Find the top rated mountain biking trails in Johnstown, whether you're looking for an easy short mountain biking trail or a long mountain biking trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a mountain biking trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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It's a nice walking trail, or if you're taking it to get to the MTB trails. But, if you have a road bike you should just take the road. It's a shame they couldn't have used crushed gravel so roadies could bypass the section of road past the Elks. As it is, it's worthless for road bikes.
I rode this trail a week ago as part of a loop on the Indian Creek Valley Trail. The trail is easy to find and was relatively easy to ride on a gravel bike with 700 x 38 tires. There is a trail that splits off halfway but just stay straight and you'll be fine. There's really no issues with riding this unless you're trying to ride it on a skinny tire road bike. I enjoyed the trail.
Great parking, smooth packed crushed limestone. Nice views of the river and golf course. Still some fall color but fading and falling fast. Only reason for 4 stars is the only restroom was out of service.
My husband and I ride this trail about 3-4x/month starting in Freeport. We always stop at the Derailleur Cafe which has great food—the most delicious grilled cheese (add the various relishes—you won’t be sorry!), roasted veggies over rice (add chicken or beans for a healthy lunch), fresh fruit smoothies and Leona’s Ice Cream sandwiches. It’s a darling cafe with good history (ask Dee about it—she loves to talk:-)). It’s opened daily in the summer, but due to lack of traffic, Fall has only weekend hours…11-3.
The trail itself is a nice workout—about 10 miles up a very gradual incline after the first 5 miles of flat, then down another 5 miles to Butler (we always turn around before town). We turn around to get back to Freeport all within about 3.5 hours. (If my husband is alone, he cranks it out in about 2.5). The views are along Buffalo Creek, Jones’ turkey farm (hold your nose during the heat of summer), and a cow pasture.
It’s a great, well maintained trail that’s well shaded in the summer months.
I biked from Pittsburgh to DC (GAP and C&O trails combined) 9/8 thru 9/14/24. This review is for the C&O only. Weather – excellent. Scenery- beautiful. Accommodations – very good. Trail surfaces –highly variable from narrow dirt paths laced with muddy holes to relatively smooth, hardpacked dirt to loose gravel (better for a pickup truck than a bicycle!). From 10 miles south of Great Falls into DC the trail/road was especially rough. I was riding an Off-road bike with 40 MM wide tires and momentarily lost front tire stability in MANY spots due to loose gravel (especially on the sloped paths leading into & out of lock areas). My biggest safety concern were the numerous concrete bridges over creeks & culverts that had ZERO guard rails, warning signs or even yellow paint. The bridge widths were narrower than the trail requiring the biker to NOTICE and move more to the center for safety. If a biker went off the side of any of these bridges, I’d expect serious injuries or worse. The worst safety hazard was at Lock 38. Approaching the lock from the southwest side, the (main) trail leads right across the top of the lock wall- that is 3 to 4 ft wide with only an outer rail – very dangerous. The drop off to the grassy floor below was about 7-9 feet straight down. I was in a group of riders that suddenly saw this “tightrope” situation and jammed on their brakes. (Nobody realized we should have diverted onto a narrow, unmarked path that led downward through the lock.) Fortunately, everyone stopped safely; walked their bikes down a slope and on to the safe path through the bottom of the lock. A simple, cheap sign could prevent the near-miss accidents at this spot.
I’m really disappointed that this National Park hasn’t (at least) marked these safety hazards. Considering all the hazards and the rough gravel, I think this C&O Towpath trail merits 2 stars.
When heading to Boston from Pittsburgh on the GAP, you can use this "loop" option to avoid climbing a short, relatively steep area near the end of River Ridge Road, although you will be pretty close to Boston at that point, anyway. Taking the loop will get you to the Boston Bridge in a short time while riding through some industrial areas and neighborhoods. You will encounter very little vehicle traffic, if any at all. Most of the paved areas have been recently re-paved (2024) which makes the ride smooth for the most part. I use the loop just for a change of pace at times.
Time-wise, it makes no difference.
We started in Akron and rode about 18 miles north. Loved it!!!
10/18/24 beautiful afternoon ride. First time on this trail with our e-bikes. Loved it! We started Wehrum (mile 16) and went to Nanty Glo (mile 24?) slight uphill grade, not difficult. Return ride is slight downhill, no pedal assist needed. The washout had cones around it, and there was clear area for us to pass by. Some other areas have dips, but the trail was dry, lots of leaves fallen, but never felt unsafe. Only 1 restroom in this stretch, very clean. Lots of benches along the way.
My wife had a yen to do a through ride and chose the GAP trail as her goal.
We spent 5 days on the trail, starting in Pittsburgh, and finishing in Cumberland. Even with drizzling rain on several portions of the ride, we both count this as one of the best we ever rode.
The trail surface is so consistently even, it is easy rolling, especially once you cross the Eastern Continental Divide, where it steepens a bit, downhill. There was literally no trash to be found along the trail, and any debris from trees, like limbs, was quickly removed by the crews that do that. There were times when we rode many miles without seeing another rider, or crossing a road. Along the way we noticed many places to take a break, with benches or shelters, and near each trailhead you will find a bike maintenance stand, with tools and air pump. We stayed in Pittsburgh, Boston, Connersville, Confluence, Meyersdale, and finished in Cumberland. All the lodgings were very nice, and we left our vehicle at our hotel in Pittsburgh ( paid to park it there ) and hired a livery service to get us back from Cumberland to the steel city. If you are considering this trail, go do it ! It was great.
Beautiful trail however most dog owners do not have their dogs on a leash. You will also see 4 wheelers on the trail and other motorized vehicles
My wife had a yen to do a through ride and chose the GAP trail as her goal.
We spent 5 days on the trail, starting in Pittsburgh, and finishing in Cumberland. Even with drizzling rain on several portions of the ride, we both count this as one of the best we ever rode.
The trail surface is so consistently even, it is easy rolling, especially once you cross the Eastern Continental Divide, where it steepens a bit, downhill. There was literally no trash to be found along the trail, and any debris from trees, like limbs, was quickly removed by the crews that do that. There were times when we rode many miles without seeing another rider, or crossing a road. Along the way we noticed many places to take a break, with benches or shelters, and near each trailhead you will find a bike maintenance stand, with tools and air pump. We stayed in Pittsburgh, Boston, Connersville, Confluence, Meyersdale, and finished in Cumberland. All the lodgings were very nice, and we left our vehicle at our hotel in Pittsburgh ( paid to park it there ) and hired a livery service to get us back from Cumberland to the steel city. If you are considering this trail, go do it ! It was great.
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