Butler-Freeport Community Trail

Mapped location of Butler-Freeport Community Trail

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Overview

The Butler-Freeport Community Trail is the corridor of the remarkably diverse Buffalo Creek Watershed in the southeast quadrant of Butler County. Starting in Laneville, the trail has Buffalo Creek as its companion for over 3 miles through the forest of the Buffalo Creek Gorge. The Buffalo Creek Gorge is the spectacular view which can be seen from bridge on Route 28 a mile north of the Sarver-Freeport exit. The Trail then picks up Little Buffalo Creek as its companion for another 8 miles, crossing the creek seven times. Many of the smaller tributaries are reminiscent of mountain brooks, offering natural cooling on a hot day and the thrill of rushing, tumbling water in all seasons. Gradually as the trail meanders northward toward Butler, it travels from the woods of the Gorge to a broader forest valley with the trail securely passing between cliffs on one side and the Little Buffalo Creek on the other to more open woods to farmland and village communities before again plunging into forest as it leaves Little Buffalo Creek near it headwaters.

The Butler-Freeport Community Trail is a rail-trail, preserving the route of Butler County’s first railroad (1871), the Western Pennsylvania Railroad which connected the City of Butler to the Allegheny River port of Freeport. As a rails-to-trails project, the trail offers a level, natural crushed limestone surface with a gradual uphill grade as it travels north (barely noticeable to walkers) and the converse downhill grade as it travels south (greatly enjoyed by bicyclists). The trail is enjoyed by people of all ages for walking, jogging, hiking, bicycling, and with the help of Mother Nature, cross-country skiing.