The Bridgeway Trail is a beautiful ride through the Black River Reservation as the trail runs through woods and over the Black River on a series of four long steel and wooden pedestrian/bike bridges.

To ride the trail north, park in the Black River State Reservation parking lot near the trailhead off Gulf Road at 41-24.168N and 082-06.109W. Ride north over the first bridge into the nice Bur Oak Picnic Area at 41-24.738N and 082-06.105W. Continue north and cross the second bridge near Detroit Road then, when you see the railroad tressel overhead, you'll cross the showpiece of this trail, the third and fourth double bridge that crosses the Black River twice to avoid the stone cliffs nearby. This area has some great scenery for photography or just for hanging out on the bridge. Just north of this double bridge is an unmarked trail that leads about 25 yards east of the trail and allows easy access to the river for hikers, joggers, and bikers. Those with children should visit this area. At the time that I was there, the water was only 4"-8" deep, had a flat, rocky bottom, and would be a great and safe place to wade in. The water was particularly shallow and flowed very slowly. (Use your own discretion at other times of the year.) Mountain bikes could easily ride back and forth across the river in this location. The trail then continues north to the Day's Dam Picnic Area on E. 31st Street at 41-26.569N and 082-06.492W where safe paved parking can be found. To double back at this point would make for a 6.85-mile round trip through beautiful scenery along well-maintained trails.

Just across E. 31st Street from the Day's Dam parking lot, the trail continues north. Here, however, the trail is known as the Steel Mill Trail. This trail takes riders north from Day's Dam over a bridge to the US Steel slag grounds, then over another bridge, past an observation area, to a paved but ill-maintained parking lot on Colorado Avenue located at 41-27.698N and 082-07.392W. By adding this 4.25-mile round trip extension to the Bridgeway Trail, the total round trip becomes 11.1 miles. See my review of the Steel Mill Trail for more detail of this section. Also go to Googlemaps, use the Satellite view, and look down on this area from above to really get a feel for how industrial the area is.

Overall, the best places to park are in the Bur Oak Picnic Area (south) and the Day's Dam Picnic Area (north). The southernmost Black River State Reservation parking lot is also safe.

I've ridden 1,700 miles of Ohio trails and would list this trail as one of my favorites due to the safe parking, river scenery, woods, shade, and best of all, crossing bridges 12 times on this 11.1-mile round trip ride!