Explore the best rated trails in North East, PA, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Queen City Trail and Oil Creek State Park Trail . With more than 15 trails covering 130 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.
Rare 70 degree day mid-March provided a great opportunity to get out and enjoy the trail. Trail is free of any ice/snow and wet leaves. Paved surface for 6 miles from Meadville to Krider Road. Beans trailhead has a new layer of gravel so it won't be as much of a mud hole in the Spring!
February 2025. Parked at the Bailey Road trailhead and walked. The trail was icy as was the parking lot. Had to walk along side of the trail. Still nice to enjoy the trail in the Winter!
Trail is great for Winter useage! Snowshoeing/walking. We also saw XC ski tracks. We were on mile markers 9.5 thru 11. Trail surface under the 8" of snow is grass/dirt. Nice and flat. goes through wooded areas and follows the old canal.
Parked at mile 11.5 at the Conneaut Lake end of the trail, located behind the winery. A good snowfall had fallen a few days before our walk on The Ernst Nature Trail. Surface is dirt. A new shelter located at mile 11.25 of the trail. Trail follows old canal and runs through the game lands. A beautiful trail for a wintery walk in the snow!
A mild and sunny day provided a great opportunity to ride the trail and take in the colors of fall! Temps near 70 with brilliant blue skies. The bike path has been recently repaved and is as smooth as silk. The main road within the park has also been repaved. Both, much needed. Thank you State of PA! Beautiful fall colors. The entire park, including the trail, has about 10 feet of elevation. So that makes for very flat, and easy riding.
ride trail on Oct. 3, 2024. went to end point at Conneaut Lake. miles 7&8 rough with gravel. last 4 miles on old RR bed of cinders, but fairly smooth. plenty of shade and lots of wetlands to view. Take water to drink. last miles thru Pa Game Lands. round trip from Beans trail head is 22 miles
The Meadville Connector which is at mile 0, Beans Trailhead, is now paved. It runs behind the bowling alley, Hoss', and comes out at the plaza (under the Smock Bridge) and continues to Kerrtown. Is one mile in length from Beans trailhead. Follows French Creek. This section has several small wooden bridges.
Be warned: The trail, in spots, is entirely unmaintained aside from some lawn mowing. It's as if you are riding through a grass field. In other areas, the trail is entirely dirt and if it were wet / rained recently would be entirely unusible. If you are on a road bike or bike with more road focused tires, you may have difficulties.
We had gravel bikes or mountain bikes so the trails surface was not an issue and we did the entire trail from the south starting point up and back, with no issue and averaged around 10mph during our ride with minimal effort. We even extended about a 1/3 a mile beyond the end until we ran out of bikeable path.
The trail is a shared use trail and great for walkers/runners/horses.
We only saw a handful of people on a Saturday when we were out.
Ellicottville Brewing has a location along the trail in Happy Valley which is 6 miles from either end, right in the middle of the trail.
A great stop for some food or beverages if you want to break up your ride.
8/24/24 Arrived at trail head to discover the beginning is not well marked. Beginning of the trail is grass, crossed a field and then some ruts appeared. The trail is mowed and clear to the sides. Quickly arriving at a hard road it was an uphill of ruts and rocks. The trail ended at a hard road with no indication of the trail continuation. Speaking to a local we found traveling .9 mile to a stop sign and a right down a slope put us back on the trail, better described as a mountain bike trail. A farmer closed the trail section we traveled by highway. This could be a great trail with much attention to development.
I tried this trail out of Brocton and besides the poor marking of the trail (it is not continuous and requires some traversing on pavement to find the next entrance) it is just not well maintained for cyclists. This is an amazing hiking trail but just not great for gravel bikes or rigid bikes with wide tires. I would come back and do this on a hardtail. Honestly with how much you have to trudge through chunky gravel and grass an E bike would be the best choice. If you’re looking for a fun gravel ride up to Chautauqua, just ride the roads they’re much more enjoyable.
The entire length has been repaved! Rode it this morning, absolutely amazing!
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