Explore the best rated trails in Gadsden, AL. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Chief Ladiga Trail and Tennessee River Greenway. With more than 5 trails covering 104 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.
The Silver Comet Trail follows the bed of the old Seaboard Air Line. From 1947 to 1969, the shiny Silver Comet passenger train provided luxury service between New York and Birmingham. Today, three...
This is a rolling paved trail that follows along the shoreline of Guntersville Lake and is alongside Sunset Drive. Some of the hills are a little long, but there are plenty of flat areas as well. The...
In northeast Alabama, the 33-mile Chief Ladiga Trail is a regional playground that passes through welcoming towns and pastoral landscapes. Following a former CSX railroad corridor, the rail-trail is...
The Tennessee River Greenway is a short, but scenic, route in southern Huntsville with a forested area on one side and the river on the other. The trailhead at Ditto Landing offers a great place to...
A rugged trek through the North Georgia mountains, this 4.5-mile trail is ideally suited to hikers and mountain bikers. Despite its quiet, dense forest setting, the Simms Mountain Trail does pass...
This is a rolling paved trail that follows along the shoreline of Guntersville Lake and is alongside Sunset Drive. Some of the hills are a little long, but there are plenty of flat areas as well. The...
The Silver Comet Trail follows the bed of the old Seaboard Air Line. From 1947 to 1969, the shiny Silver Comet passenger train provided luxury service between New York and Birmingham. Today, three...
The Tennessee River Greenway is a short, but scenic, route in southern Huntsville with a forested area on one side and the river on the other. The trailhead at Ditto Landing offers a great place to...
In northeast Alabama, the 33-mile Chief Ladiga Trail is a regional playground that passes through welcoming towns and pastoral landscapes. Following a former CSX railroad corridor, the rail-trail is...
The Silver Comet Trail follows the bed of the old Seaboard Air Line. From 1947 to 1969, the shiny Silver Comet passenger train provided luxury service between New York and Birmingham. Today, three...
This is a rolling paved trail that follows along the shoreline of Guntersville Lake and is alongside Sunset Drive. Some of the hills are a little long, but there are plenty of flat areas as well. The...
A rugged trek through the North Georgia mountains, this 4.5-mile trail is ideally suited to hikers and mountain bikers. Despite its quiet, dense forest setting, the Simms Mountain Trail does pass...
In northeast Alabama, the 33-mile Chief Ladiga Trail is a regional playground that passes through welcoming towns and pastoral landscapes. Following a former CSX railroad corridor, the rail-trail is...
The Tennessee River Greenway is a short, but scenic, route in southern Huntsville with a forested area on one side and the river on the other. The trailhead at Ditto Landing offers a great place to...
Beautiful trail, just not maintained from Piedmont's area of responsibility and Cleburne county's area of responsibility. Safe to use at lower speeds on road bikes, or best if mountain bikes. Sever bumps from roots, will toss you from the cycle. Large cracks in Cleburne county that tires on road bikes can get caught in. Be safe, ride slow, be observant. Still a great ride.
Rode 40 miles from Piedmont back toward Jacksonville , then from the state line to Cedartown, GA. Love this trail had lunch in Piedmont at Shells downtown, wow!!!! Highly recommend. Only open Wednesday thru Saturday
On our 50th wedding anniversary trip from Michigan to Gulf Shores we stopped at Piedmont and rode the Chief Ladiga trail to the start of the Silver Comet. Beautiful sunny day and quite warm. The trail is definitely a slight easy uphill grade going east. The lack of any restroom facilities at the junction of Chief Ladiga and the Silver Comet trails was very disappointing as was the lack of places to stop and see the beauty that surrounds. There’s some rough spots caused by roots but not so bad as to cause a problem.
As part of a local heritage festival (Welshfest mid March annually) we checked out fest, music, tearoom, vendors, and biked from Rockmart to Coots Lake and back. Quick 10 miles RT and scenic. Loved the babbling creek, slate yards, craggy walls, tunnels, lake and caves. Cool stretch of trail from the best trail town on the route. Trailhead is on town square which offers South Marble coffee shop, Solis sandwich shop, Spice Street Cafe, cupcakery, museums, shops, a Slate House, green space, park, and weekly farmers market. Heard an airbnb is brewing. Meanwhile camping & mini cabins available at the Rock campground.
We biked the Chief Ladiga trail from the Anniston Trailhead to Jacksonville State University baseball facility to watch a baseball game (approx. 8 miles total). The trail was well maintained. Passed a few people at the beginning in Anniston with the middle of the trail pretty much to ourselves. Once we got close to the University, biking and foot traffic picked up but was very manageable. We had an excellent adventure on our first Trail biking trip and plan on riding more of this trail in the future.
A great bike trail. The scenery is unbelievable.Lots of wildlife. Alabama should be very proud of this bike trail.
Chief Ladiga Trail, Nov 2018, *Excellent*
I recently bicycled from Dallas, Ga, to Anniston, Ala. An excellent ride which I highly recommend, that could easily be broken into sections for a family outing or weekend 'de-stressor'. Thank you to those responsible for the development and maintenance of this path. Great job!
Comments;
Trail surface conditions; excellent. The path is cement in Georgia and asphalt in Alabama for the entire length. It is well drained, smooth, wide, and in generally excellent repair. A few areas tree roots have encroached and damaged the asphalt path, but this is not currently an issue.
Signage & markers; very good over all. Markers are located every mile, however a recommended improvement would be to add distance values to cities, towns, trailheads, etc. As for signage there is very little. Interpretive plaques, historical markers, place names, availability and direction of restroom\food\lodging\police\medical signs, etc. could be added at appropriate sites.
Trail maintenance; very good to excellent. The trail right of way is clear and wide, free of encroaching brush and bordered by well kept grass. Some vistas could be improved by clearing underbrush which would allow viewing of surrounding area. Especially when approaching some road crossings is this true. I noticed virtually no litter. Trestles and bridges, while currently usable and safe, are showing typical wear and age. Hopefully a schedule of maintenance exists for these.
Amenities; average. While benches and rest stops are conveniently located and not too far apart, I think toilets or port-a-potties are needed trailside at appropriate locations.
Great job to those who created this trail!
I recently bicycled from Dallas, Ga, to Anniston, Ala. An excellent ride which I highly recommend, that could easily be broken into sections for a family outing or weekend 'de-stressor'. Thank you to those responsible for the development and maintenance of this path. Great job!
Comments;
Trail surface conditions; excellent. The path is cement in Georgia and asphalt in Alabama for the entire length. It is well drained, smooth, wide, and in excellent repair.
Signage & markers; very good over all. Markers are located every mile, however a recommended improvement would be to add distance values to\from cities, towns, trailheads as the existing markers only provide overall distance in miles, kilometers, and elevation. As for signage there is very little. Interpretive plaques, historical markers, place names, availability and direction of restroom\food\lodging\police\medical signs, etc. could be added at appropriate sites.
Trail maintenance; very good to excellent. The trail right of way is clear and wide, free of encroaching brush and bordered by well kept grass. Some vistas could be improved by clearing underbrush which would allow viewing of surrounding area. Especially when approaching some road crossings is this true. I noticed virtually no litter. Trestles and bridges, while currently usable and safe, are showing typical wear and age. Hopefully a schedule of maintenance exists for these.
Amenities; average. While benches and rest stops are conveniently located and not too far apart, I think toilets or port-a-potties are needed trailside at appropriate locations.
Great job to those who created this trail!
A friend and I began our walk/hike at sunrise at the AL/GA state line. With 33 miles ahead of us an early start was necessary to allow enough time (10-11 hrs) to finish the trail before sunset that evening. The first several hours of the walk gave way to a landscape of beautiful autumn colors, bridges, and streams. Duggar Mtn also provided a beautiful backdrop for surrounding pastures, forests, and farmlands. As we continued on the path through the countryside the scenery began to change as the trail lead us through the small town of Piedmont where we were able to rest for a short while at the Eubanks Welcome Center. For the next several miles we continued to enjoy the beauty of the trail. Entering Jacksonville the trail lead us through the campus of Jacksonville State University and near a old train depot. With the sun beginning to set we finally made our way to the trail end in Weaver where friends and family greeted us with a celebratory bottle of champagne to commemorate a successful adventure.
This is the main trail I go to. I wish there were signs for the Buddy System for safety along with wearing a bicycle helmet. I wrote a book about this trail after walking the whole trail in 2004 with friends. The first day I went alone and that convinced me to find friends. I love this trail.
Started at the Chief Ladiga trailhead at Michael Tucker Park in Weaver / Anniston. As someone else mentioned, plenty of parking and clean, open bathroom facilities. Every bit of this trail is well marked and very well maintained. The buckles or bumps in the trail were marked with white paint.
Took the recumbent trike since this was a paved trail. And, while I wasn't planning to ride all the way to the AL/GA border and the link with the Silver Comet, the trail, weather conditions, mix of shade and sun, I found myself just going... and going... One of the other bikers at the start told me it was a flat ride (relatively), he wasn't kidding. All the elevation changes are gradual, long sight lines, no blind curves, so made for as easy or fast as you like.
Trail was never crowded, bikes, a few hikers/walkers and a single skateboarder (near the college in Jacksonville). Saw flock of wild turkeys, some squirrels and one rabbit. Plenty of birds, dragonflies and butterflies
I hadn't planned on the full out and back, but with Piedmont right in the middle of the out and the back, was able to restock water as needed. Lunch along the trail was as peaceful as could be.
Anyone of any ability could ride as much or as little of this trail as they like. Multiple places along the trail to park, all the road crossings are clearly marked and only one listed as "caution". Plenty of shade, especially in morning or late afternoon. All the bridges are in excellent shape.
Quite a gem.
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