Find the top rated birding trails in Altoona, whether you're looking for an easy short birding trail or a long birding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a birding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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I would ride this trail again! My husband & I ride rail trails all around PA & as far as we can drive from our home in Philadelphia. This is one of the nicest trails. In addition to the wonderful history of 19th century mining, the trail is well maintained with clean & frequent bathrooms, benches & picnic shelters. Yes, there is a bit of a hill between Vintondale & Nanty Glo, but that is part of the fun. I want to give a thank you to Cambria & Indiana counties for their great work in maintaining this trail.
My wife and I rode the entire Lower Trail out and back on 11 June 2019, and had a wonderful time. We drove out from Camp Hill PA in the morning and stopped for an "MTO" sandwich at the Sheetz in Huntington PA, then parked at the Alfarata (north) end parking lot. It's a beautiful trail that has been on our bucket list for awhile. Saw some wildlife (snakes, turtles, etc), but lived to tell the tale. We highly recommend this trail!
The trail is nice from Houtzdale west. We only road to mile marker 9. There are sections of the trail that are all grass, so you'll probably want a mountain bike. The trail east of Houtzdale is all grass and muddy in spots, so be prepared. The Bilo market is no longer in Houtzdale; it appears to be replaced by a Family Dollar. There's a large parking lot, so you can park there and take one of the streets about a block north to find the trail.
Not only is it beautiful, the people I’ve interacted with are courteous to each other. There is lots of shade making it ideal for very hot days. It’s very flat making it great for people of all ages and abilities.
Always looking for a place to take a break and stretch my legs on a long road trip. This trail is the perfect place to do that. Exactly half way between Breezewood and Bedford. Easy hop off the pike and then take Rt 30 which parallels the pike. Trail is only about 2.5 miles north of 30.
The Bedford County folks have built a beautiful trail. The scenery is a tale of two trails. The south end is wooded and passes through many rock cuts. The north end after the bridge follows the river and is open county and even uses a gravel road for about 1.5 miles.
The only loose gravel that I encountered was at about MP 4.5 north of the bridge. Luckily it was only about 30’ long.
Where the trail joins Cooper Sawmill road at the south end I was riding on 1/2” gravel. Said to myself can’t bounce on this for too long. Luckily, it was gone after only a couple hundred feet. Road was hard-packed with only scattered potholes filled with the 1/2” gravel. Might get dusty during a dry spell. Only encountered 3 cars and they were moving slowly.
Trail seemed pretty flat except for about MP 5 to MP 2. Heading south the uphill grade started at about MP 5. Probably only about 3% but very noticeable and the gravel surface makes it tougher. After about a mile I was thinking this won’t be fun until the end. Luckily at about MP 2 the grade reduced and it wasn’t so bad to the end.
Saw lots of kayaks along the river, so might be an easy pedal-n-paddle trip in the future. Looks like a pretty easy takeout in Riddlesburg. Didn’t see an easy put-in real close to the bridge in Cypher, but might be one down the road a little ways.
Great place to enjoy some pretty scenery and stretch the legs before getting back on the Turnpike for my trip from OH to the MD shore. If you just want a short walk, about 1 mile north of Tatesville there was a nice bench overlooking a pond (see photo). Enjoy. Thanks Bedford County and Broad Top Twp for a beautiful trail.....Bikin-Mike 5/2019
p.s. Abandoned Turnpike is another awesome ride in the Breezewood area. It’s only about 1/2 a mile from the Turnpike exit.
Having seen the reviews and the dates they were submitted I am glad to say that work has been done to upgrade the trail in the summer of 2018. A group of Conservation Corps workers worked on parts of the trail and local
mountain bikers also continue to do work. Haven't hiked the whole trail but a lot of progress was made. Will update when I hike the complete trail.
We spent a week riding 6 different trails in PA (Alleghany River Trail, Oil Creek State Park Trail, Presque Isle State Park, Kinzua Trail, Pine Creek, and Lower Trail). We rode the GAP trail last October. Because of my fear of snakes, we do a fall ride, hoping the snakes have all gone to their dens! My favorite PA trail is the GAP. My second favorite is Lower. I found Pine Creek well maintained and beautiful, but a bit remote (for me) and saw snake tracks on the path. We rode Lower (33 miles) the next day and this was my favorite of the 6 this year. Path is well maintained and beautiful(rocks, trees, and stream!). You do hear rode noise during small portion of trail, but I didn't mind it at all. We parked at Flowing Spring Station by Canoe Creek State Park. They are working on connecting the path to Canoe Creek. As a side note, we stayed at Reynolds Mansion (loved it!) the night before and got a massage by Lisa at Cloud 9. It was an amazing way to finish our bike week! It was the best massage we have gotten and such a treat for our bike muscles!
I have ridden this trail in summer and fall, looking forward to a winter ride as well. I've ridden from Ebensburg to Blacklick and back and vise versa. The river and sights around the trail are amazing, lots of great pic opportunities and it is super well maintained. If you haven't been on it yet you definitely should take a ride/walk/run :)
I had the morning open so I found this trail on Rails to trails.org. It had great ratings and I agree and give it 5 stars.
Path was wide and well maintained.
View was great with Juniata river flowing on one side and often large rock formations on the opposite side.
Highly recommend this trail if you have a few hours.
Today Aug 23, 2018 we biked the trail from Clearfield to Curwensville. Our first problem was not finding the trail head. The route is unclearly marked. Thanks to one of Clearfield ' s police officers who helped us locate the trail head. The other thing is the trail needs the brush and weeds cut back. Over all it's a nice trail. Just need a bit of upkeep.
We biked this trail early July. It was not flooded. The nearby Conemaugh dam is maintained by the US Army Corps of Engineers and they have a Facebook page with the daily water level. You can also call them.
We parked at Conemaugh Dam where there is a nice visitors center, restrooms and picnic areas. West Penn Trail goes right through the parking lot.
We biked through Tunnelview Historical site and pushed our bikes through and across Bow Ridge. We passed the two Bow Tunnels (closed and even plugged). Biking on the trail with our road bikes was quite a challenge since the trail was more like a Mountain Bike trail. Then again, you are crossing over the mountain.
Once on the other side, we walked our bikes some more descending to the other side of the Bow tunnels. The first bridge at Livermore was a few feet above the water.
We biked from there to Blairsville and back crossing a few more bridges over the Conemaugh River. That section of the trail is nearly flat and dirt/crushed limestone. There are historical signs along the trail.
If you are looking for a nice leisurely trail this is not the trail! If you are looking for a good workout, this trail is for you.
From Conemaugh Dam it's 2 miles over the hills and through the woods to the railroad grade at the first bridge in the former town of Livermore. From there it's about 4 miles to Blairsville.
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