16 Trails Featured in Movies and Television
Here at Rails to Trails, we think movies and trails have a lot in common. They both instill a sense of adventure, and they both inspire us with possibilities. Rail-trails and multiuse trails have starring roles in thousands of communities across America, and so it only makes sense that some would grace the silver screen as well.
For some cinematic fun, we’ve rounded up this list of trails featured in movies and television … paying homage to the pathways that connect great places seen in films, or that have played actual host to the (lights, camera) action. We hope you enjoy!
Note: We’ve tried hard to keep out spoilers for anyone who may not have seen the movies discussed below.
Pennsylvania’s Schuylkill River Trail + Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk
They are two of the most famous cinematic sprints in history: Underdog boxer Rocky Balboa’s (Sylvester Stallone’s) training runs in “Rocky” and “Rocky II” as the obscure Philly fighter with a dead-end job prepares to take on World Heavyweight Champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). It’s a movie that speaks to the heart of all individuals who has been underestimated and use their tenacity and passion to prove they can go the distance.
In both running montages—Rocky is seen on the Kelly Drive trail, a section of the 82.4-mile Schuylkill River Trail and larger 800-mile Circuit Trails network. In the first movie, keep an eye out about 30 seconds into the run, in which Rocky is seen in a pocket of trail just beyond an Amtrak bridge.
In his second and arguably more famous run (estimated to span 30.61 miles by the Philly Post), we see Rocky booking it along a grassy section of trail about 1 minute in, before he makes it to the Philadelphia Art Museum and is engulfed by cheering kids—and glory.
Fun Fact: The Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk, another section of the Schuylkill River Trail about a mile south of the museum, is featured briefly in the first “Creed” (2015) film—during Adonis Creed’s (Michael B. Jordan’s) first training session with Rocky.
California’s Santa Cruz Riverwalk – Boardwalk
The Santa Cruz Riverwalk is a 3.7-mile greenway that flanks both sides of the San Lorenzo River and ends (on its western prong) at the famous Santa Cruz Boardwalk, which has served as the setting for numerous films over the years. This includes the 1971 romance “Harold and Maude,” 1988’s somewhat kitschy (but you can’t look away) “Killer Klowns From Outer Space” and 1987’s “The Lost Boys”—a favorite of this author.
The Boardwalk is featured numerous times in the vampire-horror film, including where main character Michael (Jason Patric) meets half-vampire Star (Jami Gertz) for the first time, and where he has an epic motorcycle race with lead vampire David (Kiefer Sutherland). Across the river to the east is Cliff Drive Vista Point, which provides the best views of the boardwalk and its colorful amusement park, according to Santa Cruz County. From the west side, you can take an almost seamless route by crossing the river on the West Cliff Drive Bicycle Path and then heading south for 1 block on East Cliff Drive to the lookout point, which also features beautiful views of Monterey Bay.
“Go the Distance” – Iowa’s Heritage Trail
Just about 4 miles east of Iowa’s 30-mile Heritage Trail in Dyersville, you can visit the Field of Dreams Movie Site for the blockbuster 1989 film “Field of Dreams” (28995 Lansing Road; check the website for details). Highlights include the fictional Kinsella family home (formerly the family home of the Lansing family) and the cornfield-turned-baseball field built by character Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) to enable the ghost of pro baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson to play ball again.
Georgia’s Cricket Frog Trail – Covington Square
The Cricket Frog Trail spans 14+ miles through Newton County, from its northern end in the rural town of Covington south to Mansfield. Covington is described as having a “‘The Andy Griffith Show’ feel” by Southern Living and is affectionally called the “Hollywood of the South” for good reason: It’s estimated that more than 100 productions—film, television and streaming—have used the town as a backdrop.
Of note is downtown’s Covington Square, located just 2 blocks from the trail on Washington Street. It has been used for movies including “Selma” (2014), “The Cannonball Run” (1981) and “My Cousin Vinny” (1992)—just to name a few. Covington also served as the film location for Mystic Falls, Virginia, the fictional setting for the CW show “The Vampire Diaries,” which ran from 2009 to 2017. Covington celebrates its reputation as an entertainment hub with tours and nods to shows and movies in the town’s eclectic mix of restaurants and shops. People from all over the world visit Covington; the city estimates that movie and TV fandom helped bring 750,000 tourists to their community in 2023.
Oregon’s Row River Trail + California’s Great Shasta Rail-trail
Thirty-eight years after its release, “Stand by Me” (based on the Stephen King story “The Body”) stands as lasting testament to friendship and the human condition. Set in 1950s Oregon, the movie focuses on four 12-year-old boys—Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern—who set out on a 20-ish-mile journey by foot to find a dead body and, through the experience, face their own fragility.
Two trestles that help create memorable moments in the film are now accessible along rail-trails. Fourteen minutes in, the boys pause their journey at a short trestle to discuss the best route forward; this trestle—which was also featured in 1973’s “Emperor of the North” and 1926’s “The General”—is accessible at Harms Park in Cottage Grove along the 14-mile Row River Trail, part of the Covered Bridges Scenic Bikeway. Thirty-seven minutes in, we come to one of the film’s most famous scenes in which Gordie (Wil Wheaton) and Vern (Jerry O’Connell) find themselves in serious hot water due to an oncoming train. People can now walk and ride this trestle (sans barreling train!) along a short, disconnected section of the developing Great Shasta Rail-Trail that starts on the banks of Lake Britton.
Washington, D.C.’s C&O Canal Towpath
Director Joel Schumacher brilliantly captured the urban beauty of the Georgetown section of the 184-mile Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park (C&O Canal Towpath) in Washington, D.C., in his 1985 film “St. Elmo’s Fire,” which dives into the lives of seven friends who are either starting their professional lives or contemplating their uncertain futures post college. A short but memorable scene in which friends Leslie Hunter (Ally Sheedy) and Wendy Beamish (Mare Winningham) reflect on their relationships while walking along the canal frames the trail with a radiance and peace we all hope for when we consider paths in our lives and seek to recharge. It’s a scene that demonstrates how friendship, serenity and comradery can become one on the trail.
New York’s Wallkill Valley Rail Trail
When your mom and dad tell you not to make any noise, it’s a good idea to listen. This is a notion driven home in the 2018 movie “A Quiet Place,” in which an alien species with no sight but an acute sense of sound has destroyed most of humanity. The noisy automobile as a mode of transportation is out of the question, so early in the film, about 8.5 minutes in, we see a family heading home from a supply run on foot—bare feet, actually—on a route that includes a stunning rail-trail and rail bridge flanked by colorful foliage. The real route is the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail in New York, a designated National Recreation Trail by the National Park Service, and the trail section depicted in the film is the Springtown Bridge, located just off Springtown Road in New Paltz.
Happily, the real trail isn’t inhabited by people-eating aliens, but it does feature beautiful backdrops to make one’s trips by foot or bicycle pleasant, including historical sites on the area’s American Indian inhabitants and first European settlers, farmers markets, and the Mohonk Preserve and Minnewaska State Park Preserve to the west.
California’s Bayshore Bikeway – Hotel del Coronado
Take one look at the expansive, unique wonder that is the Hotel del Coronado, and it will be clear why the red and white, wooden Victorian-style resort, built in 1888, has had a featured role in feature films. Located at the northwestern end of the 25-mile Bayshore Bikeway encircling San Diego Bay (part of the 2,600-mile Bay Area Trails Collaborative regional trail network), the National Historic Landmark has hosted movie crews, authors, national heroes (like Charles Lindberg) and U.S. presidents. An early popular movie that used the hotel as a backdrop is “The Pearl of Paradise,” which was filmed in 1916 and stars Margarita Fischer. The exterior of the hotel is featured in the famous comedy “Some Like It Hot,” starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, and the hotel also had an “explosive” role (requiring construction of a fake tower) in 1977’s “The Stunt Man.”
A convenient starting point on the trail to view the hotel is Coronado Ferry Landing Park near First Street and B Avenue, which has parking, restrooms and bike rentals. Winding south for just under 3 miles, you’ll pass the awe-inspiring Coronado Bridge and a beach as well as the iconic hotel.
Fun Fact: Author L. Frank Baum wrote “Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz” while residing at the Hotel del Coronado.
Nebraska’s Oak Creek Trail – Loma
Located about an hour’s drive or less from both Omaha and Lincoln in Nebraska, the 13-mile Oak Creek Trail offers a mostly picturesque, rural experience as it travels between the small towns of Brainard and Valparaiso. About midway on the route, the Oak Creek Trail passes through the tiny community of Loma, population 54 (as of the 2000 U.S. Census), which was built in the 1870s with the emergence of the Union Pacific Railroad.
If you say Loma has a remote feel, you’d be right! That’s what made it the perfect setting for 1995’s “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar” about three New York City-based drag performers (Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo) who get stranded for a week in the fictional small town of Snydersville, Nebraska, on a road trip to Hollywood. Loma has a trailhead with parking and restrooms, where you can get a good view of the community and buildings featured in the film, including St. Luke’s Czech Catholic Shrine and the Loma Tavern (not currently operating). On the side of a building that’s now used for storage, you can still see a very faded sign reading, “Welcome to Snydersville.”
Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail + Old Seven Mile Bridge
In the Florida Keys, near mile marker 47 of the Overseas Highway (US 1), is the Old Seven Mile Bridge—part of the 106-mile, ocean-flanked Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail. With history stretching back to Standard Oil co-founder Henry Flagler’s Florida Keyes Overseas Railroad (1912), the bridge—which historically connected the Middle Keys to the Lower Keys—was replaced by the new Seven Mile Bridge in 1982, but quickly found new life as a fishing pier and movie star, making appearances in both 1989’s “License To Kill” starring Timothy Dalton and 1994’s “True Lies” with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Today, you can enjoy a few thrills and some adventure of your own making as you walk and bike 65 feet above the ocean on the 2.2 miles of the bridge between Marathon and Pigeon Key that were closed for restoration in 2018 and reopened in 2022 as a linear park. Pigeon Key also offers additional adventures of the outdoor kind—including camping, snorkeling and wildlife viewing—as well as a museum and tours on the history of the island and the railroad.
North Carolina’s American Tobacco Trail – Durham Bulls Athletic Park
The 22-mile American Tobacco Trail is a star in and of itself in the Triangle Region of North Carolina (a metro area including Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill), connecting from Durham to Apex and featuring retail and entertainment destinations like the American Tobacco Campus, as well as diverse rural sections with wildlife and majestic vistas. But the northern trailhead boasts a special feature just across the street—the Durham Bulls Athletic Park—which served as the home of the minor league baseball team made famous in the 1988 film “Bull Durham” starring Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon. The stadium was expanded in 1995. Character Crash Davis’ (Costner’s) retired number 8 is now recognized on a plague in the front of the park.
Indiana’s National Road Heritage Trail – Hoosier Gym & Museum
Underdogs are a beloved archetype in the world of film—those who rise above doubts, skepticism and expectations (others’ or their own) to achieve a goal. We’ve seen this on the trail many times, and it’s inspiring.
We started our list with “Rocky,” and it seems fitting to end with another tale of triumph, the 1985 feel-good-in-your-soul film “Hoosiers.” In it, a coach seeking redemption (Gene Hackman) and a small, underestimated high school basketball team, the “Hickory Huskers,” shows the world a thing or two about teamwork and passion. Many scenes in the movie were filmed at the former Knightstown Gym, known today as the Hoosier Gym & Museum, which is located less than a mile north of the western end of the National Road Heritage Trail, an 8-mile route in two segments that runs through rural Henry County, from Knightstown to Lewisville. In 2021, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution celebrating 100 years of the gym, which draws 60,000+ visitors each year, and the 35th anniversary of the film.
Trailside Features on Television:
Washington State’s Snoqualmie Valley Trail – Snoqualmie Falls
Along the 29.5-mile Snoqualmie Valley Trail, which connects Cedar Falls to Duvall in Washington (view the trail profile at TrailLink.com for directions), you’ll find the breathtaking Snoqualmie Falls, a 270-foot waterfall that was featured in some scenes from David Lynch’s ethereal “Twin Peaks” television series (circa 1990), and now receives 1.5 million+ visitors a year.
Related: Trail of the Month: Washington’s Snoqualmie Valley Trail (August 2021)
Hawai’i’s Waialua Beach Road Bike Path – Old Sugar Mill
Oahu, Hawai’i’s, North Shore comprises beautiful beaches and backdrops that have made for some great TV sets, including for the ABC television series “Lost” (2004–2010) about a group of passengers stranded on a tropical island after a plane crash. Highlight: Along the 2.5-mile Waialua Beach Road Bike Path (Goodale Avenue and Kealohanui Street) is the former Waialua Sugar Mill, which served as the Nigerian village in season 2, episode 10.
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