The Conservation Trail is a footpath which begins at the Pennsylvania border in Allegany State Park and extends northward about 177 miles to meet the Bruce Trail in Canada. The Foothills Trail Club of Western New York built the trail and maintains it. The Conservation Trail is part of the Finger Lakes Trail System which extends eastward across New York State to the Catskills.
The entire Finger Lakes Trail System is marked with standard 2" x 6" paint blazes on trees. Turns are indicated by a double paint blaze; at double blazes, the hiker should locate the next blaze before continuing. Where the trail is hard to blaze, such as along field edges, orange ribbons are sometimes used to supplement blazes. The blazes on the trail from the Pennsylvania line to Fancy Tract Road are white, as this section of the Conservation Trail is part of the main Finger Lakes Trail. The portion north of Fancy Tract Road is a branch trail of the Finger Lakes Trail System and, as such, is marked with orange blazes.
The southern section of the Conservation Trail, from Fancy Tract road to N.Y.16 in Holland, is in rugged country with hills up to 2,300 feet high and valleys as low as 1,300 feet. In Allegany State Park the climbs are gradual and the trail is only moderately strenuous, but from the park to Fancy Tract Road the climbs are steep and strenuous. From Fancy Tract Road to Route 16 the trail is moderately difficult, crossing fields, woods and farmland with relatively gentle ups and downs. There are many wet areas on this part of the trail. From Route 16 to Warner Hill Road the trail is quite strenuous, as it crosses many deep ravines.
From Warner Hill Road to Darien Lake State Park it is a fairly easy route through woods and farmlands, also passing through a county park. After leaving Darien Lake State Park, the trail is in a more developed area, following many field edges and back roads. Much of this area is quite swampy, unsuitable for hiking in wet seasons. The trail then follows the Peanut Line to the bikepath to Ellicott Creek Park. It then continues to the Riverwalk and on to the South Grand Island Bridge. Once over the bridge, the trail follows the Niagara River to Buckhorn Island State Park to the North Grand Island Bridge and on to the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. The last section of trail goes through a populated area and stays almost entirely on paved roads, some of them heavily traveled.
http://www.foothillstrailclub.org/trail.html
The entire Finger Lakes Trail System is marked with standard 2" x 6" paint blazes on trees. Turns are indicated by a double paint blaze; at double blazes, the hiker should locate the next blaze before continuing. Where the trail is hard to blaze, such as along field edges, orange ribbons are sometimes used to supplement blazes. The blazes on the trail from the Pennsylvania line to Fancy Tract Road are white, as this section of the Conservation Trail is part of the main Finger Lakes Trail. The portion north of Fancy Tract Road is a branch trail of the Finger Lakes Trail System and, as such, is marked with orange blazes.
The southern section of the Conservation Trail, from Fancy Tract road to N.Y.16 in Holland, is in rugged country with hills up to 2,300 feet high and valleys as low as 1,300 feet. In Allegany State Park the climbs are gradual and the trail is only moderately strenuous, but from the park to Fancy Tract Road the climbs are steep and strenuous. From Fancy Tract Road to Route 16 the trail is moderately difficult, crossing fields, woods and farmland with relatively gentle ups and downs. There are many wet areas on this part of the trail. From Route 16 to Warner Hill Road the trail is quite strenuous, as it crosses many deep ravines.
From Warner Hill Road to Darien Lake State Park it is a fairly easy route through woods and farmlands, also passing through a county park. After leaving Darien Lake State Park, the trail is in a more developed area, following many field edges and back roads. Much of this area is quite swampy, unsuitable for hiking in wet seasons. The trail then follows the Peanut Line to the bikepath to Ellicott Creek Park. It then continues to the Riverwalk and on to the South Grand Island Bridge. Once over the bridge, the trail follows the Niagara River to Buckhorn Island State Park to the North Grand Island Bridge and on to the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. The last section of trail goes through a populated area and stays almost entirely on paved roads, some of them heavily traveled.
http://www.foothillstrailclub.org/trail.html
- Hike
Login to see your progress towards riding all the trails and routes in this list.
Trails
Displaying 137
Videos
19:22 |
57 |
Dec 19, 2025 , East Aurora
3:20 |
992 |
May 7, 2013
Recent Trail Reports
| status | trail | date | condition | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CT - Sumner Parking Stub | Oct 19, 2026 @ 9:36am (America/New_York) Oct 19, 2026 | view | ||
| CT - East Pinelake Drive | Jun 14, 2026 @ 11:13am (America/Toronto) Jun 14, 2026 | view | ||
| CT - Hunter's Creek | May 31, 2026 @ 8:59pm (America/New_York) May 31, 2026 | view | ||
| CT - Town of Newstead Bike Path | Aug 19, 2023 @ 10:41am Aug 19, 2023 | view | ||
| CT - Purple Trail | May 30, 2021 @ 11:24am May 30, 2021 | view |
Total Trails
137
Total Distance
153 miles
Total Descent
-7,434 ft
Total Climb
5,213 ft
close
3D
Trail Conditions
- Unknown
- Snow Groomed
- Snow Packed
- Snow Covered
- Snow Cover Partial
- Freeze/thaw Cycle
- Icy
- Prevalent Mud
- Wet
- Variable
- Ideal
- Dry
- Very Dry
Trail Flow (Ridden Direction)
Trailforks scans users activity logs to determine the most popular direction each trail is ridden. A good flowing trail network will have most trails flowing in a single direction according to their intension.
The colour categories are based on what percentage of users are riding a trail in its intended direction.
The colour categories are based on what percentage of users are riding a trail in its intended direction.
- > 96%
- > 90%
- > 80%
- > 70%
- > 50%
- < 50%
- bi-directional trail
- no data
Trail Last Used
Trailforks scans activity logs to determine the last time a trail was ridden.
- < 2 days
- < 1 week
- < 2 weeks
- < 1 month
- < 6 months
- > 6 months
Trail Ridden Direction
The intended direction a trail should be ridden.
- Downhill Only
- Downhill Primary
- Both Directions
- Uphill Primary
- Uphill Only
- One Direction
Contribute Details
Colors indicate trail is missing specified detail.
- Description
- Photos
- Description & Photos
- Videos
Trail Popularity ?
Trailforks scans activity logs to determine which trails are ridden the most in the last 9 months.
Trails are compared with nearby trails in the same city region with a possible 25 colour shades.
Think of this as a heatmap, more activities = more kinetic energy = warmer colors.
- most popular
- popular
- less popular
- not popular
ATV/ORV/OHV Filter
Max Vehicle Width
inches
US Cell Coverage
Legend
Radar Time
Activity Recordings
Trailforks uses anonymized public activity data.
?
Activity Recordings
Trailforks uses anonymized public activity data.
?
Winter Trails
Warning
A routing network for winter maps does not exist. Selecting trails using the winter trails layer has been disabled.
Missing Trails
Most Popular
Least Popular
Trails are colored based on popularity. The more popular a trail is, the more red. Less popular trails trend towards green.
Jump Magnitude Heatmap
Heatmap of where users jump on trails. Zoom in to see individual jumps, click circles to view jump details.
BC Backroad Status
![map legend]()
Service Road Atlas is a free to use, community-driven service for viewing and creating reports on the numerous back-country service roads around B.C. and Alberta.
Slope Aspect
Direction the slope faces
Trails Deemphasized
Trails are shown in grey.
Only show trails with no bike usage.
Suggested Layers
Based on selected activity type
Save the current map location and zoom level as your default home location whenever this page is loaded.
Save
Trail transparency
This official route list of trails is not complete
Average difficulty
Mountain Bike is not supported on all trail sections, see trails for more details.
Trails and Routes in List - Distance by Difficulty
Trails and Routes in List - Difficulty Totals
- By PlumbBobM
TRAILFORKS HCH - #827 - 1,318 views