During the Victorian era, a railroad operated between downtown Saratoga Springs, Saratoga Lake, and beyond. Passengers experienced a wilderness adventure through the wetlands of Spring Run and Bog Meadow Brook. Much of this railroad bed was left intact through the area south of Excelsior Avenue from East Avenue to the Adirondack Northway I-87 and beyond to the Route 29 entrance of the Bog Meadow Brook Nature Trail.

In 1996, with funding from the New York State Council on the Arts, Saratoga P.L.A.N. developed a conceptual plan for the Spring Run Trail. The Trail Plan was rolled out to city officials and the community through two public planning meetings in 1998, attended by hundreds of people. The plan met with widespread community support, and then Mayor J. Michael O'Connell listed the development of this trail as one of the top ten priorities for the city. Subsequent administrations have all supported the project, and Mayor Scott Johnson was instrumental in securing the stimulus money that allowed trail construction to begin in 2010.

Spring Run Trail is an off-road, two-mile pedestrian and bicycle path situated on an old railroad bed along the fault line of historic natural springs. In a sense we are recreating the historic "woodland path" that had existed in this area for much of the 1800's. The Spring Run Trail will be paved and provide safe, off-road pedestrian, bicycle and handicapped accessible access from downtown Saratoga Springs to Weibel Road. The Trail links downtown to High Rock Park (the site of the summer Farmer’s market), to the City's indoor recreational facilities, and the commercial area surrounding Wilton Mall.

Longer terms plans include linking the trail to the Bog Meadow Brook Nature Trail.

The trail is owned and maintained by the City of Saratoga Springs.

DIRECTIONS

This new trail will start downtown at Congress Park and run east along city streets through High Rock Park (the site of the new Community Pavilions), past the Old Red Spring and Van Raalte Mill to Warren Street.

A map of the Spring Run Trail is in development and will be posted soon -  please keep checking back.

Natural Resource Inventory (Woody Vegetation)