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The North segment of the Indian Creek Valley Trail runs about eight miles down the upper valley from Jones Mills, near the corner of Route 31 and Route 381, through Champion and Melcroft to CW Resh Park in Indian Head and a short way beyond. It follows the old Indian Creek Valley Railroad along the east bank of Indian Creek, between Chestnut Ridge and Laurel Ridge. The surface is crushed limestone and the grade is rail flat, dropping only about 150 feet end to end. Woods cover most of the way, with open stretches at the small towns and the campground at Champion. Beyond the south end, the South segment continues past Mill Run into the Indian Creek gorge.
Indian Creek Valley Trail: North
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Indian Creek Valley Trail: North has about 107 to 153 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, e-biking, biking, birding, running, 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 Indian Creek Valley Trail: North!
In half of past years, color along the Indian Creek Valley Trail: North peaks October 18 to 27, typically around October 22. The trail has 58% deciduous coverage, with the majority being red maple, black cherry, northern red oak, and sugar maple.
The Indian Creek Lumber Company bought 5,347 acres of Laurel Hill timber and needed a railroad to move it. The Indian Creek Valley Railroad was chartered in 1902 and building began in 1906. By 1910 the line was finished, running 22 miles from a junction with the Baltimore and Ohio on the Youghiogheny River up Indian Creek to Jones Mills. Trains carried passengers, lumber, and coal from local mines through Mill Run, Indian Head, Melcroft, and Champion. Mining outlasted the timber. The Melcroft Coal Company worked the Lower Kittanning seam, and by the 1940s Koppers ran the mine as Indian Creek No. 4. The Baltimore and Ohio took over the right of way in 1926. The rail line officially shut down in 1975, the year the Melcroft mine closed. In 1976 the railroad donated the 22-mile right of way to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. Saltlick Township opened the first six miles of trail in 1989. The Mountain Watershed Association took on its first section in 1999 and opened a second phase in Donegal Township in 2009. The gorge section down to the Youghiogheny was finished in August 2019 after four years of work. In 2023 the association closed a half-mile gap in Mill Run, and it is now working to link the remaining pieces into 19 miles of continuous trail. The North segment holds the original 1989 township trail and the 2009 extension, from Jones Mills through Champion and Melcroft to Indian Head.
