An iron bridge carries the rail trail over Pine Creek near Tiadaghton State Forest in Lycoming County, PA. (Nicholas A. Tonelli/CC BY 2.0)
On a Tuesday afternoon in late March, I hopped on my bike at the Patterson Trailhead in Wellsboro, PA, and headed north. Here in the center of Tioga County, snow from the night before still dusted pockets of shade along the trail.
It was early in the season for biking. But I was eager to explore the Pine Creek Rail Trail, which the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) proclaimed in February to be its 2026 Trail of the Year. And I wanted to begin here at the new Pine Creek Rail Trail Northern Extension, a roughly 3-mile stretch that extends the historic trail to the charming lamplit town of Wellsboro.
The original Pine Creek Rail Trail, completed in 2007, covered 62 miles from Wellsboro Junction, north of Wellsboro, to the curiously named town of Jersey Shore, where Pine Creek joins the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. It follows the path of an abandoned railroad bed that for 100 years carried trains loaded with timber, coal and passengers through Pine Creek Gorge. For centuries before that, Native Americans traversed the same path on foot.
The extension opened in October 2025 after more than two decades of effort by many groups, including DCNR, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Tioga County’s Planning Department and the Wellsboro community, which worked to secure funding and navigate the logistics of adding a trail along what was, until recently, a still-functioning railroad line. Ultimately, the railroad made way for the trail by releasing its claim on two miles of unprofitable rail.
I pedaled a minute before taking a quick detour to cross the first of many historic gems on the trail: a wrought iron bridge with an open-topped structure known as a Warren Pony Truss. It’s the last of its kind in Pennsylvania. Originally built in 1879 for trains, the bridge in more recent times served cars and trucks near Philadelphia. In 2020, PennDOT removed the bridge because it could no longer safely carry vehicles. Rather than scrap it, they sent it to Wellsboro. Here, refinished, it serves as a pedestrian bridge over Charleston Creek, connecting the trail extension directly to town.
Young cyclists travel a tree-lined stretch of the Pine Creek Rail Trail. (WoodleyWonderWorks/CC BY 2.0)
I pedaled back over the bridge and into leafless woods. Less than a mile in, I came to another railroad bridge — this one original to Wellsboro. And then another bridge and another as the trail carried me along and over Marsh Creek and its tributaries.
“I love the bridges,” Wellsboro local Linda Stager told me that morning over coffee in town. “They’re almost every tenth of a mile in some sections.” And Stager would know. She has detailed every bit of the trail in her book, The Pine Creek Rail Trail Guidebook: A Bicycle Ride Through History, published in its second edition in 2025.
The book is a fascinating companion for visitors interested in the trail’s history, flora, fauna and, critically, where to find access points and bathrooms.
After crossing a road, my view opened to meadows and homes with lawns just greening. A pair of common mergansers rode a stream current. A rehabbed railroad mileage sign read “L 107,” alerting me to my distance from Lyons, NY — the original railroad headquarters, according to Stager.
Railroad past then briefly gave way to railroad present as I came upon a short stretch where the trail runs along an operating railroad. Workers were putting the finishing touches on a fence separating the trail from the graffiti-covered freight cars behind it. The finely crushed limestone path beneath me, not yet tamped down, was soft.
The trail extension should be ready for all comers by mid-April, Tioga County Commissioner Marc Rice explained on a call before my ride. But visitors this spring, he said, should still be on the lookout for workers completing finishing touches like mulching and seeding.
Workers in late March put the finishing touches on a fence separating the trail from the active rail line that briefly runs alongside it near Wellsboro Junction.
Carolyn Beans
Past the railroad, I walked my bike across Route 287 and arrived at the Butler Road access point, an excellent place to grab a picnic bench and eat the sandwich I purchased in town that morning.
After tucking my trash in my bag, I continued on. Stager implores visitors like me to take care of the trail and themselves. Pack out trash. Never stack rocks in the creek. Carry water. She signs her book, “Travely kindly. The way we move through a place matters.”
Moving on from my picnic spot, the path roughly followed Marsh Creek. Soon, I came upon a retired couple on bikes. What brought them out on this chilly day? “We were tired of seeing snow at home,” said Barry Hurley of McKean County. He and his wife Marilyn have been visiting this trail for decades. Today, they were keen to spot a favorite harbinger of spring: wood ducks.
I pedaled on and found one of my own favorite springtime sights, the maroon hoods of skunk cabbage pushing up through muck.
As I passed a large pond, several ducks flew by, letting out the oo-eek, oo-eek that I later confirmed was the cry of a female wood duck. I hoped my new friends would catch them on their return.
Seven miles into my journey, I came to the Cavanaugh access area and a 0.6-mile loop through a meadow just off the rail trail. I walked a brief stretch past bluebird boxes on stakes, but I couldn’t find any residents.
Pine Creek parallels the rail trail near Waterville, PA, about 12 trail miles from its southern terminus. (Ruhrfisch/CC BY-SA 3.0)
After biking several more miles and crossing under a highway overpass, canyon walls began to rise on my left, coated in icicles dripping with early spring rains and snow melt. Here, Marsh Creek flows into Pine Creek, which runs more than 45 miles south through the canyon it carved: the Pine Creek Gorge, also known as the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon.
Over the previous hours, I never left civilization for long. A grove of pine and birch gave way to meadows, then farms. The whooshing of trucks occasionally blended with the rushing of water. While I chatted with the Hurleys, a distant bird called. I asked if it might be their wood ducks. No, Barry told me, that was a chicken.
In summer, veils of leaves provide a more natural escape. But still, there are cows and roads. There is the comfort of knowing help is nearby in the event of a busted tire or shoulder.
But here, at the opening of the canyon, wilderness begins. I wanted to bike in. But not alone.
“This is not a ride in the park,” Stager told me. In her book, she notes that many people describe the path that lay ahead as the most beautiful stretch of the Pine Creek Rail Trail. But she cautions that there is no food or reliable water — or easy trail access — for the next 16 miles.
And so, at the Darling Run access area, more than 11 miles from where I began, I turned back. The trail held more surprises on the return. A groundhog waddled along before darting under rocks. A bluebird finally appeared in a dogwood.
An old railroad bridge with a historic design known as a Warren Pony Truss now crosses Charleston Creek, connecting the extension to downtown Wellsboro.
Carolyn Beans
Soon, I began to feel the miles. The Pine Creek Rail Trail is blessedly flat. I felt like I was riding slightly downhill most of the time — both out and back. But Stager had warned me that this final stretch is more noticeably uphill, though ever so slightly.
As Wellsboro came back into view, I tallied up the visitors I’d seen that day. In five hours, I passed about a dozen walkers and three bikers.
In finer weather and on weekends, the trail is much busier. More than 44,000 people use the Pine Creek Rail Trail annually, according to DCNR. In addition to biking, they hike, fish and cross-country ski.
One major goal of the extension was to encourage some of these visitors to experience Wellsboro and give local businesses a boost. “The [extension] will bring more people into our community,” Rice said, adding that locals are already enjoying it. On a recent Thursday evening, he strolled along the trail with his family and spotted at least 30 others.
“We want you to come,” said Stager. “We want you to fall in love with it.”
If You Go
Visitors accessing the Pine Creek Rail Trail from Wellsboro, PA, can park in the large lot by the Patterson Trailhead Building at 32 Fellows Avenue. The welcome center offers trail maps, potable water, bathrooms and information on recreational activities in and around Wellsboro. The center is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and may expand its hours during peak tourist season and for special events. This trail map shows parking spots and access points.