Find the top rated cross country skiing trails in Amherst, whether you're looking for an easy short cross country skiing trail or a long cross country skiing trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a cross country skiing trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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Brookside Reservation is a Cleveland Metropark that contains a number of athletic fields and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. TrailLink.com lists the length of the Brookside Reservation All-Purpose Trail as 2.3 miles in length but I rode almost 9 miles that included out and backs on several spurs that connect to local Cleveland, Ohio neighborhoods of Brookside, Old Brooklyn, and Brooklyn Center. I was baffled by a previous review of this trail that stated "small elevation gains." There are several taxing climbs on this trail as the zoo and the park itself are located at the bottom of the narrow Big Creek Valley. When I rode this trail I parked at the baseball fields found at the Jim Thome All-Star Complex in the center of the park. This area of the park is in the Big Creek Valley. The surrounding neighborhoods are located atop of the valley walls so almost any direction you ride on this trail involves climbing. I rode west out of the Jim Thome Complex toward the park’s Ridge Road entrance. This part of the trail parallels the park’s main road, John Nagy Blvd. About halfway to the Ridge Road entrance the trail splits and you get the option to climb out of the valley and up to the residences of Cleveland’s Brookside neighborhood. This is the most manageable climb out of the valley the park has. The climbs along Wildlife Way near the zoo and the climb up to Denison Avenue from the historic Brookside Stadium site are more difficult. Kids definitely would be walking their bikes up these climbs.
Most of the trail in the valley is wide open with very little shade because of the athletic fields and parking lots located there. The prettiest part of the trail is along Park Drive; it is tree covered and includes an overlook loop that offers views of the baseball fields. Take advantage of the crossing over the Fulton Road Bridge which provides views of the Cleveland Zoo’s Tiger Passage and Wolf Lodge areas. The trail while it provides access to the zoo does not actually pass through the zoo.
The Brighton Park All-Purpose Trail is the middle section of a route that provides a connection between the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail in the Cuyahoga Valley and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo found in the Cleveland Metropark's Brookside Reservation. It is a short, .4 mile trail that runs through a 25 acre park that once was a construction and industrial dump site. The Western Reserve Land Conservancy acquired the property in 2015 and the site remediation was completed by 2017. In 2021 ecological restoration and park improvements, including a new all purpose trail and natural surface trails, was completed by the Cleveland Metroparks and conservation-minded community members. The western end of the trail connects to the Brookside Reservation All-Purpose Trail which is located at the Zoo’s entrance located across Pearl Road. On the eastern end, some on-street riding on low-trafficked residential streets is needed to reach Harmody Park. In Harmody Park, you can connect to the Treadway Creek Trail which drops into the Cuyahoga River Valley and an additional connection to the cross-state Ohio to Erie Trail (Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail section).
The Brighton Park All-Purpose Trail is in excellent condition owing to its recent construction. It is a very flat trail in contrast to the two trails located at either of its ends. The prairie grass-covered park itself stands atop of the valley wall of the Big Creek Valley. It includes an overlook that looks down upon Big Creek and also allows some views of the industrial mills located in the Cuyahoga River Valley. My one complaint with this trail is that the Cleveland Metroparks has not yet added signs for the on-street route required to connect to the Treadway Creek Trail in nearby Harmody Park.
This trail needs some much-needed maintenance, fallen tree across the path 5/15/24 as well as numerous branches overhanging at head level ready to take out any unaware biker or hiker.... come on Cleveland City Services you need to do better......
Mostly flat ride. Some sketchy areas, but nothing awful. Links fairly easily to other trails to put in more distance.
Flat, well maintained, and beautiful trail. You cannot escape tree root heave but these trail caretakers did well in that most of them are ground flattening them some and eliminating the sharpness. It also helps you see them coming.
This is a great biking path! Artwork and sculpture along the way, and a picnic area near 71st and Union.
Makes a great clockwise-loop when combined with the Towpath Trail / Washington Reservation All Purpose Trail / Mill Creek Connector Trail.
(Crossing Broadway is a bit harrowing, but the new pedestrian-crossing measures make it easy on the sidewalk.)
Love camping at the GPAA campsite between Belleville and Butler I always bring my e bike with me! Lots of walkers and other people biking on it so be mindful when passing.
Its very nice in the spring summer and fall, very well maintained throughout and if you do not want to do the whole trail you can drive to a parking area along it and park!
Unless you love climbing steep hills for half the ride then this trail isn’t an enjoyable one unless used for training
I rode the entire trail on 02/04/2024. The temperature was in the low 30s to start and mid 40s at the end, sunny and little to no wind. I parked just off of I-70 near a dog park. The parking lot was in the open and lots of people were visiting the dog park so I felt comfortable about where I parked. From there I headed south to Butler and then up to the north end at Mansfield. As mentioned in other reviews, the trail is a mixture of open and tree lined and rural and less rural and I would really like to ride this trail again when the leaves are on the trees. In general the trail runs up hill from Butler and for the most part has a shallow grade. The only time that I really noticed the grade was after turning around at Mansfield. From there to around mile 15 or 16 (from Butler and the highest point on the trail) the grade was noticeably steeper. The trail is entirely paved and I found it to be fairly well maintained. As mentioned in other reviews there are stretches where roots have damaged the pavement...nothing severe but enough that I kept a firm grip on the handlebars when I encountered these stretches. For whatever reason, I found the northern part of the trail to be more inviting than the southern end. The northern end is also where I encountered the vast majority of other people using the trail. Sadly, I only passed by a couple dozen people during my ride and all but one were pedestrians. For a trail as nice as this one, I would have expected to see hundreds of people.
On the negative side, there are approximately two dozen road crossings. Most are small roads and appeared to be not frequently traveled. However, three or four were busier roads with vehicles traveling at highway speeds.
Overall, I definitely recommend this trail.
Baseline:
I am a male in my 60s and typically together with my wife (she was otherwise engaged that day) frequently ride rail trails. Our home trails are Buffalo Valley and Pine Creek and our favorite trail relatively close to us is the Northwest Lancaster.
We did a 8.45 mi round trip between Harvard Rd and Warren Rd overhead bridge. Being in a wheelchair we had no issues whatsoever with the surface of the trail.
Fremont to Bellevue section. Trail is flat and paved in good condition. Biked to Bellevue to lunch and back for a 25 mile round trip. Not much shade, goes through mostly farmlands. In the 12 miles from Fremont to Bellevue, 21 road crossings! Most of them there wasn't much traffic but you still had to stop, once you got going. In the past biked from Elmore to Fremont, found it to be more scenic.
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