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.

My husband and i were on vacation from Maine. We have fat tire mountain bikes and have a shwinn child carrier that we haul for our 2 dachshunds. We have the rails to trail system at home and found out they had it here. So we started in williamsburg and made our way to the very end of the trail. It starts out on pavement then turns to like crushed packed limestone. The trails were awesome, smooth without any pot holes. It was great. There were benches to stop and take breaks and have lunch. There was a picnic area with picnic tables about half way to the end of trail system and our only bad thing that happened during our trip was one of our dachshunds which is only 13 weeks old started to whine, so my husband pulled off the side of the trail to see what was wrong and stepped in someones dog poop and it was all stuck in his sneaker. So i guess some people don’t pick up after their pets. At the end we got the dogs a pup cup icecream at the lower trail creamery. The young man that was running it was so nice and very polite. We met several people along the trail that stopped to talk to us and even and older gentleman as we were loading up. It was a great way to spend our last day here in Pennsylvania. The people here are the nicest people we have run into out of all the states we have visited. The state is just so beautiful and you feel so welcome here by everyone. People here say hi, they wave and even hold the door open for you. We will definitely be coming back again.