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E-bikingBikingWalkingRunningHikingBirdingCross-country skiingand more
The Buffalo Valley Rail Trail runs about nine and a half miles across the floor of Union County's Buffalo Valley, from Mifflinburg east to Hufnagle Park in downtown Lewisburg. It follows the old rail line beside Route 45 through working farmland, with open fields on both sides and hedgerows that close in like a green tunnel in places. The grade is rail-flat, with about a hundred feet of gentle descent toward Lewisburg. Both ends are paved and the middle section is crushed gravel. A rest stop near Vicksburg, at the halfway point, has restrooms, picnic tables, and parking. Interpretive signs tell the valley's farming and industrial story, and the Lewisburg end lands among cafes and bike shops near Bucknell University.
Buffalo Valley Rail Trail
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Buffalo Valley Rail Trail has about 117 to 160 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, birding, biking, e-biking, running, 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 Buffalo Valley Rail Trail!
In half of past years, color along the Buffalo Valley Rail Trail peaks October 22 to November 4, typically around October 28. The trail has 15% deciduous coverage, with the majority being red maple, black cherry, northern red oak, chestnut oak, white oak, and white ash.
The last freight on this valley line rolled in the early 1980s, ending about 130 years of railroading between Lewisburg and Mifflinburg. The railroad had served industrial shippers in the Buffalo Valley since the 1850s, linking the farm towns of Union County to the Susquehanna River at Lewisburg. After the trains stopped, the corridor sat idle for most of three decades. The trail opened in 2011, built partly in asphalt and partly in gravel along the 60-foot right-of-way. Interpretive signs went up along the route to tell the farming and industrial story of the valley the rails once served. In 2018 the Union County Board of Commissioners created the Union County Trail Authority to own and manage the trail and to push future trail development in the county. Today the authority runs the trail from dawn to dusk year-round, and the next goal is to carry it across the Susquehanna on the rail trestle into Montandon.
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