Find the top rated bike trails in Johnson City, whether you're looking for an easy short bike trail or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a bike trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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The East Ithaca Recreation Way on East Hill is primarily built upon the rail bed of the old Ithaca and Cortland Railroad, which later became part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The trail skirts the...
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The Trolley Trail uses a former interurban line to link several communities north of Scranton. The trail comprises two disconnected sections that total 4.7 miles, although the nonprofit Countryside...
There are two trails named the O&W: one in New York and this one in Pennsylvania. Although the trail stretches 32 miles (as shown on the map), only the first 8 miles of trail (from Simpson to...
The multi-use Lackawanna River Heritage Trail (LRHT) follows Pennsylvania's Lackawanna River and, when complete, will be more than 70 miles. The trail begins at the confluence of the Lackawanna and...
The Catharine Valley Trail travels for nearly 13 miles between Seneca Lake in Watkins Glen and Smith Road north of Pine Valley. The trail follows segments of the former Northern Central Railroad and...
The Vestal Rail Trail runs for nearly four miles through the town of Vestal along an abandoned right-of-way once used by the Delaware–Lackawana & Western Railroad. Today, the 12-foot-wide trail is...
The Lackawanna Rail Trail runs across Elmira—linking Eldridge Park with the city’s waterfront—and heads south to the hamlet of Lowman. The paved pathway spans nearly 9 miles and uses a former...
The South Hill Recreation Way follows the southern rim of the Six Mile Creek gorge from the outskirts of southeast Ithaca to Burns Road, near the Ithaca Reservoir. The gravel path follows the former...
Update: Please also note that the trail head at Simpson is closed owing to gas pipe line digging and construction until the beginning of 2018. Thereafter, verify that the trail may actually be...
The Iroquois Trail is scenic and remote, stretching about 2 miles through Tunkhannock, a gateway community to the Endless Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania. The rail-trail follows the route of...
The multi-use Lackawanna River Heritage Trail (LRHT) follows Pennsylvania's Lackawanna River and, when complete, will be more than 70 miles. The trail begins at the confluence of the Lackawanna and...
The South Hill Recreation Way follows the southern rim of the Six Mile Creek gorge from the outskirts of southeast Ithaca to Burns Road, near the Ithaca Reservoir. The gravel path follows the former...
The Lackawanna Rail Trail runs across Elmira—linking Eldridge Park with the city’s waterfront—and heads south to the hamlet of Lowman. The paved pathway spans nearly 9 miles and uses a former...
The Catharine Valley Trail travels for nearly 13 miles between Seneca Lake in Watkins Glen and Smith Road north of Pine Valley. The trail follows segments of the former Northern Central Railroad and...
The Iroquois Trail is scenic and remote, stretching about 2 miles through Tunkhannock, a gateway community to the Endless Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania. The rail-trail follows the route of...
The Trolley Trail uses a former interurban line to link several communities north of Scranton. The trail comprises two disconnected sections that total 4.7 miles, although the nonprofit Countryside...
Update: Please also note that the trail head at Simpson is closed owing to gas pipe line digging and construction until the beginning of 2018. Thereafter, verify that the trail may actually be...
The East Ithaca Recreation Way on East Hill is primarily built upon the rail bed of the old Ithaca and Cortland Railroad, which later became part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The trail skirts the...
The Vestal Rail Trail runs for nearly four miles through the town of Vestal along an abandoned right-of-way once used by the Delaware–Lackawana & Western Railroad. Today, the 12-foot-wide trail is...
There are two trails named the O&W: one in New York and this one in Pennsylvania. Although the trail stretches 32 miles (as shown on the map), only the first 8 miles of trail (from Simpson to...
The Iroquois Trail is scenic and remote, stretching about 2 miles through Tunkhannock, a gateway community to the Endless Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania. The rail-trail follows the route of...
The South Hill Recreation Way follows the southern rim of the Six Mile Creek gorge from the outskirts of southeast Ithaca to Burns Road, near the Ithaca Reservoir. The gravel path follows the former...
The East Ithaca Recreation Way on East Hill is primarily built upon the rail bed of the old Ithaca and Cortland Railroad, which later became part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The trail skirts the...
There are two trails named the O&W: one in New York and this one in Pennsylvania. Although the trail stretches 32 miles (as shown on the map), only the first 8 miles of trail (from Simpson to...
Update: Please also note that the trail head at Simpson is closed owing to gas pipe line digging and construction until the beginning of 2018. Thereafter, verify that the trail may actually be...
The Lackawanna Rail Trail runs across Elmira—linking Eldridge Park with the city’s waterfront—and heads south to the hamlet of Lowman. The paved pathway spans nearly 9 miles and uses a former...
The Vestal Rail Trail runs for nearly four miles through the town of Vestal along an abandoned right-of-way once used by the Delaware–Lackawana & Western Railroad. Today, the 12-foot-wide trail is...
The multi-use Lackawanna River Heritage Trail (LRHT) follows Pennsylvania's Lackawanna River and, when complete, will be more than 70 miles. The trail begins at the confluence of the Lackawanna and...
The Catharine Valley Trail travels for nearly 13 miles between Seneca Lake in Watkins Glen and Smith Road north of Pine Valley. The trail follows segments of the former Northern Central Railroad and...
The Trolley Trail uses a former interurban line to link several communities north of Scranton. The trail comprises two disconnected sections that total 4.7 miles, although the nonprofit Countryside...
I love walking my dog on the trail in Jermyn, PA but I wish there were benches along the way. The dog likes to rest and so do I.
Very difficult to find. No signage in Eldridge Park. The surface is excellent, but the trail runs along the interstate. Noisy and lots of trash along the trail.
I am always leery of trails that don’t show ‘biking’ as an activity, just ‘mountain biking’. I have a trail near me that I detest that is maintained by atv people. It has rocks and mud puddles. So I read the few reviews about the trail and was skeptical, because no one said much about biking. But the photos made me hopeful.
The reviews made me realize what I saw as I passed a parking area and obvious trail crossing on Spring House Road just outside Dryden. This was the western/northern part of the trail that is not shown on Traillink, or even on Google bike map. To my east was a river of grass without any indication of roadbed, other than the tunnel of vegetation on both sides. To my west, it looked to be reasonable trek, with 2 visible wheel paths. I started to the west. You can travel the few miles to Freeville along this path.
This is like the unloved stepchild portion of the trail. The grass is mown. The tree limbs are cleared. There are even benches. But you keep asking yourself, ‘why couldn’t they just put down some stone here and make this a reasonable trail?’ The western/northern end alternates between grass, roadbed and the occasional muddy spot. I own a hybrid bike and still found this trail reasonable, but only because I started out early in the day, with the most energy. Slogging through grass saps your strength pretty rapidly.
Heading back to Spring House Road, I asked myself if I could tolerate the grass that lay to the east. I figured I had it in me, and that it would be no more than a mile to connect up to the mapped portion of this trail. That river of grass is probably a half mile (grass always seems longer!) till you indeed link up with the mapped portion. Initially, the trail is wide and obvious, but as you enter Dryden, you suddenly feel like you are in someone’s side yard. On my return trip, I noted that, if approaching from the south, you would have no idea this northern portion exists because of that side yard you find yourself in.
Nonetheless, I kept going …to find MORE grass along the mapped portion, for the first quarter mile. THEN it got decent.
The southern 3.75 miles of this trail are idyllic. The trail bed itself is reasonable for any bike and the scenery is varied and enjoyable. Numerous beaver dams are within feet of the trail. You’ve got lakes and streams and fields and forests. It has to be some of the most enjoyment I have had per mile.
So, highly recommended southern end…and a reminder that there is a western/northern end, if you are up for a challenge.
The name “Black Diamond” comes from the old railroad on which this trail resides. It is an amazing engineering feat how this trail provides a steady (easy) grade all the way up to the top of Taughannock Falls from lake level. The surface is crushed stone and the entire length is well maintained. It is a real delight (even on a hot day) due to the shade provided by the hillside trees. The trail goes North along the East side of the hill. There are several (8?) road crossings along the way that are well marked, although there is little road traffic.
After the August storms, the middle 4-mile section is closed. You can work around it on 14 and jump back on, but better to call and check first. The first and last sections were great and I hope to be back when the trail reopens.
Trail very nice...surprised that test facilities are available. But access to get to the trail is horrible. No signs and also signs are posted "PRIVATE PROPERTY - NO TRESPASSING." No parking is available due to all the heavy duty machine parked there instead. Taylor has a trail but it does not allow access. What are we taxpayers paying for?
We rode the 38-mile-long D&H Rail-Trail going South on July 29th, 2018 starting at the northern end at the PA/New York border near Susquehanna. There is a town park at the Starrucca Viaduct where we parked the car overnight. In theory the trial crosses through the park, but it was over grown and almost impossible to find. Once we did find the trail we rode and pushed thru the brush for about a ¼ mile to the Starrucca Creek only to find that there is no deck on the old rail bridge. Luckily the Starrucca Creek was not deep here, so we waded across with bikes and bags. I recommend starting some place south of the Starrucca unless you don’t mind getting wet. From the northern end heading south to Uniondale the trail is really rough and probably best ridden on Mt bikes, on this 15-mile section we averaged 5 miles per hour because the trail was so rough and rocky. Having said that we rode the trail on drop bar touring bikes with 35mm wide hybrid tires. Its probably the most interesting section of the trail but be aware it is not a smooth ride. From Uniondale South the D&H was undergoing many improvement projects and the trail was closed in several places for construction. It was easy to switch to the road and then pick the trail up again later. We were told by the construction crews that by the fall 2018 all these improvements are supposed to be done. Once the improvements are complete the 23 miles of trail from Uniondale South to Carbondale will be a nice ride for Hybrid or Mountain bikes. We spent the night of the 29th in a Hotel in Carbondale and rode the trail back North the following day on July 30th.
The trail itself is great, especially the middle section from miles 3-5. There one can experience some of the wildness our country once had. Tall dead trees brought to life by ivy. Roads and 'civilization' not noticeable.
Signage not good, many intersections of 'Black Diamond' and 'Stop'. Mile markers every 1/4 mile are handy.
Main issue: finding the trail. The southern Cass end is somewhat obscure, but the northern Taughannock falls end is even worse. Need a detailed map to locate it.
The Black Diamond trail should be continued northward. It would run through a T'burg farmer's land (Black Diamond Farm), and could be extended all the way to Rochester?
Noticed the trail shortly after the highway was rebuilt in that area and finally got a chance to try it out. My wife and I parked near the Lowman end at a parking lot across the freeway. The ride was very pleasant with only a few joggers. We rode to Wegman's in Elmira for a late lunch and then rode back. Pavement was smooth with some small sticks (broken from nearby trees) laying around.
The nearest "restroom" on the Lowman end is about 1/2 mile south of the trailhead. There are two porta-johns at the fishing access ramp. There are no facilities along the trail as it runs between the highway and the river until it reaches Elmira where it follows the old RR right of way and crosses OVER a few busy streets on old RR bridges. Wegmans is at the western end and they do have restrooms available.
Not a real long trail, but nice nonetheless.
My wife and I rode out tandem from Cass Park to the north end at Taughannock Falls. Starting at Cass Park, the trail has a long, steady (but gentle) climb for about 4 miles. The surface is crushed stone like it says, but the size is like fine gravel (think fish tank). Although I didn't ride with them, I plan to switch to my MTB slicks to reduce the rolling resistance. There is a small parking lot near the northern end, by the falls, where we found a picnic table to eat a bag lunch at. There are otherwise no services or restrooms along this trail. The return ride back to Cass Park was a bit faster, being downhill most of the way.
Please check that the trail head is open after November 2017. The impression I got after reading the signage at the trail head is that the trail might not be accessible at Simpson, PA until the beginning of 2018; even then, I suggest that you check that it is open and accessible.
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