Cambria conservation group breaks ground on new section of Ghost Town Trail C&I extension

Joshua Byers, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·2 min read

Sep. 12—NANTY GLO, Pa. — When Cambria County Conservation and Recreation Authority Executive Director Cliff Kitner took the job about seven years ago, he said one of his main goals was to get the C&I extension of the Ghost Town Trail completed.

On Monday, joined by colleagues, local leaders and trail supporters at a groundbreaking of the next section of the extension on Beulah Road, he and the group took one step closer to that objective.

"This one has been a little bit of a long time coming," Kitner said.

The event took place just a handful of miles outside of Nanty Glo Borough, where a three-mile section will be built toward Ebensburg that will connect to the spur off the Ghost Town Trail nearest the Ebensburg trail head.

When the entire 32-mile loop is completed, it will be the first continuous rail-trail loop in the eastern United States.

Kitner said the unique quality of that designation is what got him interested.

Funding for the project was provided by the state Departments of Conservation and Natural Resources, and Community and Economic Development, and the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies.

The only portion left after the three-mile portion is completed is a path — a little over a mile long — into Nanty Glo. Kitner said Monday that work could possibly happen soon.

Throughout the event, multiple speakers, including the three Cambria County commissioners, took the podium to talk about the progress.

President Commissioner Thomas Chernisky said trails such as the GTT and C&I extension represent the "front doors of economic development here in Cambria County."

Always a proponent of area outdoor recreation, Chernisky told the crowd that trails are destination points and seeing more developed is "exciting stuff" and that Cambria County will "be the trail county in Pennsylvania."

"That's why we do this, so we can bring people into the area and the community," Kitner said.

As Laurie Lafontaine, an original organizer and supporter of the Ghost Town Trail, took in the groundbreaking, her thoughts traveled back to the fight it took to get there.

She said she spent numerous hours about 20 years ago convincing people that trails were a path to the future — and necessary.

But now, to see the first continuous-loop rail trail on the East Coast nearing completion, is rewarding, Lafontaine said.

She added that when she pushed the C&I Railroad to rail bank their land for this extension, she was offered a spot on the last maintenance car to travel the tracks.

Now, Lafontaine is anxious to travel the path again, this time by bicycle.

Thomas Kakabar, CCCRA board chairman, said Monday the group's projects won't stop with the extension and that they "have plenty of things in the hopper."