Trails in Ithaca, New York

This is a list of trails in Ithaca, New York.

Many of the major trails in Ithaca and the surrounding areas lie in abandoned railway beds. Ithaca was part of the first big railroad boom in the 1830s. While only one short-haul freight train remains, the area benefits from the use of the well-graded surfaces that the railroads left behind.

In 2004, the City of Ithaca drew up a master plan for its trail system, to fill gaps in trail coverage and to make them more usable as commuter trails in addition to providing better access by foot and bicycle to major area natural preserves and state parks. If all of the connecting trails are completed, Ithaca will have a fairly complete network connecting most neighborhoods in the area without roads.

The Cayuga Waterfront Trail connects Cass Park, on the western shore of Cayuga Lake, to Stewart Park on its eastern shore. The trail is 10–12 feet wide with an asphalt surface, and links Ithaca's waterfront destinations, including the Tompkins County Visitors' Center, the Ithaca Youth Bureau, Stewart Park, Cascadilla Boat Club, Newman Golf Course, Farmers' Market, Cornell and Ithaca College boathouses, Inlet Island (with a planned extension to the current US Coast Guard at the Inlet Island point), Cass Park and Allan H. Treman State Marine Park.

This 3.30-mile (5.31 km), packed-gravel trail was developed in 1986 as a N.Y.S. Environmental Quality Bond Act Project. It runs parallel to (NE of) Coddington Road in the Town of Ithaca, mostly following the abandoned rail bed of the Cayuga and Susquehanna Railroad, which was built in 1849 to ship coal from Pennsylvania mines to Ithaca for water shipment over the Erie Canal. Eventually it merged with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and was abandoned in 1956. The descent into Ithaca from South Hill was via two switchbacks. The trail skips the middle switchback. Instead it follows a short steep asphalt-paved connector (not part of the railroad) from the upper to lower grades. The tail tracks of the switchbacks are not included in the trail; these were located NW of Coddington Road at the end of the upper trail, and SE of the bottom of the connector, respectively. Except for the connector, the trail is a gradual downhill from Burns Road to Ithaca. Hiking paths lead off the biking trail into the Six Mile Creek gorge. The trail is a popular spot for cross-country skiing in the winter, and in the summer, connects Ithaca College students to sunning and (illegal) swimming in Six Mile Creek and the City Reservoir.

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