Stretching nearly 7 miles from Bachman Street in Hellertown south through the picturesque Saucon Valley to East Station Ave. in Coopersburg, the Saucon Rail Trail could easily be considered the Jewel of Eastern PA when it comes to multi-use greenways.
The trail is built along the route of the former North Penn RR, which once hauled iron, steel and coal from the mines of Northeastern PA and mills of the Allentown-Bethlehem metropolitan area south to Philadelphia. The line also doubled as a SEPTA commuter line until abandonment in 1984. The RR itself may be long gone, but numerous vestiges, including old telegraph poles and signal towers, one of which has been refurbished, rock cuts and several bridges that have since been repurposed for trail use, attest to the line's original purpose. The fact that the crushed stone trail is wide enough to easily accommodate two or more cyclists or hikers passing each other simultaneously is made possible by the fact that the line was double tracked for most of its length.
Other highlights along the trail include historical stone buildings and homes that are visible along the northern segment of the trail in Hellertown and Lower Saucon Township, palatial mansions of more recent vintage in Upper Saucon Township, quaint barns north of Coopersburg and the Hellertown wetlands.
The trail also passes several parks on its route, including Water Street and Grist Mill parks in Hellertown, Upper Saucon Township Community Park, located just west of the campus of DeSales University and South Lehigh Living Memorial Park in Coopersburg. In addition to providing opportunities for the kids to play or families to eat picnic lunches, these parks also provide convenient points to access the trail and feature their own, internal trail networks.
In addition to being a great, stand alone trail, the Saucon Rail Trail is also envisioned to become a vital link in an intercity greenway that will eventually connect the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton-Phillipsburg conurbation with the Philly metropolitan area. The Upper Bucks Rail Trail now extends from the southern terminus in Coopersburg south to Veterans Park outside Quakertown, and there are also plans to extend the trail north to Saucon Park in Bethlehem, where it will link to the South Bethlehem Greenway.

A hidden gem in Queens. The actual Vanderbilt section might only be 3 miles but you can bike from Alley Pond Park near the tennis bubble all the way to Citifield in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. That’s more than 8 miles of biking only crossing 4 or 5 streets. All of it is through or alongside parks where cars cannot run you over. Great, underutilized trail!!!

Difficult to access. Water prevented completion. Much of the trail was flooded.

Smooth trails all around. Mostly shaded area. Highly recommend any skaters to trail skate here.

We have been riding this trail for about the past 10 years. Our first time out, we started out at the Hialeah trailhead. Will not do that again. Only for the younger, more adventurous mountain biker, not older geezers like my buddy and myself. Now, we start at the trailhead near Bushkill. We bike out 12 to 15 miles and come back. Nice views of the Delaware. Trail is pretty well-maintained. No skinny tires recommended for this trail. Also not recommended for riders looking for a "smooth" ride.

This is not really a one long trail but a series of segmented trails. While the beginning of each segment is marked with an "OCA" post, at the end of most segments there is no indication about where to find the next thread of the trail. Often you have to go through busy suburban streets to make the connection, some of which are quite dangerous. Other reviews recommended using GPS on your phone, but Google maps only indicates where the various trail segments are and it is difficult to find out how they connect. My friend & I attempted to do the northern half of the trail from Tarrytown up to the Old Croton reservoir. When you get to the Clearview School in Scarborough, you have to ride on a very busy Rt. 9, which has no shoulder, until you can take up the trail on Scarborough Rd. When we got to Ossining, the trail ended with no indication how to continue, so we again had to ride on Rt. 9. Then my friend hit a broken drainage grate on the side of the street, which was covered with leaves so that she could not see the gap in the pavement. It threw her head-first onto the asphalt. She was knocked out for several minutes, had a concussion, was bleeding profusely and nearly broke her neck. I called an EMT which took her to a hospital, where she stayed for two days and had stitches to her face and several tests. She was lucky she was not paralyzed (thanks to wearing a helmet). Exercise GREAT caution if you take the Ossining part of the trail. Some of the other segments are O.K. but some of them are just like riding through peoples' backyards.

Took my bike for 30 miles on this trail. What a relaxing, scenic experience. You want to get out there early if your biking, as the foot traffic increases around 11am. I enjoyed the different surfaces, the natural areas. A lot of deer and chipmunks. Definitely worth the experience. Whether you are on foot or wheels, pack plenty of water and a light snack. You will need it on this trail!

New section to Quakertown just opened

Lots of them! Worst part is the tick advisory is posted 2/3rds of the (1 mile) into the trail. Otherwise a very nice straight path, flat terrain hike. I will be going back in winter after tick season has passed.