bed of the old Ithaca and Cortland Railroad, which later became part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The trail skirts the...
The Iroquois Trail is scenic and remote, stretching about 2 miles through Tunkhannock, a gateway community to the Endless Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania. The rail-trail follows the route of...
The Ridgeway Trail skirts the banks of Willseyville Creek along the abandoned rail bed of the Delaware & Lackawanna Railroad and the former Lehigh Valley Railroad. From south Willseyville the trail...
Update: Please also note that the trail head at Simpson is closed owing to gas pipe line digging and construction until the beginning of 2018. Thereafter, verify that the trail may actually be...
There are two trails named the O&W: one in New York and this one in Pennsylvania. Although the trail stretches 32 miles (as shown on the map), only the first 8 miles of trail (from Simpson to...
The Jim Schug Trail offers a short, sweet excursion in New York's Finger Lakes region. The trail was known as the Dryden Lake Trail until it was renamed in 2002 in memory of the late town supervisor...
The South Hill Recreation Way follows the southern rim of the Six Mile Creek gorge from the outskirts of southeast Ithaca to Burns Road, near the Ithaca Reservoir. The gravel path follows the former...
The Lackawanna Rail Trail traces a short stretch of the old Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad from Lowman to Elmira in southern New York. Much of it follows the meandering Chemung River, meaning...
The Iroquois Trail is scenic and remote, stretching about 2 miles through Tunkhannock, a gateway community to the Endless Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania. The rail-trail follows the route of...
The local riding club enjoyed this former rail line, which was purchased in 1944 for a dollar from the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, as a bridle trail for many years. It changed management...
The Vestal Rail Trail runs for nearly four miles through the town of Vestal along an abandoned right-of-way once used by the Delaware–Lackawana & Western Railroad. Today, the 12-foot-wide trail is...
The Trolley Trail uses a former interurban line to link several communities north of Scranton. The trail comprises two disconnected sections that total 4.7 miles, although the nonprofit Countryside...
Enjoy a smooth ride along the Catharine Valley Trail, a well-maintained multiuse pathway that provides a comfortable and shaded biking experience through Upstate New York. High points include entering...
The multi-use Lackawanna River Heritage Trail (LRHT) follows Pennsylvania's Lackawanna River and, when complete, will be more than 70 miles. The trail begins at the confluence of the Lackawanna and...
The East Ithaca Recreation Way on East Hill is primarily built upon the rail bed of the old Ithaca and Cortland Railroad, which later became part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The trail skirts the...
Black Diamond Trail will one day stretch 15 miles to link four state parks in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Currently, 8 miles of the trail are open, which follow the Lehigh Valley Railroad...
It was fine to a certain point, with no signs I sort of just rode around until I decided I would most likely get lost since I didn’t take my phone
We parked at the Forest City Trailhead and rode 10 miles to the North. There is a nice parking lot in Forest City.
The 5 miles from Forest City to Uniondale is recently maintained with fine cinders. The next 5 miles was coarser gravel, so a little more difficult, but still well maintained. The grade was pretty gradual, so even though it was uphill, it was quite do-able. On the way back, the same gradual grade meant there wasn't much coasting, but it was a little easier.
The trail crosses a few roads, but cyclist never need to ride on the road.
To discourage ATVs, there are gates periodically. Bikes can get around the gates, but ATVs can't.
I hope to explore other sections of this trail in the coming months. I will definitely come back.
This is not a trail that is friendly to cycling. It is mostly an ATV trail. However, since the southern end runs so close to the D&H trail, you might want to give this a try. I was cycling the D&H and found the places where there were crossovers between the two trails. Inspecting the O&W, I found its roadbed to be vastly inferior compared to the (apparently recently upgraded) D&H. Since the O&W always stays east of the Lackawanna River, I figured it would have a bit of a different feel to the D&H- and it does. I would recommend doing what I did- unless you really want the exercise. I covered the O&W DOWN-hill from Forest City to Uniondale and covered the D&H 3 times (once down, twice up). The O&W is pleasant going downhill, but it was clear that the slippery cinder base would be a challenge going in the other direction.
I had started looking at the comments here a couple years ago. I decided to hold off until now to make the journey and risk finding a possibly very crummy trail. Since no one has commented in a while, here is an update. The southern end of the trail is open and in good shape up until a couple miles north of Uniondale. This portion is fine stone and (other than the constant incline), should make for good cycling for everyone. Heading north, you then start to encounter larger gravel that makes for a more challenging ride. The highest point is Ararat. There is a lot of work being done north of the highway crossing there. I saw a number of pieces of heavy equipment. Continuing north (going downhill now), much of the trail is slippery cinders. I continued till just west of Thompson before turning around. While I had been looking forward to the downhill return, the roughness of the trail means you can’t coast downhill- you just keep pedaling (again, until a couple miles or so north of Union Dale). Once you get to that point, you can then coast on back to your parking area.
Note that O&W and D&H trails run so close together at the southern end, that there are occasional crossovers. When inspecting the O&W trail, I saw that it was vastly inferior in roadbed quality. However, being the explorer that I am, I decided to cover the O&W to see just how different it might be (it stays entirely on the eastern side of the river, while the D&H crosses the river in multiple locations). Knowing that the D&H was not far away, I banked on the fact that I would not be required to ride UP-hill if I didn’t want to. So, indeed, I only went DOWN-hill on the O&W, covering the D&H 3 times (down once and up twice). I did this for the distance from Forest City until Carbondale. It is clear that the farther north you get on the O&W, the more it is simply an ATV trail and not at all comfortable for cycling.
I had looked at the map and decided another day’s journey might begin at the parking area shown on the map in Thompson. At that location is an old depot converted into an ice cream shop. But in that parking lot were large mounds of material and some heavy equipment. As it is clear they are continuing (sorely needed) work on the trail, I will be waiting a year or two to pick up my journey at the northern end of this trail. It is a very scenic trail and I enjoyed myself. It is good to know that the future looks promising for comfortable riding along the Lackawanna River.
We love biking this trail. For us biking 1/3 of the entire trail is more do-able. Some areas are shady and cooler. Great smooth surface to bike on. A few Port-a- potty’s along the trail. Highly recommend!
My wife and I road the trail on 8-31-19 and it was very nice. Perfect day for a 17 mile ride. The ride down is very nice and makes for a perfect day. Then we over to Liquid State brewery and that topped the day off just perfect. Chet and Julie
We parked at the Lowman lot. Rode to Elmira and back. Nice little trail.
The trail was perfect in late July 2019. A bit hard to find the beginning in Ithaca, but it's right behind (west of) the Ithaca Children's Garden. The route is a steady but gentle rise almost all the way to Taughannock Falls State Park, but of course that makes it sheer rolling pleasure on the way back. You can also enjoy a couple miles of extra trail, paved, along the Ithaca waterfront over to Stewart Park at the southeast corner of Cayuga Lake.
In late July 2019 the trail was in fine shape from Watkins Glen to Millport, which is as far as we went.
This trail is ideal for you and your horse becoming accustomed to the many sites and sounds on the trail. It is flat and wide enough for two horses and riders to travel side by side if desired. The footing is crushed rock. Expect to cross short roads and wood bridges and to encounter a variety of wildlife including humans on their bicycles, pushing strollers or just walking.
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