Find the top rated dog walking trails in Saint Marys, whether you're looking for an easy short dog walking trail or a long dog walking trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a dog walking trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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Unseasonably warm Winter day, early March 2021. There was so much snow on the trail these past few months, up to a foot deep in sections, but some of it is finally melting off enough to ride part of the trail. The lower miles 1 thru 8 were clear of snow and able to ride on. At mile 9 and to the end it's ice and snow covered and unpassable. Give it some time to melt of!
Parked at mile 7 in Lucinda and met with others that stated they tried to bike to the North and had to come down to the Southern section to ride.
I biked this trail on 7/18/2020. I initially attempted to find this trail by entering the Sinnemahoning State Park at its south entrance. That was a mistake since this trail does NOT have a trailhead at is southern end unless you wish to bike the park road to get to the trail. Also, it is VERY easy to miss the trail entrance at its southern end. The best location to access this trail is from its northern end where there is a nice sized trailhead parking area. The Trailhead parking area is accessed by taking the 1st road off to the right AFTER passing the Park Entrance at its North End. The Trail is initially pretty flat with a very, very slight downhill grade from the Northern Trailhead and is on a crushed limestone surface; i.e. your typical Rail-Trail. However, at the 2 mile mark where the trail initially crosses over the Park road, the trail veers off the original railroad Right Of Way (ROW) and ascends significantly as it winds its way thru the forest laden with pine trees on a narrow path and then descends sharply back down to the park road. After crossing the park road, the trail gets back on to the Original Railroad ROW. But unlike the trail surface at its northern end, this section of the trail is covered with a rough grass surface for about 3/4 of a mile before the trail makes a very sharp U turn and ascends a VERY steep hill before terminating at the Park Road. Feel Free to reference the DCNR Map: http://elibrary.dcnr.pa.gov/GetDocument?docId=1737237&DocName=SINN_ParkMap.pdf. According to my bike odometer which is accurately calibrated, I had 4.56 miles from the Northern Trailhead to where the trail terminates on to the Park Road.
Trail is complete from Route 322 in Shippenville to the Forest County Line. Brand new asphalt paved section recently extended from mile marker 12 in Leeper to mile marker 20.5 at the Clarion-Forest County line.
The mid section of the trail, mile markers 5.5 to 7.5 which were tar and chipped since 2013, has been resurfaced with new asphalt.
Once you come to the end of the trail at Blood road, you can access the Four Seasons Marienville Trail for an additional 6 miles into Marienville.
Beautiful colors of Fall to enjoy on the trail.
Though open to bicycles, this trail is very rough with it's washboard surface and large gravel. I even found it difficult to walk on.
We parked at the Gillentown trailhead (approx mile marker 49) and proceeded to bike towards the higher mile marker numbers. Though it was very pretty, the surface was rough. Some points we got off and walked our bikes and even walking was difficult. We only went out a few miles then turned around coming back to the parking area. We proceed to bike the other direction, lower mile marker numbers and towards the Clarence end of the trail which was packed limestone and much smoother though only 3 miles from Gillentown to Clarence.
We wanted to see the Peale Tunnel which was on the bumpy section of the trail and never made it that far. We also wanted to ride across the Viaduct which is farther out. Found out it's been closed since 2013 and no plans in the near future to open it. It's in very poor rotted condition and would take a lot of work to make it passable.
This trail is mainly for ATV's which you need a membership. It's also open to Equestrians and for walking/hiking.
Beautiful ride from Leeper to Mariane. Very nice trail for a fall ride.
Have ridden the trail a couple of times. I was surprised when I got to Leeper at the 12.7 mile mark it was paved. It turned out it was paved the next 14.1 miles to the edge of the town of Marienville. I rode another .5 miles into Marienville on a cinder path and there is an old train station that it appears that is being fixed up. The trail appears to keep going up along Rt. 66 as a cinder trail. Also the tar and chip part of the trail was also paved. We rode on October 9 and the trees were in full color. The trail is now paved from the 0.7 mile marker(Rt. 322) to 26.8. The bad part of this trail is that it crosses Rt. 66 four times and the first two are on the dangerous side. Site distance is not great for cars going 55-60 mph. If you like paved trails, this is a must.
Taking advantage of the fall colors, I started out in Emporium on my recumbent trike with street tires. I rode the gentle upgrade for about 12.5 miles, but had to turn around because the cartway surface has been damaged by heavy equipment tracks. I didn't see any bathroom facilities or water fountains, but there's a nice sheltered picnic table just West of where the trail crosses Route 120, about 8 miles. Very nice scenery of farms the meandering West Creek, but this would get more stars if they had at least a porta-toliet, and the better care of the cartway going West.
The 26 miles from SR 322 (Marianne) to Marienville are asphalt (no more tar and chip), and about half of that is new asphalt put down in 2020. About .7 mile in Marienville between SR 322 and SR 66 is coarse gravel, unmaintained, and little-traveled as of October 2020.
The trail follows a ridge between the watersheds of the Clarion River and Allegheny River. There is a very gradual elevation rise over the 26 miles, from an altitude of 1500 feet in Marianne to 1730 feet in Marienville.
The trail parallels busy Route 66 for its entire length, with the distance between trail and road varying between 30 feet and almost 1 mile. There are four dangerous crossings of Route 66 at which cars travel at speeds approaching 60 mph, and do not slow for cyclists. There are also gravel driveways and roads crossing the trail, some of them soft and a bit treacherous for bikes with narrow tires.
Along the trail you pass O’Neil’s Quality Foods (smoked meat, deer processing, etc) at the Marianne trailhead, Zacherl’s Farm Market south of Lucinda (hay rides and a field of pumpkins when I was there in mid-October), DB’s Smokin’ BBQ north of Lucinda, apple trees by the side of the trail, a huge field of corn, a friendly and very attractive horse, and the Shamrock Dining Room at Kelly Hotel in Marienville, among other attractions.
We had a great ride, beautiful, cool day for it. We started at the Leeper trailhead and did an in and out 16 mile ride toward Marianne. They just completed the asphalt and it made for a very smooth ride. Wooded areas had beautiful fall color, farmland with fields of corn made it look all golden, horses, cattle and saw big bear prints across the path. We will be doing this trail again, hopefully the whole length of it next time. We love this type of trail and highly recommend it ¿
2nd visit to this trail in 2020. Trying to complete the whole thing. Parked in Summerville and biked to Brookville. Had lunch in Brookville. There are several places in town just off the trail. Biked back to Summerville and past it towards New Bethlehem. 35 miles on the trail this day.
Surface is packed crushed limestone but bumpy in some places.
Saw all kinds of cool history along the trail. This section crosses the Redbank Creek quite a few times via very nice wooden bridges. In Summerville there is a service station a few blocks from the trail if you need water and/or snacks.
Enjoying this trail very much and hope to visit again this Fall. Right now still very green.
Loved the trail it was a bit rough at times but a nice ride on my fat bike once I aired the tires down a bit. Saw a few deer and some blue herring. Trail a bit over grown at times but you could see someone is working at giving it so TLC. Well worth the ride. I parked at Sugarhill rode toward Brockway first then I turned around and did the other half towards Brookville. Some nice scenery. Worth the trip.
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