Why the Bizz Johnson Trail Is a Premier Destination for Endurance Training

It is an unpaved rail-trail between Susanville and Westwood, known for hiking, biking, and views through the Susan River canyon.

For trail runners and hikers, the useful takeaway is simple: the Bizz Johnson is being recognized as a substantial, multiuse route—not sold as a novelty attraction. That makes it a credible option for steady endurance work, long hikes, and controlled back-to-back training days.

The route rewards consistency, not theatrics

A 25.8-mile trail gives you room to make the same mistake for hours. Start too hard, overstride, or carry a poorly balanced pack, and the route will expose it. Not with drama. With accumulated friction in your knees, hips, feet, and lower back.

That is where a rail-trail format can be useful. The route follows the former Fernley & Lassen Branch Line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, running between Susanville and Westwood. The setting changes through the Susan River canyon, but the training demand is more honest than technical: maintain cadence, manage effort, and keep your kinetic chain working instead of grinding one joint into the ground.

I would use a trail like this to practice restraint. The first miles should feel almost too easy. You want enough control left to keep your stride stable deep into the outing. If your breathing is ragged early, your form is already borrowing against the final third.

For hikers, the same rule applies. Do not confuse a moderate-looking route with an easy day. Distance creates its own load. Every unnecessary stop, poorly adjusted shoulder strap, and unplanned pace surge adds cost.

Build the outing around the distance

The Bizz Johnson’s recognition does not turn it into a race course, and the available facts do not establish a specific running event, elevation profile, or technical rating. Treat it accordingly. This is a long route with a clear endurance use case, not a promise of effortless scenery.

A practical approach is to break the distance into controlled blocks. Run or hike by effort rather than chasing a pace you have not tested on an unpaved surface. Keep your cadence compact when fatigue arrives. That is when people start reaching forward with the foot, braking harder, and shredding the stability they built in the opening miles.

Your gear should serve the work. Pack only what the outing requires. Keep weight close to your body. Check that the load does not pull you backward or torque one shoulder. A trail day is not the place to discover that your pack system turns every step into a compensation exercise.

If you are using the route for a long training day, make the objective specific: time on feet, steady aerobic effort, hiking efficiency, or a test of your fueling and equipment routine. Do not try to test everything at once. That is how a useful session becomes noise.

Why this trail belongs on the watch list

The Bizz Johnson stands out because the trail has both scale and a clear identity. It is a 25.8-mile unpaved corridor connecting Susanville and Westwood, with the Susan River canyon providing the route’s defining setting. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s selection puts it in front of a wider audience during August 2026, but the recognition is not the main reason to care.

The real value is training specificity. Long trails expose weaknesses that short loops let you hide. Poor load distribution. Weak downhill braking mechanics. A cadence that collapses once the legs get heavy. An inability to hold back early. Those are not abstract problems when you are still moving hours into a route.

I would put the Bizz Johnson on a serious hiker’s or trail runner’s planning board as an endurance benchmark. Not because a designation guarantees a perfect outing. It does not. Use the distance to assess preparation, the unpaved surface to assess foot and lower-leg tolerance, and the long corridor to practice making boring decisions correctly.

That is what keeps a big trail from turning into a long rescue mission for your own bad planning.