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The Path of the Flood Trail runs about 14 miles down the Little Conemaugh River valley in Cambria County, from the breached South Fork Dam at the Johnstown Flood National Memorial to the Johnstown Flood Museum in Johnstown. It traces the route the 1889 flood wave took to Johnstown. The upper miles pass through South Fork and the reclaimed Stineman mine waste piles, with short on-road links. From Ehrenfeld to Mineral Point the trail settles onto a shaded riverside grade, then follows the old Allegheny Portage Railroad bed through the 901-foot Staple Bend Tunnel. Below the tunnel come a few short, steep pitches above Franklin, and the last three miles use city streets. Surfaces mix crushed stone, pavement, and packed earth.
Path of the Flood Trail
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Path of the Flood Trail has about 108 to 151 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 Path of the Flood Trail!
In half of past years, color along the Path of the Flood Trail peaks October 15 to 25, typically around October 19. The trail has 46% deciduous coverage, with the majority being red maple, black cherry, northern red oak, and sugar maple.
The Staple Bend Tunnel was the first railroad tunnel in the United States, cut through 901 feet of rock for the Allegheny Portage Railroad. Work began in November 1831 and finished in June 1833. The Portage Railroad carried canal boats and freight over the Allegheny Front between the two halves of the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal, and its western inclines ran beside the Little Conemaugh River along this corridor. The Pennsylvania Railroad bought the Portage line in 1857 and built its own route down the valley, and neither the new line nor the older New Portage used the tunnel. It became a carriage road instead. On May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam failed and the flood wave followed this valley to Johnstown, killing 2,209 people. Afterward the Manufacturer's Water Company laid water lines through the tunnel and closed it to the public. The tunnel was named a National Historic Landmark in 1994. In 2001 it became part of the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, and the National Park Service opened the two-mile Staple Bend Tunnel Trail from Mineral Point on the old railroad bed. The Cambria County Conservation and Recreation Authority has expanded off-road sections of the Path of the Flood Trail since 2002, working down the valley from Ehrenfeld and up toward South Fork. In spring 2023 the final 300 yards to the breast of the dam were completed, and the full trail now runs from the dam to the Johnstown Flood Museum.
