Explore the best rated trails in Duncansville, PA. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Bells Gap Rail Trail and Lower Trail. With more than 26 trails covering 254 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.
This is more of a local commuter trail than a destination trail, but it's very nice nonetheless. This trail is just one small part of a large and growing network of off-street bicycle paths that make getting around the State College area by bicycle a relatively safe and pleasant experience. The trail connects the Penn State University campus (via the Penn State West Campus Bike Path) with the neighborhoods and commercial areas along North Atherton Street, Tudek Park, and the neighborhoods near Valley Vista Drive. Tudek is a large and very nice community park with its own small system of crushed-stone multi-use paths, picnic tables/shelters, sports fields, and other amenities.
The trail intersects with another bike path that runs parallel to nearly the whole length of Valley Vista Drive and Science Park Road which in turn connects to other bike paths serving a larger area around State College. The entire trail and connecting spur are paved with asphalt/concrete. The western end of the trail connects to a singletrack mountain biking trail that continues on through the Scotia Barrens (State Game Lands 176).
This is more of a local commuter trail than a destination trail, but it's very nice nonetheless. This trail is just one small part of a large and growing network of off-street bicycle paths that make getting around the State College area by bicycle a relatively safe and pleasant experience. The trail borders or passes though the Penn State University golf course for most of its length and connects the main part of the Penn State University campus with the west end of downtown State College and with several other bike paths that traverse a much larger area. The sections of the trail paralleling Atherton Street and West Park Avenue are asphalt and the sections paralleling Corl Street and West College Avenue are crushed stone.
Easy Ride on crushed stone. Trail is very flat from Clearfield to Curwensville. However, begins to climb uphill from Curwensville to Grampian. Several bridges crossing the Allegheny River and a few creeks. Most of this trail is through the woods and is shaded.
Not that hard of a trail not sure why people say it's not a good trail did 24.11 miles of it start to finish and then back to the start A+++ in my book
My wife and I started at the Muleshoe trailhead parking area. It is a pretty steep and rough climb to the trail. I tried to ride my MTN bike up but didn't make it. More my fault than the bike. My wife walked her bike up. Once on top the trial was wide and in fairly good shape. On some of the steeper grades the trail had washed out and there was a lot of lose limestone so if you have road tires be careful. We made it down to where the hiking trail and the bike trail meet up and it is all macamdem on this stretch. We turned around there and the grade up was not that bad at all. My wife stuck to the trail but I rode off to the sides with the MTN bike and that added some adventure to the climb back up. We didn't see any wild life but there was sign a bear had walked through some of the upper trail. I bought my wife an electric and she wants to go back up and try it again. Maybe we will see some wildlife then. I am replacing the road tires with trail tires though for a safer ride. If your in the area the trail is worth doing.
From end to end this is a quality rail trail. There is so much scenery and great history of mining in Pennsylvania along this trail. No matter how you break it up, you won't be disappointed.
We started in Clearfield. We drove past the parking lot at first and then found it. The first mile in was with traffic off to our right but when we entered the shade the trail veered left away from the road. It is an easy ride, with lots of scenic views of the river. We only had time to do the first 5 miles but we are looking forward to doing the last 5 and it appears that part of the trail is more remote.
I road the trail up and back. The trail connects on the western side and has parking on the Easter side. Very remote with some sites but not many bridges and no tunnels. Very shaded. Luckily I blew a tire with 1 Mile to go. There are no bike shops on the trail
Started in Vinton and biked to Ebensburg. The right time of year to spot Tiger Swallowtails, Monarchs and the great Spangled Frittary.
Positive is that the trail is paved which makes the riding easy. Downside is that for the most part it parallels a four lane highway, so the scenery consists of trucks and cars flying by at 60 mph. Not really to my liking.
This past Friday my buddy and I rode the main branch of the Ghost Town Trail from Black Lick to Ebensburg and back. We ended up with a 65.5 mile ride - a metric century plus. The trail was in excellent condition and most parts were GAP level quality. Saylor Park in Black Lick was easy to find and has a large parking lot. The trail climbs over 1100’ to Ebensburg but does so in spurts. You’ll have climbs then long stretches of essentially flat trail and then more climbs. The last section to Ebensburg is a constant climb. Most climbs are 1% but the climb from Vintondale to Nanty-Glo is 2%.
The trail has as many or possibly more benches than I’ve seen on any trail - plenty of places to rest. There are also several covered pavilions/ gazebos and several restroom facilities also. We stopped at the one at Vintondale on our return leg and it had an outdoor drinking fountain which was good for getting some water to wipe/cool down with on a hot day. There are several historical sites and markers along the way also.
In Ebensburg we found a nice shaded bench beside the ball field for lunch and afterwards rode to the end of the trail. You could see work on extending the trail was taking place and when we got a trail specific map later we saw that two different forks of the trail will extend eastward from Ebensburg. From the ball field it is an easy ride up the road to a Sheetz if you need supplies or to a local brewery - Lloyd Street Brewing.
Now for the elephant in the room - Black Lick Creek. As some have noted, the creek is severely impacted by acid mine drainage (AMD). At Black Lick it doesn’t look as bad since the stream gorge is narrower and the stream is flowing with some speed and has little cascades. Later on, especially between Dilltown and Vintondale (which is an essentially flat section) it is very orange and not scenic at all. After Vintondale the creek splits and the main branch of the Ghost Town Trail follows the South Branch of Blacklick Creek which is clear water and fairly scenic. Since we were riding in July with full leafage the stream was somewhat obscured and didn’t detract at all.
Riding in July was pretty warm. We started at 8:15AM and the temp was 73° but by afternoon it was 86°-87°. However, since Ebensburg is much higher we had a nice breeze there that was welcome.
All-in-all, the Ghost Town Trail was a great trail and is a nice route for a metric century if you don’t mind a bit of a climb.
Note that in the 1 star review by Trailbunny last Sept it appears they were confused on how to rank things because the review certainly does not sound like a 1 star. I believe they meant to choose 5 stars. I also did not have any issues like they mentioned at MM4 - in fact we had no problem at any point following the trail. At one point in Nanty-Glo you do ride through a parking lot but there are arrows indicating the path.
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