Pet owners!
Trail users expect a safe and enjoyable experience everywhere, and the Back Mountain Trail is no different. The BMT is a valuable recreational resource in the Back Mountain, and it is imperative to keep it that way. Trails are an obvious place to enjoy time with your pet, so please use a short leash, realize that not everyone is a dog-lover (hard to believe!), and keep your dog in your space.
TASA Award
ASTA has received an award from PennDOT under the Transportation Alternative Set Aside program
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Controlled Burning
The Pennsylvania Game Commmission is performing controlled burning north of the Black Diamond Trail this spring and summer. This should have no impact on the trail itself.
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SGL Fire Map
We've moved! ASTA now has a new address. Thanks to Dallas Township and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, we now have a physical address.
105 Lt. Michael Cleary Dr., Suite 104
Dallas, PA
Luzerne County has closed the Harris Hill Bridge to vehicular traffic, but the bridge is still open to trail users!
Running from Luzerne Borough to the Dallas Township building on Dorchester Avenue, the Back Mountain Trail provides residents and visitors to the Back Mountain section of Luzerne a five-mile trail with wooded, grassy, and suburban sections, providing a respite from daily life and a recreational facility unavailable elsewhere in the area.
From the top of the Lehigh Gorge State Park north toward Mountain Top, the Black Diamond Trail is a wooded oasis in the southern part of Luzerne County. With ten miles of improved trail, the user can take in the peace and quite of the forest, and the occasional pond and lake. Wildlife abounds.
The Black Diamond Trail is the northernmost segment of the Delaware and Lehigh trail, extending south to Bristol, PA on the Delaware River.
Learn MoreTake a video tour of the Black Diamond Trail in 2½ minutes.
Virtual Tour (SB Video)
Along Toby's Creek in Luzerne Borough, this short segment of the Back Mountain Trail is along the creek in a calm setting set away from Main Street.
The Rimple Loop, with a trailhead on Lt. Michael Cleary Drive, is a 2,600-foot segment of the Back Mountain Trail surrounding a small pond, and features two bridges that span two significant wetlands. Adjacent to the Dallas Township municipal building, it within easy reach of most of the Back Mountain. Future plans include a direct connection with the main portion of the Back Mountain Trail.
Three hundred thousand miles of railroad track once spread like an intricately woven web across the United States connecting the tiniest towns to the largest cities and creating the framework for the largest transportation system in the world. By 1980 many lines were sold and abandoned. In 1987, President Reagan’s Commission on American Outdoors (PCAO) recommended a national system of greenways be developed. The newly formed Rails to Trails Conservancy pointed out that the backbone of the Greenways could be these railroad corridors which would preserve a colorful part of our national heritage while creating scenic byways to promote outdoor recreation and tourism. Since then, over 25,000 miles of rails in many States have been converted to trails.
In Pennsylvania, there are currently 188 trails totaling over 2,100 miles* being developed by local municipalities, State Parks, Land Trusts, County Parks and Recreation Departments, and Rail/Trail organizations. That puts Pennsylvania at the
top state for number of trails. ASTA is proud to be part of this State and National program!
*Source: https://www.railstotrails.org/trailblog/2021/january/08/top-10-trails-in-pennsylvania/