The Natural State’s newest rail-trail venture—the Southwest Trail—could bring both national attention and important local benefits.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) and the national trail community put itself on the front lines to protect and defend trails in 2018. Here are five ways we mobilized in communities this year.

Nestled into the gentle greens and golds of a vast prairie, rolling under leafy branches arched overhead like cathedral rooftops, and connecting small towns with friendly Midwestern charm, the Flint Hills Trail State Park proves there’s no place like Kansas.

Forming a nearly 12-mile paved loop around the city, the Mineral Belt Trail offers spectacular views around every bend.

The Cardinal Greenway is Indiana’s longest rail-trail and the newest member of the Rail-Trail Hall of Fame by RTC.

The LandLine Vision Plan—a newly proposed plan by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) that aims to complete a 1,400-mile connected network of regional trails.

Like the fabled yellow brick road, Georgia’s Augusta Canal Trail unfolds with a soft orange hue and unexpected delights with every footstep or turn of the wheel.

What’s better than a farmers’ market or community garden for providing locally grown food and encouraging good eating? Why, a market or garden next to a trail, of course!

Empire State Trail (EST): Shaped like a giant sideways T intersecting near Albany, the EST will connect three corners of the state: Manhattan, Buffalo and the Canadian border near Lake Champlain.