C&O Canal Trail on the Great American Rail-Trail

The C&O Canal and GAP are part of the Great American Rail-Trail, a 3700-mile bike route across the United States, from Washington DC to Seattle. This coast-to-coast route uses rail-trails and greenways for a car-free path across the country.

Although this ambitious project will take years to complete, over half of the Great American Rail-Trail already exists. The C&O makes up the Maryland portion of the route, and most of the Pennsylvania portion is comprised of the Great Allegheny Passage.

This map, from the Rails-to-Trail Conservancy, shows the route. Green and green-yellow sections are already developed, red sections still need to be developed, and the white boxes are not yet determined.

Click here for an interactive version of this map (if you don't see the trail on the map, try a different browser; we've had better luck with Edge)

Major rail-trails in the Great American Rail-Trail include:

C and O Canal Towpath (Washington DC and Maryland)
Great Allegheny Passage (Pennsylvania)
Ohio to Erie Trail (Ohio)
I&M Canal Trail (Illinois)
Hennepin Canal Parkway (Illinois)
Cowboy Trail (Nebraska)
Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes (Idaho)
Palouse to Cascades Trail (Washington)

Major cities along the route include:

Washington DC
Cumberland MD
Pittsburgh PA
Columbus OH
Dayton OH
Muncie IN
Chicago IL (southern suburbs)
Joliet IL
Davenport IA
Cedar Rapids IA
Omaha NE
Lincoln NE
Casper WY
Bozeman MT
Missoula MT
Seattle WA

For more information, visit GreatAmericanRailTrail.org