Buck Creek Trail (OH)

Ohio

6 Reviews

The Buck Creek Trail runs between Buck Creek State Park and Plum Street by Wittenberg University. At its eastern end in Buck Creek State Park, the trail makes a loop and heads into 2 different directions bordering the southwest side of the reservoir.

The trail follows a route that is mostly wooded but includes open space and a short, more urban section just north of Springfield city center. Following Buck Creek itself, the trail passes through a few city parks.

Near the playing fields at the Municipal Stadium, the Buck Creek Trail crosses the Simon Kenton Trail. Both are part of the Miami Valley trail system, one of the nation's largest networks of paved, off-street trails.

Parking and Trail Access

Parking and restrooms are available in Old Reid Park at Pumphouse and Croft Roads, in Buck Creek State Park on Croft Road, and in the Buck Creek State Park beach parking lots. There is also some parking at Veteran's Park in Springfield.

A hidden gem in Springfield

June 2022 guslipp

I cycle the Old Reid Park / Pumphouse Rd to the Simon Kenton section of the train on a regular basis. It is very common to see deer, rabbits, Blue Herron and ducks along this area. Also will see kayakers on the creek during the summer and fall months. Going from east to west the trail forks at the 2nd rail road trestle. Bear left to go to the Little Miami and Sinon Kenton trails. Bearing right will take you under the bridge and toward Cliff Park and Springfield Art Museum. This will put you just north of the downtown and the southern edge of Wittenberg University.

Do note some sections of the trail may be muddy after heavy rains.
Recommend parking at the ranger station at the reservoir or art museum .

ATVs

September 2021 janderson506

I love this trail, but it is inundated with ATVs and dirt bikes. I’ve stopped walking it because it. Almost been hit several times now.

Nice connector trail

September 2019 crazykayaker

The last person mentions signage. I can agree. I've run this trail twice, both times meaning to connect with the Simon Kenton trail. The first time around I totally missed it and ended up riding through downtown to get back on track. Second time, I knew exactly where to switch off, but there was no sign there.

Otherwise it's a pretty trail, and a great parking and start / stop point for many different routes. I used it as a start that ended up in Columbus a few months ago, and then a week ago used it for a large circuit of Springfield / Xenia / Dayton / Piqua / Urbana / Springfield trip. I recommend parking in the lot by the marshy ponds.

As to the southbound Simon Kenton to Little Miami trail, there's no obvious spot where one stops and the other starts, but there are two tricky spots, the second being trickier:
1) The trail ends on Washington st. Just go straight down the street, and at the end the trail picks back up for 2 blocks west.
2) At Center st, ride south for 1.1 blocks. It's not obvious, but the trail will be on your right. The good news is that after these 2 spots, the trail now goes all the way through the rest of town, connecting up to the LM trail and points south.

Can Be Quite Windy Around the Reservoir.

October 2018 orangedoug

I like this trail quite a bit. There were a number of interesting things to see along the route -- the Clarence J. Brown dam and reservoir, Old Reid Park, the Springfield Art Museum, Veterans Park Amphitheatre, and Wittenberg University. The trail surface is well maintained and I did not see any poor conditions or concerns that were expressed in a previous review. Getting across the dam on the Engineers Road was a challenge due to a very strong headwind. The trail seemed pretty quite for a Thursday afternoon, but that might have been because of the recent change in the weather that put a chill in the air. I saw a number of cyclists out by the reservoir but not a one on my way into, nor back from Springfield. There were a number of pedestrians I passed by in town. I think that this trail probably gets a lot of use in the summer.

Since this trail intersects with the Simon Kenton Trail I will be back in the area once again. I did see one sign that stated if you wanted to connect with the Little Miami River Trail follow the signs, but I did not see any signs suggesting an actual route. In fact, I would not have known that the one bridge over the Buck Creek trail actually carried the Simon Kenton Trail at all if not for the fact that there was one small spur off of the trail near this bridge that I decided to explore. There definitely needs to be better signage to and from all connecting trails in this town.

Buck Creek Trail (OH) Reviews

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Safety Warning

March 2006 Anonymous

"My name is Larry Bussard and I am a huge fan of cycling and the rails-to-trails project. I have ridden thousands of miles on the trails in Ohio and it is truly a dream come true for me. Recently I have begun exploring new additions to the R2T and one of those treks took me through South Springfield Ohio to downtown to north Springfield. Being my first time on that stretch of trail and I believe the stretch through downtown is fairly new I was shocked at the lack of care and misuse of the path. At times I was concern for my safety because of the type of individuals on the path and the graffitie painted everywhere, and also the trash and broken glass in numerous places.
I am very concerned and would not recommend any cyclist: solo, young, or the ladies venture on to this stretch of path. The area I am referring to is South Yellowsprings Street to Mitchell Boulevard.
"

Buck creek trail

September 2005 Anonymous

"The trail was very scenic and well amintained. It was not marked at the very beginning at Reid Park and we went a distance on an unrelated path before a local person directed us to the right area.

Also, it would be nice if better signage linking the Buck Creek trail to the Littel Miami Scenic Trail was establised.

Thanks for the work put into this trail. It is a wonderful use of the resource. Jeff"