We started at the trail head just outside Vintondale where the C&I Spur splits off. It was a beautiful sunny day. The first 4-5 miles of the C&I spur is in great shape and a very nice ride along the creek. At Vic Miller Road there is a short on-road segment to what looks like a very new or refurbished section of the C&I extension. This section is very nice. It travels over some bridges and forested lands. The trail is in perfect condition. There were a lot of other bikers, walkers, and ebikers on the trail. Very friendly.
After another 8 miles the trail dead ends on a residential street. (North St.). A little bit of on-road riding gets you to Expedite St and then Cardiff Rd. Cardiff Rd is all downhill into Nanty Glo. Cardiff Rd. has a bit more traffic. But going this way, it is all downhill and you are in Nanty Glo in 5-10 minutes. We had a beer and a very nice meal in town, then took the the mainline trail back to Vintondale. This is a great trail. I hope to return and ride into Ebensburg.

This trail is actually 5.5 miles long. Even the sign in Friendsville only shows the roughly 2 miles that take you to Kendall. But the trail continues on past there, although it becomes increasingly rugged as you go.

From a back story standpoint, Kendall was founded in 1889, as a lumber town, and abandoned circa the 1920s. The railroad was removed circa the 1940s. This means that there are few remains, and that the trail bed is rougher than rail trails built on more recently inactive railroads.

With that in mind, I recommend a mountain bike with suspension, although a hybrid will do if that's what you have and you are used to rough trails. There are far too many rocks for a road bike to traverse this trail. Also note that eventually, you'll have to hike if you want to reach the end of the trail; bring good shoes as there is mud (even though it hasn't rained lately).

The first 0.4 miles are gravel from the parking area by the trailhead (east of the river on Morris Avenue, as indicated on TrailLink; there's also parking and a port-a-john at the parking area west of the river off of Church Lane, which is what the signs from Maple Street off of I-68 will point you to). After this section, it becomes a forest trail, dirt-and-leaves with rocks, sometimes rocks obscured by leaves. The number of rocks tends to increase the farther you go.

Kendall is around mile 2. I've seen some reviews on the Internet that say there isn't anything there. That isn't really true. If you're expecting buildings, this isn't the ghost town for you. But I saw a couple stone foundations that were clearly built by humans, some pieces of lumber that were machine-cut, and a heavily rusted-through iron bucket that had seen better decades. Note that if you decide to explore the Kendall area off the trail, make sure you have a GPS device that marks where you've been - the woods are thick there.

Still, it's fair to say that your primary motivation for this trail should be the rugged scenery and the challenge, not expecting to see a town at Kendall. I suggest Kaymoor, West Virginia if you're looking for a ghost town trail, though that one is hiking, not biking.

Around mile 2.1, just past Kendall, you'll hit the first major (but short) mud section. In a lot of the mud sections, if you have decent speed, you can cross them by bike and keep your shoes dry. If you don't have decent speed (and you won't always), the mud might try to swallow your bike, so navigate by foot as needed.

Just before mile 2.2, there's a downed tree, with two main branch sections blocking the trail. I lifted my bike over each of these, but you may wish to switch to hiking at this point; it would be easy to climb over the tree without a bike. You'll hit another, longer mud section about a hundred feet past this tree.

Shortly before mile 2.4, you'll cross the stream that the other reviewer mentioned. It's necessary to walk the bike across this stream, but it's a fairly easy crossing by the standards of this trail.

Around mile 2.8, a quarter-mile section of very heavy rocks begins. I can't fathom taking even a mountain bike across this area; maybe a Marji Gesick rider would find it to be fun. After realizing the rocks kept going, I left my bike at about mile 2.85. But starting at about 3.05, the trail becomes pretty bike-traversable again.

For the next 1.6 miles, the trail could be biked, although it's a bit narrow in areas, with fairly steep drop-offs to the west (right, heading south) as it gains elevation above the river.

At mile 4.65, there was a rock slide at some point in the past, which took out most of the trail. You can still navigate across it on foot, but it would not be safe to try to cart a bike across this area. This is the reason that I mentioned that you'll have to hike for at least part of it.

The trail continues on until mile 5.5, where it ends at some large rocks, steep elevation, and heavy plant growth. You'll be able to hear some rapids behind the large boulder in the river, and bending low, you should be able to go just far enough under the undergrowth to get a nice view of that area, even with a rock to sit on to rest your weary feet.

Along the route, you'll notice a few branching trails, three if I remember correctly. One is just a direct path (straight) versus a river overlook option (right). The more interesting options branch to the left, and I believe these are the paths of temporary lumber railroads. I didn't traverse those on this expedition, but if they're substantial there may be yet more trail in this area to explore.

Wildlife-wise, I have heard there are black bears and snakes in the area, but didn't see any today. I did run into quite a few spider webs, and wound up with a small black spider with white spots on my shoulder, likely a jumping spider. I also saw a recently deceased deer in Kendall. It may have fallen to natural causes - I saw no obvious wound, although I didn't approach too closely - but make sure you wear bright clothing during hunting season as a precaution.

The trail itself is beautiful, especially this time of year. It's currently near peak color, with leaves on the trail, on the trees, and even in the air, falling as you ride. If you're local, get out on the trail this week and enjoy the autumn foliage.

Finally, I'd be remiss to not mention that there are amazing views of the Youghiogheny River from the trail, and several areas where you can climb down to river level for even better views. Nearly the entire river is chock full of rapids for the duration of the trail.

Parked at the new parking area at the Monroe Road trailhead. Buffalo Creek Nature preserve. Picnic area and restrooms when open. Biked down to Freeport (downhill) then back up and continued North the Dittmer Road and back down. Nice ride. Pedaling uphill was a workout but the return trip very nice downhill!

Great walk today along the water near the mill. leaves falling, smell of fresh pine and nuts. great time!

Started in Hawthorn at Gabriel’s Restaurant and north 6 miles then return. Nice trail next to river, saw several Deer with Forrest views.

My buddy and I rode the entire lower section of the Armstrong Trail this past weekend from Rosston to East Brady and back and were well pleased with the trail. We started at the parking area at/near the Rosston Marina and headed south over the decked Crooked Creek bridge to a dead end .2 miles from the parking area and then turned around. Just a short ways up the trail you hit Ford City and the trail is paved. I liked this area. The pavement was pretty good with practically no heaves but there were some little ruts across the trail which were not bad at all. There is an old factory you ride by but it isn't trashy. The trail then turns back to crushed gravel/limestone sand for a ways before hitting Kittanning. Pavement again and there were some areas with root heaves but really not that bad - just stand up off the seat for a few moments. This area was pleasant also. After Kittanning the pavement ends and you're basically in the woods and alongside the river the rest of the way. You do go through the small town of Templeton but that's it till East Brady. In East Brady you pick up pavement again starting with Shady Shores Drive and then an actual trail by the park which dead ends at the intersection of 6th St and Purdum St. This is the last point I saw an actual "Armstrong Trail" sign but there were green and white signs with a bike image and the words "Bike Path" along the streets. We followed those out Purdum St to 3rd St to Kellys Way out to the Old Bank Deli and saw that they continued. This brings me to a gripe about the Armstrong Trail. Traillink and the trail's website list this section of the trail as 31 miles long so we thought we could squeeze in a metric century ride (62.13 miles) with just a little extra riding. However, I believe that the 31 miles includes this road riding because the trail signs along the way show the trail going through East Brady and continuing to follow Rt 68 across the Allegheny River and then turning north, probably onto Seybertown Rd. Our round trip mileage to this point with a detour to the park was 60.75 miles. Anyway, we grabbed some pastries at the Deli then rode back through town and down to the Riverside Park which was very nice. Paved trails, picnic tables and a very nice shelter with benches facing the river. We enjoyed our lunch there and then did the long ride back.

Pros of the trail - the surface where it wasn't paved was GAP level smooth. About as good as it gets. There were well spaced benches for resting. Plenty of historical interest with lots of signs with titles big enough to read without stopping if you wanted to. The Allegheny River is right beside you almost the entire time and it is a nice, clean river to look at. The Riverside Park in East Brady is a nice touch and a great place to stop. There are a lot of summer campsites along the river and they were very clean and well kept - a pleasure to look at.

Cons - beside the aforementioned root heaves in Kittanning there were a few short gravelly sections that could be fixed up and the smaller bridges with wooden decking were rough - they really need redecked. The biggest con in my opinion was the lack of trailside amenities. There were almost none. I saw nothing in Ford City or Kittanning. To be honest those towns were near the beginning or end of our ride so I went back to Google Drive through there (which doesn't cover a lot of the area) and there is a pizza place in Kittanning but that looks to be it right on the trail. There are places to be sure in Kittanning but they are off the trail a ways. After that there is nothing until East Brady and the pickings are slim there. Of course, you have to ride into town which wasn't bad and there is the Old Bank Deli with pastries, ice cream, coffee, etc. I also saw a pizza place and there was a gas station/food mart. That was about it. If you're doing the entire thing like we did bring your own lunch. We did and I'm glad.

Overall this was a nice trail and I suspect if/when the Erie to Pittsburgh connection is complete and through riders start using this that more trailside amenities may open. Until then, go knowing you might want to pack your own food (or ride off the trail a bit) and enjoy. Outside of the two larger towns we saw almost no one. On a sunny, pleasant Saturday over 60+ miles we saw less than a dozen bikers (some twice) and maybe one jogger. I was amazed by that. The middle section of the trail is quite isolated and even though there apparently was a trailhead at Rimer we didn't realize it since no one was there.

Go, enjoy the trail and maybe if enough people use it a few more establishments will pop up.

Our group did 2 different sections of the trail. Great ride, a lot of shade and great views. Will definitely come back for another ride.

Parked at mile marker 16.5 at Bonniebrook. Biked to mile 8.5 and back then down towards Butler. High point on the trail is Cabot. Trail is somewhat shady and there are many open areas through fields as well. Always a great ride on this trail.
Surface is crushed stone. Some sections of the trail were very wide at 10-12 feet and other sections barely a few feet wide.
This is not an Equestrian horse trail.

August 11 -- arrived at Saylor Park as a morning rain subsided and the humidity rose with temps in the 80s F. The trailhead to Dilltown, near the vault toilet, was not immediately obvious. Be careful not to take the Hoodlebug trail by mistake. Spotting a large black snake was the highlight of our day. Saylor Park has a nice picnic pavilion where we ate lunch after our easy, somewhat downhill return ride from Dilltown. Rain started soon after lunch.
Considering the amount of rain in the days prior to and the morning of our ride, the trail was in excellent condition, even for our road bikes. No serious washouts or mud. Kudos to the trail crews who maintain this section!! A lot of shade made this a great trail to ride on hot summer days.
August 13 -- more rain last night and another day in the 80s F. A moment of confusion when we tried to find trailhead parking at Vintondale/Eliza Station. Trailhead parking is down the street and around the corner from the Eliza Furnace site. Again we were impressed by the excellent trail conditions (more kudos to the trail crews). The Hwy 422 underpass at MM4 (the confluence of the north branch of Blacklick Creek and Elk Creek) is the only tricky portion of the trail. Pay attention to the "Slow Down" signs or you could end up in the creek. The almost 26-mile return ride was our longest so far this year. Our legs were relieved to have a mostly downhill return ride back to Vintondale. There was plenty of shade, great creek views and lots of late summer flowers to add to the joy of riding.