Interpretive markers along sections of the trail provide information about the long-gone mining towns, as well as some of the historical features you’ll pass. You’ll soon make one of several crossings over Blacklick Creek-your near-constant companion along the route-and encounter a salvage yard of discarded rail cars, their rusted hulks seeming to bloom among the trees. Note that Saylor Park, where you begin your ride, is also a trailhead for the 10.5-mile Hoodlebug Trail. Spread over 32 miles, the slope is gradual, and you’ll end in the town of Ebensburg, the largest along the route, with dining and brewery options available after the ride. The trail rises a bit more than 1,000 feet from west to east, so if you’re planning a one-way trip, it might be tempting to start at the eastern trailhead and ride downhill resist the urge and make an uphill ride instead. Black bears have even been spotted crossing the trail!

Once the sun gets high, watch out for the occasional snake sunning itself on the warm pathway. Coexisting with these industrial castoffs is a variety of wildlife hit the trail early enough and you’re likely to encounter deer and more than a few chipmunks.

You’ll pass massive iron furnaces, long-disused tipples (equipment that loaded railroad cars with coal), slag (a by-product of mining), old railroad ties, and other artifacts attesting to the path’s rich rail history. The crushed-limestone trail winds through the scenic Blacklick Creek watershed east of Pittsburgh and offers a 32.3-mile main stem from the small community of Black Lick eastward to Ebensburg, as well as a 12.2-mile spur. The pathway is also part of the Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition’s developing 1,500-mile trail network through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and New York. Established in 1991, the Ghost Town Trail is a designated national recreation trail. When the coal-mining industry started declining in the early 1900s, so too did the towns along the rail route, eventually fading into the ghost towns of today. Part of a larger system in Western Pennsylvania known as the Trans Allegheny Trails, the Ghost Town Trail was named for the long-abandoned towns strung along the tracks of the Ebensburg & Black Lick Railroad and Cambria and Indiana Railroad.

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