The Knox and Kane Rail Trail has come a long way since Headwaters Charitable Trust purchased the 74-mile Knox & Kane Railroad corridor in 2017.

It’s taken the work of many across the four-county area for the trail’s continued development.

“This all really wouldn’t have happened without the local communities’ support,” said Janie French, Headwaters executive director. “In each of the four counties that this trail traverses, there’s a local entity or organization supporting these efforts.”

For starters, there are multiple trail groups that formed as stewards to different sections of the trail, each with its own projects.

The Mount Jewett to Kinzua Bridge (MJ2KB) Trail Club received a $200,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to complete their section in the Mount Jewett Borough area from Center Street to U.S. Route 219.

Trail Association of the McKean/Elk Divide (TAMED) received $180,000 recently for development of about three miles of trail from Route 321 south to Lamont.

The Route 66 Country Trail Association in Clarion County just completed 26 miles of trail. Jenks Township in Forest County recently received a $1.1 million federal grant for about 8 miles of trail construction in Jenks Township and going north.

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council recently announced a $450,000 for work on the trail starting in Kane Borough.

Kane Borough has been working on a section that goes through the borough, too.

Also, Headwaters Charitable Trust has a total of $400,000 from a private foundation and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for state highway road crossings in Clarion, Elk and McKean counties.

While the groups are receiving funding for surfacing of the trail, the trail is already in walkable — though more wild — condition.

French explained that the Knox and Kane Railroad had railbanked 69 miles of trail from Clarion County to Center Street in Mount Jewett. Because Kovalchick Corp. had railbanked the portion before selling it to Headwaters, “The railroad was never fully abandoned.”

The Surface Transportation Board uses the term railbanking to describe a corridor that under federal law can be maintained as a railroad corridor but used in the interim as a recreational trail. This means the area can be used for rail again in the future.

As a condition of the agreement of sale to Headwaters, Kovalchick “maintained the right to pull the iron — the rails — for salvage before we could take total acquisition of the property,” French said.

Kovalchick had already started pulling rails and ties at the southern end when it started negotiations with Headwaters. After the sale, the company continued to pull rail and ties up into McKean County.

“Because the rails and ties had been pulled, it left a flat surface,” so people were walking on it before the trail groups started doing more work to the trail. Even when there was no money for trail groups to do surfacing of the trail, the groups would keep it mowed for trail-users.

“With COVID-19, we’re seeing more trail use on this trail than anybody could have projected,” said French. A trail counter in Clarion found more than 1,700 people used that section of trail in June alone. About 1,300 used the section between Kinzua Bridge State Park and Mount Jewett.

“I think it’s mostly because people have been so housebound,” she said.

So, in ways are people using the trail?

French explained that on 65 miles of the trail from U.S. Route 219 in McKean County to Route 322 in Clarion County, Headwaters allowed the trail groups to decide the uses they wanted to see on their respective sections.

For the roughly 7-mile section from Kinzua Bridge to Route 219, trail users can hike and bike in the summer and snowmobile in the winter. She noted the group wanted to connect it to other snowmobile trails in the area.

Meanwhile, only non-motorized use is allowed from the southern side of Route 219 down to Route 322 in Clarion County. Summer use here includes hiking and biking, and winter use can be activities like cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.

French noted that when Headwaters committed to owning the trail, it was important to the organization that the communities wanted to have the trail.

“We really worked very closely with local community members” on ensuring they were on board and willing participants. In fact, there are many partners who assist in improvements along the trail.”

For instance, the Lumber Heritage Region has helped by putting up “gateway signage directing people to other assets within the region,” and the Pennsylvania Wilds program, of which French sits on the community development committee, has hosted programs on trail development for the local communities.

The trail groups that have formed are always looking for volunteers, too, she said.

Residents can learn more about the MJ2KB Trail Club at www.mj2kbtrail.club. “They have some absolutely beautiful pictures of the trail,” she noted.

More about TAMED can be found on the “TAMED-Trail Association of the McKean/Elk Divide” Facebook page.

“They are very much committed to really getting a lot of volunteers involved,” said French, who talked about watching children and parents learning how to care for the trail during a couple of volunteer work sessions. “It’s just absolutely phenomenal.”

Additionally, “Kane Borough is very active in this,” she said. In fact, she said the borough purchased the old train station with the intent to create a visitors hub.

More about the Clarion County group that maintains what they call the Rail 66 Country Trail can be found at rail-66.com.

“This is how we’re working with local communities to really have them become the stewards for this really significant asset,” French said.

She added they are already seeing businesses popping up related to the trail project, and she hopes to continue to see the trail offering economic support to the communities along the trail.

An example of this is a Mount Jewett grocery store that had closed. The business has since reopened as a combined grocery store and bike rental shop, she said.

Municipalities along the trail such as Mount Jewett and Kane boroughs and Hamlin and Wetmore Township have been supportive.

“They see the real benefits of this project,” said French.

French has been encouraged by the “community spirit of this effort.

“I am so blessed to be able to work with these communities and these people,” she said.