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foliage abounds along the Allegheny River Trail.

      About 3.2 miles past the bridge, you’ll find Indian God Rock, a large boulder at the water’s edge with numerous inscriptions, including American Indian petroglyphs, carved in the soft sandstone. A viewing platform offers a nice panorama, though vandals have destroyed most of the figures on the rock.

      Four miles past the viewing platform, the trail veers onto gravelly North Kent Road for 0.75 mile through the Sunny Slopes community. Back on the asphalt trail, you’ll pass through the 3,300-foot-long Kennerdell Tunnel and, in another 6 miles, the Rockland Tunnel (2,868 feet long). Both of these tunnels have doglegs and are dark, so you’ll need a flashlight.

      Emerging from the second tunnel, you’ll arrive in Emlenton in 6 miles, the end of this section of trail. You can catch a bite here and soak in the local history at the Pumping Jack Museum with its collection of oil-drilling relics.

      A 4.5-mile trail gap exists between Emlenton and Foxburg. Part of the route, a dirt-surfaced pathway that accommodates mountain bikes, travels through private property and is not passable as of 2019.

      The trail resumes 4.5 miles downstream in Foxburg, a tourist destination known for its riverfront dining, wine cellars, and historical RiverStone Estate located just uphill from the trail 1 mile south of town. You’ll cross the Clarion River in another 0.5 mile and reach the path’s end at the PA 368 bridge to Parker.

      CONTACT: avta-trails.org/allegheny-samuel-trails.html

      DIRECTIONS

      To reach the northern trailhead in Franklin from I-80, take Exit 29 to PA 8/Pittsburgh Road. Head north on PA 8, and go 16.4 miles. Turn right onto Liberty St. Go 0.4 mile, and curve right to stay on Liberty St., and then go 0.7 mile, and turn left onto US 322/Eighth St. Go 0.5 mile, and turn right at the sign for Samuel Justus Recreation Trail. Turn right into the parking lot. Access the Allegheny River Trail at the south end of the parking lot.

      To reach the trailhead in Emlenton from I-80, take Exit 42 to PA 38/Oneida Valley Road. Head north on PA 38, go 0.3 mile, and turn right onto PA 208/Emlenton Clintonville Road. Go 1.6 miles, and turn left to stay on PA 208/Fifth St., crossing the bridge. Go 0.2 mile, and turn left onto Main St., and then go 0.2 mile to enter the bike-share lane for parking about 0.1 mile ahead. Access the trail at the northern end of the parking lot to head toward Franklin.

      To reach the trailhead in Foxburg, follow the directions above to PA 208/Emlenton Clintonville Road. Go 2.2 miles, and continue onto PA 268 S. Go 2.8 miles, and turn left onto PA 58/Foxburg Bridge. Go 0.2 mile, and turn right onto Main St., and then go 300 feet, and look for parking on the right. Access the trailhead at the southern end of the parking lot, on the left side of River Road.

      To reach the trailhead in Parker, follow the directions above to PA 268 S. Go 5.5 miles, and turn left onto PA 368. Go 0.3 mile, crossing the bridge, and turn left onto Perryville Road. Go 0.1 mile (heading in a circular direction toward the water), and look for parking on the right.

      2 Armstrong Trail

      

      Counties

      Armstrong, Clarion

      Endpoints

      Just south of Hillville Road at T351 to the end of Riverview Dr., 1.7 miles west of Prospect St. (Rimersburg); Rex-Hide Dr. and Purdum St. (East Brady) to Rosston Boat Ramp at Rosston Cir., 1,000 feet southwest of Ross Ave. (Rosston)

      Mileage

      35.5

      Type

      Rail-Trail

      Roughness Index

      1, 3

      Surface

      Asphalt, Crushed Stone

      The Armstrong Trail connects riverfront towns along the east bank of the Allegheny River as it winds through the lush Allegheny Plateau. The flat trail, currently 35.5 miles, follows the river downstream from Upper Hillville to Rosston, passing relics from the area’s railroading and industrial past.

      The Allegheny Valley Railroad began laying tracks in 1853, and by 1870 the railroad ran between Pittsburgh and Oil City. Absorbed by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1900, the corridor went through several ownership changes until the Allegheny Valley Land Trust acquired it in 1992 for a trail. Court challenges delayed construction of some trail sections, resulting in today’s mix of surfaces, which include asphalt and crushed stone.

      The Redbank coaling tower served as a refueling station by dropping coal into the storage bins of locomotives from 1930 to 1957.

      The Armstrong Trail is part of the 270-mile Erie to Pittsburgh Trail that will run from Presque Isle on Lake Erie to Pittsburgh’s connection with the Great Allegheny Passage; it’s also part of the Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition’s developing 1,500-mile trail network through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and New York. In addition, it connects with the Redbank Valley Trail, which runs east from the Armstrong Trail for more than 40 miles and includes a 9-mile spur leading to Sligo.

      East Brady is the best place to start for an uninterrupted trip down the trail. A closed tunnel the railroad built as a shortcut across a river bend isolates an orphaned 4.5-mile crushed-stone segment upriver. You’ll travel on short stretches of gravel road as you leave town.

      Just past Phillipston in 2 miles, look for an old railroad turntable left over from the days when the railroad serviced locomotives here. In another 1.2 miles, you’ll see the southern entrance to the 0.5-mile 1915 Brady Tunnel; future plans call for renovating and reopening it to connect the northern segment to the rest of the trail. In a little less than 1.5 miles later, you’ll pass the coaling tower used to replenish locomotives from 1930 until 1957, when diesel power replaced steam.

      The junction for the Redbank Valley Trail and Sligo Spur is just past here, joining the Armstrong Trail at the confluence with Redbank Creek. The Armstrong Trail rolls nearly 2 miles to Allegheny River Lock and Dam 9, built in 1938 as the farthest upstream navigation impoundment (a dam located farther north is for flood control).

      Over the next 7.5 miles, the route passes through small communities to Templeton, where you can find a diner and a campground. You’ll pass another dam and lock structure a little over 2 miles past Templeton, and 4 miles later you’ll come to a junction with the 1.2-mile Cowanshannock Trail, which climbs uphill along a spur line that served a coal mine and brick plant and today passes Buttermilk Falls in Cowanshannock Creek.

      In less than 2 miles, you’ll enter Kittanning, named for a Shawnee and Lenape village that was destroyed during the French and Indian War. Today it’s the largest borough on the trail and home to a wide variety of restaurants, as well as the old train station at Grant and Reynolds Avenues. Continuing south takes you to Ford City, founded in 1887 as the company town for Pittsburgh Plate Glass, at one time the largest glassmaker in the nation. The company left town in the 1990s, but the worker’s entrance is preserved at trailside Memorial Park.

      The path ends just a couple more miles past Ford City at Rosston Boat Ramp. Beyond the dilapidated bridge over Crooked Creek, the Kiski Junction Railroad continues

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