Cowanshannock Trail

Pennsylvania

6 Reviews

The short but scenic Cowanshannock Trail is a great pathway for hikers, walkers, and bikers to use to link to the larger Armstrong Trail. The Cowanshannock is 1.27 miles long, and plans are to extend it as much as four miles.
The trail follows the Cowanshannock Creek on an abandoned Pennsylvania Railroad Company corridor. In the early part of the 20th century, the trail corridor was used to haul coal mined by the Kittaning Iron and Steel Manufacturing Company as well as brick made by the Cowanshannock Brick and Manufacturing Company and the Willard Brick Company.
The trail begins at the Bernard Snyder Picnic Area, a beautifully landscaped area with views of the Allegheny River. About halfway into the trail you will come to a beautiful waterfall on the right side of the trail. A pretty wooden bridge crosses the creek here. The trail ends at a cul-de-sac on the banks of the creek.

Parking and Trail Access

To Bernard Snyder Picnic Area trailhead: FollowJohnston Ave. north out of town for approximately three miles to Mcmillen Rd. Turn right into the Bernard C. Snyder Picnic Area parking lot.

Walked the trail on May 15th. It looks like they did alot of work on drainage, more stones and fencing. Well taken care of and a beautiful view.

May 2021 jlzeitler62

Walked the trail on May 15th. It looks like they did alot of work on drainage, more stones and fencing. Well taken care of and a beautiful view.

Closed March 2021 Trail Under Construction

April 2021 cynthiastarr.author

Closed for construction since March 8th no indication of when it will reopen. Really looking forward to hiking it since others said there are some pretty sights. To compensate the Armstrong Trail is across the road from the parking lot you can hike on the crushed gravel with the site of the river which runs beside it in the meantime.

Great Trail

April 2020 deannasoltis

Amazing trail! Easy to hike. Very scenic. The rapids in the creek are abundant. Very family friendly. Would highly recommend

A Very Old Railroad - 10/28/2014

January 2015 rich ballash

This very old rail line peeled away from the Allegheny Valley main line from the north, and I would guess that the branch had a connection leg to the south. I measured the trail length at 1.1 miles from the parking lot to the stubbed east end. Only a few rotten tires convey the fact that this steep shelf was once a rail line. The roadbed is very eroded, and the trail climbs a continuous steep grade up from the Allegheny. The trail is indeed very scenic, and also very remote. It looks like a real primeval forest, actually kinda scary. I wouldn't be surprised to see a bear or a snake up there among all those large rocks and the rushing water. That little bridge halfway up is very tight, barely wide enough to walk your bicycle across, and there is no trace of railroad bridge piers across that ravine it crosses. It will be real neat to see this little trail extended several more miles into the valley some time in the future. -Rich Ballash, Latrobe PA 10/28/2014.

Cowanshannock Trail Reviews

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Accordion

December 2014 elesea

Prettiest trail I've been on!

April 2010 croftj

For it's short length, the views are spectacular! The funnest part was the wooden bridge 2" wider than the space between the 2 front wheels on my tadpole trike. The trail ends at a some real big rocks in the creek which make for a nice set of tiny falls.