It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.
- Ernest Hemmingway
July 24, 2025
During a 16-day camping trip in July 2025 we visited state parks in New York and Pennsylvania. One morning, we rode our bikes on the Sandy Creek Trail in northwestern Pennsylvania.
The 12-mile-long paved trail is named for two separate Sandy Creeks; one at each end. It traverses the bed of the former Jamestown, Franklin & Clearfield Railroad, which was founded in the early 20th century to connect important industrial and agricultural centers. It played an important role in transporting goods and passengers across Pennsylvania and New York, then later became part of the Penn Central Railroad until it was discontinued.
The Sandy Creek Trail was completed in 2005. It runs east to west from the village of Van to Fisherman's Cove and winds along 8 miles of East Sandy Creek through hills, valleys and forest. The trail crosses over 7 bridges, goes through 1 tunnel, and crosses over the Allegheny River and the Allegheny River Trail just south of the town of Franklin. There are no services along the trail or at either end, so it's a good idea to pack some water, food and flashlights for the tunnel before heading out on the trail.
As an added bonus, at its eastern end, the Sandy Creek Trail is only a short distance from the Clarion Highlands Trail, and at its midpoint, it connects with the Allegheny River Trail. The trail is also part of the Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition, which is a network of trails spanning more than 1,500 miles across New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.
We started our ride at the Belmar Trailhead and headed east over the 1,385 foot-long Belmar Bridge. The former wooden train trestle has great views out over the Allegheny River, which was designated a National Wild & Scenic River, and you can see the Allegheny River Trail passing below the bridge's eastern end.
|
|
After crossing the bridge the trail crosses over the creek three times before it passes through a 100-year-old railroad tunnel. The tunnel, known as the Mays Mill or Deep Valley Tunnel, is 967 feet long. The tunnel's crumbling ceiling was improved by the building of a smaller tunnel inside of it and filling the gap with concrete and recycled tires.
|
 |
Just past the tunnel the trail crosses over the creek again on two high bridges.
|
|
From there the trail gradually climbs upward through hardwood and evergreen forests before ending just north of the community of Van.
Upon reaching the Van trailhead, we turned around and headed back again. But instead of returning to our truck after crossing over the Belmar Bridge, we continued southwest on the trail toward the western terminus at Fisherman's Cove. Here the path runs along a hillside above the Allegheny River for 4 miles.
|
|
We didn't ride all the way to Fisherman's Cove. The day was growing hot and we were getting hungry, so after a couple of miles we turned around and headed back to our truck, having completed about 19.5 miles for the entire trip. We enjoyed our ride on the Sandy Creek Trail. We're hoping to return to the area sometime so we can ride our bikes on some of the other trails in the area at some point in the future.
If you'd like to ride along with us on the trail, click here for our YouTube video.
* All photos and videos are the property of the blog owners unless otherwise noted. *
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.