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The Hoodlebug Trail is a paved rail trail of about 12 miles in central Indiana County, Pennsylvania. It runs south from School Street in Indiana, past the Indiana University of Pennsylvania campus, through Homer City, and on to Saylor Park in Black Lick, where it meets the Ghost Town Trail. The corridor is the old Indiana Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, so the grade stays gentle, with a slow descent from Indiana toward Black Lick. Much of the route is open and close to Route 119, with underpasses at the highways. South of Homer City the trail settles in beside Two Lick Creek and feels more remote. Access points include IUP South Campus, Floodway Park, and Red Barn.
Hoodlebug Trail
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Hoodlebug Trail has about 111 to 154 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, e-biking, running, biking, birding, and walking, 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 Hoodlebug Trail!
In half of past years, color along the Hoodlebug Trail peaks October 20 to 30, typically around October 25. The trail has 44% deciduous coverage, with the majority being red maple, black cherry, northern red oak, and yellow-poplar.
A gasoline-electric coach that locals called the Hoodlebug carried passengers and mail on this line until 1940. The corridor is far older than the railroad. It follows part of the Catawba Path, a Native American trail that ran from the Carolinas to upstate New York. In 1852 the Pennsylvania Railroad authorized the Indiana Branch, the first branch line it ever approved, to link the county seat at Indiana with its main line near Blairsville. It was the first railroad built in Indiana County. The branch served towns, factories, and mines between Torrance, at the Blairsville intersection, and Indiana. One of those factories was the Prairie State Incubator Company at Homer City, founded in 1887, which shipped its incubators to market by rail. By 1913 it was reported to be the largest incubator factory in the world. The Hoodlebug made its last run on April 18, 1940, and passenger service on the branch ended with it. Freight kept moving on the line for decades before the Homer City to Indiana section fell out of use. Indiana County Parks & Trails built the rail trail on the abandoned grade between the Homer City area and Indiana, then extended it south to Saylor Park in Black Lick, where it meets the Ghost Town Trail. A short connector was later added at the north end into the Indiana University of Pennsylvania campus.
