Situated in the rolling hills of southeast Berks and northwest Chester County, the Big Woods Trail will link several parks and historic sites when completed.
A work in progress, the trail will connect the Schuylkill River Trail to the borough of Elverson when completed. As of 2021, three, disconnected segments of the multi-use trail are finished.
The northern segment begins at the Schuylkill River Trail in the village of Monocacy and winds its way up a grassy hillside to Crusher Road. This section is noted for its rolling pasturelands and panoramic views of the valley below.
The middle segment starts a few miles to the south at the Hopewell Iron Furnace National Historic Site off Park Road. The centerpiece of this site is a restored 19th century-era furnace, which was fed by charcoal produced from the trees of the surrounding Big Woods and used to smelt iron from nearby mines. Trail users should check out the grounds before heading southwest on the greenway, which passes through the woods and connects the Historical Site to the adjacent French Creek State Park. This section also connects to the Horseshoe Trail and the State Park's own network of footpaths and follows the south shoreline of Hopewell Lake, ending at the park's main parking lot and recreation complex.
A shorter, southern segment of the trail extends for about a quarter mile along an abandoned rail line in the borough of Elverson. This segment begins at Park Ave. and extends to Route 23 (Main Street), and is noted for several restored historical buildings.
When the trail is eventually completed, it will link the Schuylkill River and Horseshoe trails as well as several other historical sites and open space areas. It may also be extended further south into Chester County via the old Reading to Coatesville rail line.

I rode the trail today near the nuclear power plant and it was poorly maintained. The gravel was very loose, a lot of fallen tree debris and quite muddy. I traveled on the trail north about 2.5 miles and gave up. I traveled back along US11 and then rode around the trails at the river flatlands which were a bit better. I guess I am spoiled with my local trails (York Heritage and NW Lancaster Co Rail Trail)

Have always loved the IRT - it is truly one of the best trails in the Lehigh Valley. I generally use the Chestnut Street or Saylor Park trailheads so I can choose if I want to do just the loop or the loop and spur section.

I was also pleasantly surprised that the ENTIRE trail is paved now! The last section of the spur route used to be crushed stone, but is now paved. This makes for an awesome ride.

Overall, it is a fairly flat loop with a spur should you choose to do it. On the loop, there is a hill that starts at the spur entrance and goes toward the Chestnut Street trailhead, then turns downhill to Saylor Park. On the spur route, there is a slight brief uphill as soon as you turn onto it, before you go under the Route 145 bridge. The scenery changes throughout the loop from dense woods to town parks to homes and apartments. The spur route is much more countryside, with the ruins of old industry and trains along the way.

The road crossings on the loop route are very manageable and since you are in towns most of the time, traffic moves slowly and/or is very good about yielding. This is a bit of a different story on the spur route, which has some busy road crossings, namely South Church Street (second crossing after bearing off on the spur) and Mauch Chunk Road (last crossing on the spur route). Mauch Chunk is especially dangerous with cars moving at a high rate of speed - there are signs on the trail warning that it is a dangerous intersection. However, all crossings are well-signed - it just seems to me that vehicle operators on the faster country roads along the spur route generally do not yield to you.

The only other compliant is toward the end of the spur route, the trail passes directly behind a very busy gun range. Although there are cement walls and fences dividing the trail from the range (and the range is pointed away from the trail), it can still be a bit unnerving to hear rounds being fired so close to the trail.

Overall if you pick one trail in the Lehigh Valley to try out, make it this one - you won't be disappointed!

1st time on trail. Very beautiful and calming. Beautiful scenery. Trails are flat with some incline. Only suggestion I would like to see is some extra Porta John's. Lots of benches. Needs more Porta pots. All else is great.

Yesterday I went on this trail on my full suspension E bike. I discovered my bike was capable. I, on the other hand, am perhaps not capable.After recent storms the steep sections of this trail are washed out and very rough. I think I will stick to rail trails in the future.

This is one of the most secluded rides in a pristine natural setting I have been on in PA. Absolutely quiet with no crowds or traffic to contend with. Rode a couple weeks after tropical storm Ida came through. There was a great deal of flood erosion damage at the Rausch Creek bridge (Appalachian Trail crossing). Considering this, the entire tail bed was in surprising good condition. No standing water anywhere and very few flies or mosquitoes. Only encountered a couple washouts over its entire length. These were easily navigated around though with little effort. The trail is indeed a little rougher at the western Ellendale end but it was evident that many repairs were recently done. Only a matter of time where these coarse gravel fill-ins will eventually smooth out. Used a hard tail hybrid with 29” x 2.25” knobby tires filled to 50#. Ride tolerable for 90% of the time although I did tire of the coarser stone sections at the conclusion of my ride. Due to its isolation and cellphone signal dead zone, I recommend starting at The Coldspring Road access. Although a very steep dirt road, Coldspring Road is in very good condition and accessible to most cars. I highly recommend this as the ultimate “get away from it all” ride.

We enjoyed this quiet mostly shaded trail! Took our 2 dogs. I like that it’s paved, pretty scenery, not real busy.

Trail is nice however it's all broken up..they need to connect all this trail together to make it a nice trail

Lovely city park. Well taken care of.