In the late 19th century, the prime mode of transportation in this country was the train, with vast expanses of the U.S. traced by a network of tracks.
As air and car travel have become dominant, rail corridors have been left abandoned, often tangled with weeds and strewn with debris. Some rail beds have new lives as multiuse paths, aka rail trails, for bicycling and other human-powered activities. Most are flat or bear a gentle grade, perfect for leisurely connecting with nature and the surrounding communities.
These six are some of the best in Washington state, showing off a slice of each area’s history, culture and natural beauty.
Burke-Gilman Trail
Coursing along the corridor once followed by the former Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway, this beloved 20-mile trail takes a waterfront route from a sandy beach at Golden Gardens Park in Ballard to the city of Bothell, atop Lake Washington. At the Ballard Locks, watch watercraft move from the freshwater lakes to Puget Sound, or see salmon run the fish ladder come summer. At Gas Works Park, a scenic lakefront expanse dotted with the rusting remains of a former industrial plant, the views of the Space Needle across Lake Union are stunning.
Centennial Trail
Named for the state’s centennial in 1989, when the trail’s construction began, this 30-mile path offers lessons in history, including at North Cove Park in Lake Stevens, where the restored 1904 Grimm House, a former millwright’s dwelling, offers tours at select times. At the start of your ride, downtown Snohomish is worth lingering in for many reasons, including the dozen or so antique shops along First Street, and the architecture, displaying everything from Gothic Revival to Victorian styles. Once you reach downtown Arlington, near the trail’s terminus, check out the whimsical outdoor sculptures, including a bench topped with a wooden cougar. Then continue to the northern trailhead, where the historical Nakashima Heritage Barn recognizes this Japanese American family of dairy farmers who were sent to incarceration camps in 1942.
Cascade Trail
Despite its proximity to Highway 20, there’s a serene vibe on this bucolic, 22-mile route peppered with benches. You can mindfully relax and contemplate the mist-coated North Cascades across the valley, or admire the Skagit River that the trail partly follows. Pedaling the crushed stone path along the old bed of the Great Northern Railway from Sedro-Woolley to Concrete, many people veer off route a short distance to access Rasar State Park for its trout fishing, bird-watching and placid riverfront beach. At the trail’s end, towering concrete silos welcome you to the same-named town once home to a duo of cement plants. Don’t miss biking across the old single-span concrete bridge that, in the early 1900s, was the longest in the West.
Olympic Discovery Trail
This 92-mile route that wanders west from charming Port Townsend is a work in progress. (Once completed, it’ll traverse approximately 135 miles, from Puget Sound to the Pacific Ocean.) With a section following part of the abandoned corridor of the railroad known as Milwaukee Road, you’ll bike on myriad bridges across dozens of rivers and streams, including a historic timber truss spanning the tumbling Dungeness River. The landscape varies from prairielike in the east to dense woodlands becoming more abundant the farther west you go. Riding in Olympic National Park around the north shore of Lake Crescent that’s rimmed with mountain ridges is among the most picturesque sections of the route. Another attractive portion heads to Sequim, which is renowned for its expansive lavender fields (in July).
Snoqualmie Valley Trail
Named for the largest tribe of the Indigenous Coast Salish people who have long occupied this area, this 31-mile, packed-gravel rail trail parallels the sparkling Snoqualmie River from Duvall to Cedar Falls, with numerous trestle crossings on the way. (The gradient of the last two-thirds climbs 400 feet.) You’ll bicycle past farmland surrounding Duvall to Snoqualmie, famous for its gushing waterfall, as well as the Northwest Railway Museum, which shows off a collection of locomotives and railroad cars. The summer is especially delightful when the landscape is draped with trillium and other wildflowers, as well as wild blackberry bushes. At Rattlesnake Lake in Cedar Falls, explore the education center where a rain-activated art installation references the area’s ecology and Indigenous culture.
Spokane River Centennial State Park Trail
Following the inactive right of way of two former railroad companies, including the Great Northern Railway, the 40-some-mile Spokane River Centennial State Park Trail (aka the Centennial Trail) rolls from Riverside State Park to the Idaho border. (The name indicates that the trail was commemorated during Washington’s centennial.) The sunny eastern portion leading to Riverfront Park (site of the 1974 Expo) in Spokane is relatively flat and placid along the river, where you can swim. (Divers at Boulder Beach come to check out underwater rock formations.) Continuing west from Riverfront Park, cyclists find a more undulating route, with a wilder, forested landscape, especially in Riverside State Park. There, Deep Creek Canyon bears impressive fossil beds dating to 11,000 years ago, basalt rock outcroppings and gushing waterfalls.
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