Heading west through the National Mall, the DC route of the Great American Rail-Trail is hosted by five existing trails featuring some of America’s most renowned landmarks.
Winding northwest from Washington, D.C.—the C Canal Towpath trail terminates in Cumberland, Maryland, where it meets up seamlessly with the iconic Great Allegheny Passage.
Beginning at the Maryland–Pennsylvania border on the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage, the route travels to Pittsburgh and through downtown on the Three Rivers Heritage Trail.
The preferred route of the Great American Rail-Trail will travel through the northern panhandle of West Virginia and the town of Weirton, along the Ohio River. While it's the state with the fewest miles of the Great American Rail-Trail, the connectio
In Illinois, the preferred route of the Great American Rail-Trail includes iconic trails like the Hennepin Canal Parkway and the Illinois & Michigan Canal State Park Trail.
In Iowa, the preferred route includes well-established pathways such as the picturesque Cedar Valley Nature Trail and the nationally renowned High Trestle Trail.
The preferred route of the Great American Rail-Trail in Nebraska weaves through the urban areas of Omaha and Lincoln and more rural parts of the state along the Cowboy Recreation and Nature Trail.
RTC has identified a preferred route through the state that stretches from Casper, Wyoming, to Livingston, Montana including the Casper Rail-Trail and Platte River Trail.
The preferred route in Washington begins with the epic Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail and continue west to the Pacific Ocean along the burgeoning Olympic Discovery Trail.