Find the top rated bike trails in Sharpsburg, 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 Washington & Old Dominion is the best trail hands down. It is also one of the busiest trails that hosts running clubs, cycling clubs, nature walkers, neighborhood walkers, walking and biking commuters and is at its busiest before 7 am in extreme heat.
What makes this 44 mile trail so unique is the amenities that sit along side of it making it the best trail to plan an activity on with family and friends. Just pick a city that you want to visit and you can find convenience stores adjacent to the trail within walking distance as well as myriad of restaurants for all ages, ice cream parlors, grooming services, bike shops and over the past few years breweries have been added to the scenery right on the trail.
The location is prime to the cities of Northern Virginia with access to getting into Washington DC to see the monuments and Hains Point. Nothing beats the W&OD Trail!
Level, thin tiny crush stone on packed earth trail. Rolls easily, just a step below paved. From small old town of Newville through woods and farmland 10 mile ride to small university town of Shippensburg, with a couple small villages on the way. Horse path is next to bike/pedestrian path. You may see horses and riders on path. You will see farms, barns, cows, sheep, horses, cats, birds, assorted other animals, louse distant mountains. You will smell manure. It is not 15.8 miles. It is 10 miles from park at Newville to Shippensburg. You can add a couple miles by going east from Newville to a dead end. It's a nice ride. In Newville you can park at the park at Cherry & McFarland Streets
Please make sure you have bike lights, flashlights etc… those tunnels are dark!!
I just rode the trail 11 Oct 2025- shortly after the new Sideling Hill Trailhead grand opening a couple of weeks ago. I utilized the PA Turnpike to drive up from Harrisburg area- very easy and trouble free- just know that afterward you have to drive another 10 miles UP the turnpike to turn around and head back to Harrisburg....ugh 20 additional miles, even though both East and West bound have access to the Sideling Hill Rest Stop. Trail Head had really nice bike servicing equipment and picnic tables- Lots of food options at Rest stop- everything you need after 20 mile ride- Burgers and Pizza!! Leaving the rest stop- you ride a service road that is open to bikers (Mountain House Road). You then come to a 4 way stop- Make a left on North Hess Road- you will see a old farm/log cabin house on your right (see my pictures)- go straight this road will turn in to Pump Station Road- ride for about 1/4 of a mile do not turn on the first unmarked road on your right- go to the second road on your right just after the first one- look for a mail box- there is a home that shares the access- ride past home and you will be at the TOPP Trail- you will see cement road barriers on your left- this is the entrance to the trail- Enjoy your ride for the next 8 miles or so. The first tunnel you reach is about 1.5 miles up- This one is long and dark maybe a mile long. The second one is shorter. The trail is rough in sections due to the blacktop being torn up- if your a Pennsylvanian- this a typical PA road LOL potholes! Beware if you are with children or offend easily- There is a TON of Graffiti and things that will make a sailor blush (I used to be in the Navy). There is some really talented art work along the ride though. I would recommend mountain bikes or gravel bikes- my bike has 45MM tires and I rode with 35 psi which I thought was perfect for the rough areas. This trail was "Creepy Cool" and a perfect ride for a fall day and Halloween around the corner!
This is probably the most I could handle on a bike ride. We rode the GAP and C&O back to back like many do in 8 days. It was great fun but the C&O is noticeably rougher, fewer port-a-Johns and very scarce potable water sources. On our 7th day from Williamsport to Brunswick we ran out of water midway and rode the remaining 25 miles without water. Fortunately the shade offered by the beautiful canopy of trees made it bearable. We made sure to load up on extra water on our final day. The mix of loose sand that caught us by surprise & the larger stones on the trail made for a more challenging ride than expected. On the one rainy day we had from Cumberland to Little Orleans, some of the puddles we encountered offered a new sense of “oh dear” as we didn’t know how deep the hole we were riding thru when there was no room to go around the puddle.
Biked from Hancock to Little Orleans and return on August 30, 2025. Distance: 34.5 miles. Stopped for lunch at Bill's Place in Little Orleans and got good food and friendly service. The paved portion of the trail is in excellent condition -- thanks to the Maryland Park Service for recently repaving the trail. The only negative is the 3-mile detour on the C & O Canal towpath around the abandoned Indigo tunnel. The towpath detour is unpaved and has a rougher surface than the trail. The nearly one-mile long tunnel was closed in 2010 to protect a handful of bats allegedly living inside. The tunnel is an engineering marvel that should be seen and experienced by humans. Opening it to trail users would help the economically depressed Western Maryland area. For example, the equally-long Blue Ridge Tunnel in Afton, Virginia, draws about 50,000 visitors annually since it was reopened in 2020.
We started at Lake Needwood which had great parking. The trail is not well maintained. It is bumpy most of the way south. It looks like there has been some attempt to patch the asphalt but the transitions were not smoothed out so many jarring bumps. Also tree roots have pushed up the trail which is not unusual but given all the other bumps it was annoying. Also be aware that from Lake Needwood - it is downhill so if you are returning to the same spot, you will have an uphill climb which is not too bad.
there are some really old bridges that go over the C&O. the highlight is the paw paw tunnel. better to walk through it. once you hit little orleans, i suggest going on the western maryland trail. it is fully paved and nice.
hancock is a great town
I love going on this trail when riding my bike to work. It's so nice to ride without cars being beside you. When going out early you can see all kinds of wildlife out.
My wife and I rode from Newville to Shippensburg today. It was @ a 10 mile ride to the Shippensburg Trailhead. We continued for 2 more blocks on Earl St to King St. On the corner of Earl & King is the King St Diner, good and good prices.
The western end is paved and is a nice as any rail trail anywhere. Just short. The eastern end has a boardwalk section and then drops you on a gravel section. The gravel is a little big for my liking. I was on a road bike riding 30s but did fine. This section goes through a cut in the mountain made to get the railroad a level grade.
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