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E-bikingBikingWalkingRunningHikingBirdingFishingCross-country skiingand more
The Bethlehem, Saucon, and Upper Bucks Rail Trail strings three rail trails into one 15 mile corridor on the former North Pennsylvania Railroad. It starts beside the old Bethlehem Steel works, follows the South Bethlehem Greenway through the city, then picks up the Saucon Rail Trail along Saucon Creek through Hellertown, Center Valley, and Coopersburg. The Upper Bucks Rail Trail carries it the last stretch into Springfield and Richland townships, ending at Veterans Park outside Quakertown. The grade is rail flat, rising gently the whole way south. It is paved in Bethlehem, crushed stone beyond, with one long boardwalk in Bucks County. Parks with restrooms mark most trailheads.
Bethlehem, Saucon, & Upper Bucks Rail Trail
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Bethlehem, Saucon, & Upper Bucks Rail Trail has about 117 to 167 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, running, e-biking, birding, biking, and walking, with April, May, and October the best months.
Hourly comfort scores for the next 15 days of weather, tuned to your activity and your own thresholds.
Plan your visit to this trail. Get the best windows for a comfortable outing.
Enjoy the Bethlehem, Saucon, & Upper Bucks Rail Trail!
In half of past years, color along the Bethlehem, Saucon, & Upper Bucks Rail Trail peaks October 27 to November 7, typically around November 1. The trail has 36% deciduous coverage, with the majority being northern red oak, red maple, yellow-poplar, white ash, chestnut oak, and black oak.
Ground was broken for the North Pennsylvania Railroad in Philadelphia on July 2, 1855. Three years later the line reached Bethlehem, and stagecoach trips that took eight hours now took three by train. The road hauled anthracite south from the Lehigh Valley, plus iron ore, grain, groceries, mail, and commuters. In 1879 the Philadelphia and Reading leased it, and the corridor became the Reading's Bethlehem Branch. Coal traffic peaked around the First World War. The Reading was folded into Conrail in 1976. SEPTA kept running commuter trains to Bethlehem until July 26, 1981, ending 124 years of passenger service. The last train ran in 1984. Bethlehem bought about 2.5 miles of the rail bed from Norfolk Southern in 2008 for the South Bethlehem Greenway. The same year SEPTA paid to lift the rails and ties from the Saucon stretch, and in 2009 it leased that corridor to Hellertown, Coopersburg, and the two Saucon townships for thirty years. The first phase of the Saucon Rail Trail opened in 2011 between Hellertown and Upper Saucon Township, and the trail later grew to 7.5 miles. Bucks County built the Upper Bucks Rail Trail south from Coopersburg and opened it on November 19, 2020. In 2025 Bethlehem bought the final 0.9 mile from Norfolk Southern to tie the Greenway to the Saucon trail at Hellertown.
Highlands Trail
