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The C and I Extension is the northern half of the Ghost Town Trail loop, 20 miles of crushed limestone from the Rexis Branch trailhead at Vintondale to the junction with the Main Line near the Route 219 underpass at Ebensburg. The Rexis Branch follows Blacklick Creek to White Mill, then Stritty's Way climbs past Belsano and Snake Road to Cardiff. Beyond Nanty Glo the newest miles cross Beulah Road and pass the company town of Revloc on the way to Ebensburg. The grade rises steadily toward Ebensburg, and the corridor is wooded nearly the whole way. The Main Line lies beyond both ends and closes the loop.
Ghost Town Trail: C & I Extension
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Ghost Town Trail: C & I Extension has about 104 to 148 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, e-biking, biking, running, walking, and birding, with May, September, 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 Ghost Town Trail: C & I Extension!
In half of past years, color along the Ghost Town Trail: C & I Extension peaks October 15 to 24, typically around October 19. The trail has 50% deciduous coverage, with the majority being red maple, northern red oak, and black cherry.
Wehrum had 250 houses, a bank, a jail, and a hotel, and by 1934 the last of its people were gone. Iron came to this valley before coal. The Eliza Furnace at Vintondale went into blast in 1846 and made about 1,080 tons of iron a year with 90 men and boys and 45 mules. It shut down in 1849. Coal came with the rails. The Ebensburg and Black Lick Railroad laid its line down Blacklick Creek, and the Pennsylvania Railroad ran it as a branch hauling coal from Vintondale and Wehrum. To the north, the Cambria and Indiana Railroad began in 1904 as a lumber road. By 1919 it served 23 mines around Colver, Revloc, and Nanty Glo. The mines closed one by one, and the closing of Mine 33 in 1994 ended the railroad. In 1991 the Kovalchick Salvage Company donated the first miles of the Ebensburg and Black Lick grade to Indiana County. The trail opened in 1994 between Dilltown and Nanty Glo. The C and I donated its Rexis Branch in 1993, and in 2005 another 20 miles carried the trail to Black Lick and Ebensburg. In 2026 the last two miles at Nanty Glo closed a 32 mile loop, the second longest rail trail loop in the United States. The C and I Extension is the Cambria and Indiana side of the story: the Rexis Branch out of Vintondale, Cardiff, Nanty Glo, and the company town of Revloc on the way to Ebensburg.
Ghost Town Trail: Main LineDuman Lake Trail
