[3] The West Rim Trail follows several old logging railroad grades, which remain from the late 1800s when Pine Creek Gorge and its surrounding plateau areas were almost completely clear-cut.

[4] The trail also visits several significant side gorges and small waterfalls that were formed by differential erosion as glaciers melted at the end of the last ice age, plus occasional stretches on top of the Allegheny Plateau, which itself was cut by Pine Creek Gorge.

The trail begins at a forestry maintenance parking lot on Colton Road, south of U.S. Route 6 and near the village of Ansonia.

[8] At 9.0 miles, the West Rim Trail returns to the edge of Pine Creek Gorge, with several more vistas across to Leonard Harrison State Park.

[9] The trail passes through Bradley Wales Picnic Area at 15.9 miles, then leads inland for another extensive segment away from the gorge, this time to avoid a parcel of private land.