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Key takeaways
- Train-to-trail trips let travelers cover long distances by rail, then explore towns and landscapes at a slower pace.
- The Great American Rail-Trail crosses through 12 states and Washington, D.C.
- Many popular trails trace former rail corridors, preserving historic routes while creating car-free places.
Since 2009, Jim Sharpe, 75, and his wife, Debby Stein Sharpe, 71, have hopped on trains all over the country, then hit local hiking or biking trails. The goal: to enjoy slow travel adventures.
There was the train to Savannah, Georgia; another to Buffalo, New York; the Hennepin Canal Trail in Illinois; and the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP). On the Erie Canalway Trail in 2024, they sang a song they’d learned as children, “Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal.”
“I’m getting choked up because it’s been such an awesome experience,” says Stein Sharpe, recounting their 16 rail-to-trail adventures, all organized on a spreadsheet.
“We got to see the backyards of America,” Sharpe adds.
A slow adventure
Some of the trails you can enjoy by foot or bike were once former railways — adding that little bit of extra history. Train-to-trail travel allows people to take “the time to appreciate all that the country has to offer,” says Brandi Horton, a spokesperson for the Rails to Trails Conservancy (RTC), a national organization that helps preserve abandoned rail corridors by converting them into trails.
When RTC was founded 40 years ago, the country had only about 1,000 miles of multiuse trails. Today there are more than 41,400 miles, and 26,000 of those were converted from abandoned rail lines, which are no longer in place. Many converted trails were once part of the transcontinental railroad, completed in 1869. It connected the East and West coasts by rail.
Over time, the railroad industry decommissioned miles of redundant tracks. Decades after they were abandoned, RTC started turning the rails into trails.
Now, RTC is building the Great American Rail-Trail. It will link the East and West coasts with 3,700 miles of multiuse, car-free trails through 12 states. It is expected to be completed in the next several decades as investment, land acquisition, permitting, regulatory process and community engagement are secured, Horton says.
“While the timeline to complete the Great American Rail-Trail feels far away, it is being built every single day with new miles coming online,” Horton says.
David Sain took in the views from the observation deck of the Southwest Chief train during his trip from Kansas to Pennsylvania’s GAP trail in 2024. “That was pretty spectacular. I just sat up there and watched the landscape go by and drank coffee and enjoyed the ride,” says Sain, 63, who hiked the GAP trail with two friends once he arrived.
The growth rate in outdoor recreation among adults 55 and older was 12.6 percent in 2024, the highest of any age group, according to the Outdoor Foundation, an organization focused on getting people outside. The top three outdoor recreational activities for those over 55 include birding (44.3 percent), wildlife viewing (33.8 percent) and hiking (28.3 percent), according to the foundation.
“I think trails are like America’s best visitor centers,” says Doug Riegner, 54, who has enjoyed both the GAP and the C&O (Chesapeake & Ohio) Canal Towpath. He started his adventures in Pittsburgh and then, at the end, jumped on the train in Washington, D.C., for his ride home. “The ultimate Uber experience,” he calls it.
Discover the completed sections of the nation’s Great American Rail-Trail — first by train, then by trail.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath is accessible from Union Station in Washington, D.C. Here, the C&O Canal National Historic Park in Great Falls, Maryland.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Union Station, Washington, D.C.
This neoclassical station was completed in 1908. After a renovation, it reopened in 1988 as an urban hub for local and commuter rail.
