My Ride: Hardtail mountain bike with 26x2.2in tires. Did entire trail in 2 days. Avg Speed: 12mph

DAY 1: Started at the parking lot in WV by RT 22. Rode 15miles to the middle of the trail at the parking lot in Bulger PA and back to WV. Then drove to camp at the Montour Trail Boggs Campsite in the parking lot for that trail. Free and fine for one night. Total: 31miles

DAY 2: Drove to Bulger PA trail parking lot (15min drive) and rode 13 miles to the end of the trail that dead ends in Rennerdale. End of the trail is a parking lot and it appears like the trail continues but it takes you to someone's backyard..... I recommend turning around at the rock quarry with pavilion and firepit seating area. Afterwards I rode back 13 miles to the car in Bulger. Total: 26miles

CLIMB/DESCENT
Weirton-Bulger: 400ft Climb
Bulger-Rennerdale: 300ft Descent

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Weirton WV - PA line: 4miles Rough gravel, not packed well. Ideal for 1.75in tires and wider, road bikes will work, just won't be much fun. The trail follows a creek and has plenty of seating and port-a-john's along the way. One of the most scenic parts of the trail if you can get past the bad gravel....

PA line - Bulger: 11miles Trail becomes asphalt. Wooded area with bridges over country roads and creeks. Very pretty. No restrooms but a couple nice overlooks with benches.

Bulger - McDonald: 5.5miles Begins with sweeping views of rolling hills with small wooded patches right outside of Bulger, then quickly becomes wooded around the trail for the remainder. The Montour Trail connects to the Panhandle Trail. THE MCDONALD TRESTLE BRIDGE IS NOT ON PANHANDLE TRAIL. Get there by taking the connection to the Montour trail and then turn left (south). The McDonald Trestle Bridge is a must see but don't let the pictures for this trail fool you, you have to go a bit out of your way to see the stellar view. Google McDonald Trestle Bridge and Montour Panhandle Connector.

McDonald - Rennerdale (End of trail): 7miles Towns get closer together and roads are a bit busier for a few miles. Also the trail becomes packed gravel soon after McDonald. A few spots are washed out but not bad. From about Oakdale to the end of the trail it is very smooth for being gravel. Also within the last few miles is a parking lot for the bike trail and Fossil's Cliff/Neville's Woods Hiking Trail. Less than 1/2 mile from the hiking trail parking lot is a rock quarry outcrop with a pavilion and seating area with large firepit. Basically this is the end of the trail. Only a road crossing and a parking lot is past this. If you miss the end of the trail and go past the last parking lot you'll end up in someone's back yard.

June 19, 2021
Husband & I, both in our mid 60’s, hopped on this trail at the parking lot where the Allegheny & Samuel Justice trails meet. The lot was a little tricky to find, it’s just a narrow driveway down off the main road, but the lot itself had plenty of parking, several fairly clean port-a-potty’s as well as a few covered picnic tables. The paved trail bed is smooth and fairly flat, making for an easy ride, one that enabled us to really enjoy the natural surroundings. The first few miles are alongside the main road, so there was some traffic noise to start, but after a bit, the two separated and the road noises disappeared. The river views are stunning, with multiple boaters, kayakers and fishermen along the lazy waters. Critters abound, we saw multiple rabbits and squirrels, the chipmunks enjoyed playing chicken with us. Momma dear and her spotted twins watched us warily, but continued snacking on the plentiful vegetation.
There is an area about 13 miles in where the trail evidently needed to skirt a small community and the trail bed is gravel. As a tentative rider, I walked the hillier section, but for the most part, I rode low & slow & managed to get to the other side unscathed. The next area was quite interesting, the summer/vacation communities with their sloping lawns and cabins on the hill were for the most part empty of their families.
Then came the Kennendell tunnel and going through it, you will understand the words “dark as pitch”. Even though we tested them the night before, my headlight didn’t work and his wasn’t bright enough to follow safely (did I mention that I’m a tentative rider??), so we walked through – easy peasy but flipping DARK!! And COLD – the temperature drops at least 15 degrees. Finally, daylight & we rode for another couple of miles, hitting 20 and turned around. Going back through the tunnel, I remembered the flashlight on my phone and Ta-Da, I managed to very, very carefully ride back through (was very proud of myself!). And then…it started to rain, which quickly turned into a deluge. I have never been that wet on a bicycle before! And that is about the only criticism I may have about this trail, there was no place along the 20 miles to get out of the weather. There are benches scattered about & a viewing station, but until we got back to the parking lot, nothing with a roof was available. Grateful it wasn’t a thunder storm.
All in all, I give this trail 4 stars for the ease of ride, maintenance, views and variety as well as accessibility, parking and restroom availability.

It was a nice late Spring evening for a ride on the trail. Not real crowded at that time of the day. Trail is asphalt paved in very good condition.

Been on most parts of this trail. Lisbon part is great. Tried recently opened
section North Shore Trail In Ashtabula which connects trail to lake Erie by Walnut Beach. Right off trail you enter 4 lane share the road, I road on sidewalk for this part. Then changed to 2 lanes for cars , 2 lanes for bikes. Turns west for short juant thru a park. Then go thru all nieborhoods till you get to Bridge St., after which you must carry bike up very steep, very long cement steps with no handrail to reach Point Park. Then you ride on to Walnut Beach. I did not carry bike up steps , I turned around and started back, did not see Lake Erie. This trail is all on street other than short part thru park. Will not go again.

June 5th - my brother and myself had a wonderful day biking the Panhandle and a little of the Montour. We started at the McDonald Trail Station and on a surprising note there was a pancake breakfast benefit. We met a nice couple that was working there selling the tickets and items benefiting the trail. Were awesome to talk to. We started the trail going east. We always enjoy seeing dedications to the war hero's - there was a very nice one in Oakdale. We met folks / scouts working on the flower beds that day too. Trails always offer things to see or explore. Rennerdale - there is a place you can look for fern fossils. The best part of this trail was near the end before Walker's Mill. There is a beautiful rock quarry that is a must see. We came back to the McDonald Trail Station and had some fantastic blueberry pancakes before going west. The trail station is a museum too. A lot of oil history. Not to far west is where you are by Montour trail. We did go over the McDonald Trestle bridge on our way back. It really is a must to do. Our west trip took us as far as Joffre. In Bulgar, is another nice war memorial to those that served. What was most enjoyable is a stretch where the trail travels through a large open area where it has a slight hill climb but there are some good pictures if you like this type of scenery. The day ended with good ice-cream in McDonalds at M.A.'s Ice Cream Shop. My brother had the largest 'small' ice cream cone I ever saw.

Cycling this trail (Warren-Ashtabula-Lake Erie & back, 97 miles total) in June 2021, I found no open restrooms, not even port-a-johns! Not in Trumbull County, anyway. I checked the buildings at Garret Wonders Trailhead in Warren, at North River Rd, and at the Sunside Trailhead on Center St in Champion. Nada! All buildings locked. No information about where to find a restroom. So I ended up squatting in the woods. Come on, Trumbull County - you can do better! Sure, we're in a pandemic currently, but people still need to go! And there are hardly any local businesses to fall back on.

At north end of trail, in Ashtabula, the new North Shore Trail (mostly bike lanes) to the lake needs to be much better marked, with a map. It is very easy to miss. And it's not in Google Maps yet.

We enjoyed this trail so much! Going under highway in tunnel was neat surprise! Very well maintained trail!

This pretty trail is less than ideal for only a few reasons: 1) parts are gravel and parts paved, which frustrates riders who crave pave 2) it can be quite hot on a warm day, with too little shade for long stretches, 3) it does not parallel a stream or river, for those who prefer to bike along waterways, and 4) if you want to do the whole trail from PA to WVA in one day, stay overnight, and come back the next, the good news is that there are at least 3 motels near the trail's end in Weirton. The bad news is that they're over 1 mile straight up a long hill from the trail's end, requiring bikers to ride on the berm of busy Rte. 22 (or take the longer Cove Rd.) to the lodging options at Three Springs Drive. For those who might want to travel from Weirton to Pittsburgh and stay over, I know of no lodging w/i 3 miles of the Walker's Mill endpoint.

May, 2021 we parked in Emlenton and biked North towards Franklin. We went from mile marker 98 (we think, didn't see one) to mile marker 111 at Sunny Slope. This was a 26 mile round trip. During our ride we went through the Rockland tunnel and Kennerdell Tunnel. Tunnels are lengthy, you can't see the other end, you need a light! Great ride except for a few bumpy sections in the asphalt from tree roots. No services along that stretch, take snacks and water.