The Allegheny County Park System (website link) consists of almost 12,000 acres of land in nine regional parks within Allegheny County
click on image to enlarge
Blazing and Mapping Efforts
Countless hours of volunteer work - painting blazes on trees - has resulted in a significant proportion of the trails being very well marked (blazed). This excellent work not only included the actual blazing of the trails but determining which trails would be blazed. A lot of thought and hard work went into this effort.
click on image to enlargeFollow this link (article link) for a good article on the mapping and blazing of the trails at
Allegheny GIS Department (website link) has done a fantastic job of making publically available free maps of the parks. These maps typically indicate the blazed and non-blazed trails and were developed using GIS (Geographical Information System) mapping with GPS (Global Positioning System) technology (maps link).
click on image to enlargeStewardship
In addition to having a fantastic County Parks System, a group of tirelessly working volunteers "blazing" the trails, and Allegheny County GIS Department making very informative free maps of the trails - we are also extremely lucky to have the Pittsburgh Trails Advocacy Group (website link) acting on our behalf in the area. PTAG is a local not-for-profit, all volunteer organization founded in 2001 to help protect and encourage shared use trail access in Western Pennsylvania . They especially focus on single track trails used by mountain bikers, hikers and equestrians. PTAG helps maintains, designs, and builds sustainable trails in the Allegheny Regional Parks. PTAG Trail Stewards for the parks are listed with their contact information under each respective park below.
WANT TO HELP with trail maintenance or blazing trails, then check out: 1. PTAG’s website (website link) 2. Pittsburgh
ALLEGHENGY COUNTY PARK FACTS AND LINKS:In order of decreasing size:
Mountain biking trial description: By recent vote on the PORC trail Talk Forum (forum link) the most popular Allegheny County Park Allegheny County
Park size: 3,010 acres
Distance from City of Pittsburgh
Miles of trials: 43 miles
Minimum elevation: 925 feet
Maximum elevation: 1,300 feet
Elevation difference: 375 feet
GIS Map of Blazed & Paved Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/hwblazed2.pdfhttp://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/npblazed3.pdf
Mountain biking trial description: Another favorite venue for local mountain bikers, home to great single track.
Park size: 1,999 acres
Distance from City of Pittsburgh
Miles of trials: 17 miles
Minimum elevation: 925 feet
Maximum elevation: 1,245 feet
Elevation difference: 320 feet
Pennsylvania Dirt Trail Guide: No guide yet – stay tuned
Settler’s Cabin Park
Mountain biking trial description: Currently only 5.4 miles of trails blazed. Although there is a lot of elevation to be exploited at the park, the blazed trails are fairly flat but fast. The "hidden gem" in the Allegheny County Parks System. Imagine a mini Raystown Lake or Mochican State Park
Park size: 1,589 acres
Distance from City of Pittsburgh
Miles of trials: 22 miles
Minimum elevation: 865 feet
Maximum elevation: 1,265 feet
Elevation difference: 400 feet
PTAG trial steward: No Steward
Mountain biking trial description: Intricate web of intersecting single track.
Park size: 1,180 acres
Distance from City of Pittsburgh
Miles of trials: 21 miles
Minimum elevation: 945 feet
Maximum elevation: 1,325 feet
Elevation difference: 380 feet
Pennsylvania Dirt Trail Guide: No guide yet – stay tuned
Round Hill Park
Mountain biking trial description: Reported as overgrown track overgrown? Check out PORC forum post: forum link
Park size: 1,101 acres
Distance from City of Pittsburgh
Miles of trials: 13 miles
Minimum elevation: 805 feet
Maximum elevation: 1,235 feet
Elevation difference: 430 feet
PTAG trial steward: No steward
GIS Map of Blazed & Paved Trails: no map
Pennsylvania Dirt Trail Guide: No guide yet – stay tuned
Mountain biking trial description: Superb spiders-web of miles and miles of intersecting single track.
Park size: 1, 096 acres
Distance from City of Pittsburgh
Miles of trials: 21 miles
Minimum elevation: 1,000 feet
Maximum elevation: 1,365 feet
Elevation difference: 365 feet
PTAG trial steward: Barry Jeffries (info@dirtyharrys.net) & Howard Mitchell (howardmitch@hotmail.com)
GIS Map of Blazed & Paved Trails: no map
Pennsylvania Dirt Trail Guide: No guide yet – stay tuned
White Oak Park
Mountain biking trial description: Trails in development. Check out PORC forum post: forum link
Park size: 810 acres
Distance from City of Pittsburgh
Miles of trials: 4 miles
Minimum elevation: 830 feet
Maximum elevation: 1,265 feet
Elevation difference: 435 feet
GIS Map of Blazed & Paved Trails: no map
Pennsylvania Dirt Trail Guide: No guide yet – stay tuned
Mountain biking trial description: Miles of fun and challenging single track holding a ton of technical features, including: rock gardens, log crossings, switch-backs, drops, and steep plunges.
Park size: 629 acres
Distance from City of Pittsburgh
Miles of trials: 15 miles
Minimum elevation: 980 feet
Maximum elevation: 1,315 feet
Elevation difference: 335 feet
GIS Map of All Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/GIS/hw.pdf
Mountain biking trial description: Perfect riding for beginners. Many well maintained and groomed trails throughout the park with not much climbing - with some single track, but mostly wider maintained tracks.
Park size: 500 acres
Distance from City of Pittsburgh
Miles of trials: 20 miles
Minimum elevation: 855 feet
Maximum elevation: 1,235 feet
Elevation difference: 380 feet
Pennsylvania Dirt Trail Guide: trail guide link
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