Best Places for Walking and Biking in USA
Walking and biking keeps you healthy, reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. Whilst you may cycle and walk to work in your home town, there are many great places for walking and biking in the USA that do not include being worried about the motor traffic congestion or air quality when you are out and about. Here are some of the best places for walking and biking in the USA where you can enjoy spectacular scenery:
Katy Trail, Missouri
The Katy Trail runs from Clinton to St. Charles, a distance of more than two-hundred miles making it one of the longest rail-trails in the country and a great escape for thousands of bikers and walkers who visit each year. Along the flat and winding route you will pass restored stretches of native prairie, limestone bluffs and travel through wine country.
George S. Mickelson Trail, South Dakota
An adventurous 109-mile rail trail in South Dakota’s Black Hills, known by the Lakota natives as Paha Sapa and “the heart of everything that is”. Walk or bike through ponderosa pine forests, prairie lands, rugged mountain terrain, rocky canyons and creeks where you can stop for a swim.
Northfield, Minnesota
The natural beauty of Northfield’s Roberwalk, located along the shores of the Cannon River is wonderful offers views, including a waterfall. The Cowling Arboretum at Carleton College provides almost nine-hundred acres of conservation area for walkers and bikers. The Mill Towns State Trail, a 3-mile-long recreational route links Northfield with nearby towns.
Banks Vernonia Trail, Oregon
The flat and well-paved Banks Vernonia Trail lies among a forest of Douglas firs and cedar trees forty-five minutes west of Portland. The route follows a peaceful 21-mile train-line that dates back to the 1920s. The links to the trail’s past are thirteen beautiful old bridges and the wooden rail-road trestles.
Sunset Pier, Key West, Florida
At under 8 square miles, Key West is one of the best towns for walkers and bikers. With gorgeous coastlines, warm weather, and lush vegetation, historic architecture, plentiful parks, conservatories and gardens, there is much to enjoy. The Key West Historic District has more than three thousand wooden buildings dating from about 1886 to 1912.
Carriage Trails, Acadia National Park, Maine
The forty-seven-thousand-acre Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island in Maine offers more than forty miles of wide, car-free carriage roads. Route options include the 8.5-mile Giant Slide, the Jordan-Bubble Ponds and the Eagle Lake Loops. Waterfalls, stone bridges and views of the granite coast are just some of the highlights for walkers and bikers.
Princeton, New Jersey
An abundance of state parks, camp-grounds, and other outdoor attractions attract walkers and cyclists. The Delaware-Raritan Canal State Park, Princeton Battlefield State Park, Barbara Boggs Sigmund Park, Greenway Meadows, and the Institute Woods/Charles W. Rogers Wildlife Refuge are just a handful of locations in the city for walkers and bikers to enjoy.