Find the top rated birding trails in Colonial Park, 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.
I biked this trail eastward from RT54 to its eastern terminus at RT42 on 6/22/2019. This is NOT a flat trail as both Google and some other reviews describe. It is a roller coaster of a trail. There are places that I slowed down to 8MPH ascending the hills and then hit over 22MPH descending the hills. At approximately mile 4.1, I encountered the western edge of the McWilliams Reservoir and paralleled this for a while to its eastern edge. Near the eastern end of the trail, I encountered Kline's Reservoir. Absolutely gorgeous! If you are one that likes to have an easier return trip versus the outbound ride, then I suggest you start from RT54; the western end. I averaged 12.19 MPH on the outbound trip and averaged 12.87 MPH overall; i.e. I moved a lot faster on my eastbound return trip. The surface of the trail is NOT your typical crushed limestone but rather a very hard pressed stone & dirt trail. There were times that one was biking right next to the edge of the reservoirs. Worth the trip. If you don't have the time to do the entire trail but want to catch the awesome vistas, I suggest that you start at the eastern end @RT42 and travel westward about 3.69 miles to the western bank of the McWilliams Reservoir.
This is a work in progress that aims at facilitating getting around Gettysburg by bike. NOT a trail one would ride for fun. However, it's a good way to get to some of the fine bike riding ion the national military park roads.
Just walked the NLCRT on Sunday June 30th in beautiful weather. The Columbia to Bainbridge sections have been paved and landscaped for some time now and of course they are wonderful. We have been waiting for the last 2.9 miles from Bainbridge to Falmouth to be finished for a couple years and we are almost there. Two new bridges and two new trestles are in so technically the trail is complete from end to end. But...word to the wise...start at the Falmouth end unless you are walking in hiking shoes. The trail from North to South is in good shape for two miles of walking (the last five minutes on the grassy shoulder which is wide and flat. The fair amount of the 0.9 miles to Bainbridge is large, loose ballast stone that is miserable to walk on and impossible to run or bike, unless you have one of those four-inch wide tire bikes. The ballast was put down to fill in low spots, and is doing a great job. It will make a great base once the smaller stone is dumped and rolled in, and support the planned paving which our local paper says will be complete before summer's end. The new forest garden is only a five minute walk from the Falmouth end, and is beautiful. We are so close to having a finally paved and finished NLCRT! It will be a real gem when complete. The Marietta bypass section still needs some work but it is roughed out and quite passable on a hybrid or mountain bike. I had heard there were still some property acquisition issues last year, so not sure when it will be paved. Once we have our NLCRT train fully completed, we can start planning the connectors to the Conewago trail to the Northeast and the Enola Low Grade trail to the Southeast.
I rode the entire Torrey C. Brown Trail starting in New Freedom, PA and ending in Cockeysville, MD. The entire trail is in very good condition, is flat and offers plenty of shade to keep you cool. The Maryland portion of the trail is 19.7 miles, starting at New Freedom added another 1.5 miles to my ride.
I rode on a beautiful Sunday in early June; the trail gets busy especially as I got closer to Cockeysville but everyone was courteous and respectful. There are multiple trail heads with Montkton serving as a great mid-point as it offers a cafe, real bathrooms and a small museum. The scenery changes from fields to streams to verdant hills; the entire ride was captivating.
We parked at 8th St. Plenty of parking. We rode 24 miles,12 one way & 12 back.Nice trail,some inclines,not bad though..Paved in parts & crushed stone. Woods & residential,some road crossings.
Walked portions of this trail in the past. It has gotten longer.
Spent couple of hours riding End to End and back.
Started at the Millway crossing parking area. Good parking with PortaJohn. Millway and Rothsville Rd.
Ride into Ephrata is paved and lighted. Portions of the trail open in the evening. Some portions Dawn-Dusk. Warwick Township portion is mostly packed gravel - in good condition.
Lititz Bikeworks provides a Bike Rental kiosk at Warwick Township Facility.
It's a do-over. I'll be back.
My husband and I enjoyed the beautiful weather and rural landscape. Passed many friendly people along the way. Bathroom facilities at each end of the 9 mile Trail. Shaded by tree lined trail broken up with sunny open field areas along the way. Great places for a snack/meal either in Mifflinburg or Lewisburg. Also an Amish "serve yourself" stand midway to pick up some lemonade or a whoopie pie. A country treat.
We are very fortunate to have this great local RTT.
I did not give a 5 star rating because the restroom facilities in Lewisburg were in poor condition and the facilities in Mifflinburg were locked but replaced with a "port-a-potty".
We rode this trail starting at the small parking area along Valley Road. After finishing the short 2.2 mile out and back ride we continued over mostly very quiet neighborhood streets to the Landis Valley Farm and rode the Manheim Twp. Bikeway then another short road section to the Kissel Hill Commons Trail and finally a trail along the Landis Run Intermediate School and finally another short road section back to our car. The whole ride was about 8 miles. There are other short trails nearby, some named some you really need to look closely to find on the maps. The trails are mostly through parks or between well kept homes with a short wooded section and a nice open wetland. Fun exploring these short trails.
We parked at the south end of the park, just off Petersburg Road. There are indoor restrooms (very clean) near the parking area. We rode to the north end of the park then took mostly very quiet, neighborhood streets to the Brighton-Reidenbauch Park Trails about 1.5 miles away. There is a short section of busy roads (Koser Road and Buckwalter Road) but its less than 1/2 mile. The whole ride on both trails and the road sections, out and back was just 7.3 miles. There are several other short trails nearby and they're all worth a look.
We rode the three short sections of trail and the very quiet neighborhood streets that connected them late on a Wednesday morning. We saw more people walking dogs then we did cars on the street sections. We also rode to the nearby Manheim Township Community Park Trail about 1.5 miles away. There were two busy roads, Buchwalter Road and Koser Road, together they totaled less than 1/2 mile, the rest of the road section was very quiet neighborhood streets. These trails are just minutes (by car) to several other short trails that dot that area. Our total ride was just 7.3 miles. I can't wait to take some of my biking friends on these short but sweet trails.
This is a beautiful ride from Newville to Shippensburg! The trail is well maintained an offers scenic views of woodland and picturesque farmlands. We will definitely be back!
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