On Celebrate Trails Day, Rails to Trails Conservancy calls on America to go for a walk, run or bike ride in a demonstration of the joy and impact trails bring to the nation

Wildlife corridors join one natural landscape to another, allow animals to migrate between habitats and access critical resources.

Here’s a list of unique trails for runners around the country, combining scenery with interesting features.

Celebrate Trails Day 2024 was celebrated in all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Our partners planned more than 240 celebrations.

A wintertime trail brings a whole new way to explore such as cross-country ski, snowshoe, fat-tire bike or take a walk through the snow.

The first step of the Manitou Incline begins at 6,600 feet above sea level, and it gains almost 2,000 feet in just under a mile. The average grade for the trail is 45% and is as steep as 68% in places.

Depending on where you live, this time of year may mean the prolonged dregs of winter, early signs of Spring, or some variation on “mud season.” But for most of the country—regardless of climate or geography—it’s also the height of the state legislative season.

Most states’ general assemblies are part-time, and generally convene in the early part of each calendar year. All but a handful of states are currently in session. So what does this mean for trails and active transportation funding in states?

I was in town primarily to explore a relatively thin strip of those public lands, the 22-mile Colorado Riverfront Trail. The Riverfront Trail is actually a conglomeration of multiple (mostly) connected trails that join the trio of communities along with state parkland—including four of the five separated sections of James M. Robb–Colorado River State Park, known locally as a “string of pearls,” and several community parks.

Below, we’ve spotlighted a handful of the exciting new rail-trails that have opened up around the country this year, as well as the broader trail networks they tie into.