Simon Kenton Trail:
Ohio
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Description:
The Simon Kenton Trail is a tribute to the hardworking volunteer group that built and maintains the 16.6-mile corridor. The rail-trail is well designed, has extensions and improvements in the offing, and has excellent signs throughout the trip connecting Urbana to Springfield.
Beginning at the Urbana YMCA, head into town, intersecting a short bike route to Melvin Miller Park. This southbound stretch offers an excellent strip of rail-with-trail, where freight trains mainly hauling grain travel next to the path before you enter Urbana proper. While the trail passes through many of Urbana's industrial tracts, downtown is just a couple of blocks to the east.
Heading out of the more populated part of Urbana, cross busy Miami Street. Trail signs are just a half mile ahead. At the intersection of Edgewood Avenue and State Route 55, there is a trailhead with benches, a bike rack, and parking lot. South of here the trail is nicely shaded, and a short trip west on Woodburn Road will take you to Cedar Bog Nature Preserve. The preserve has an ADA-accessible boardwalk that allows visitors to walk through the unique environment without harming it. The preserve is home to hundreds of plant and animal species, including over 50 that are rare or endangered. Cedar Run, a small tributary of the Mad River, for which the bog takes its name, is one of the few Ohio streams that has a native population of Brook Trout.
Cross County Line Road and enter Clark County. At Tremont City Road, pass the Clark State Community College Truck Driver Training Institute. After crossing the railroad tracks and several creeks you reach a connecting trail to the west that accesses the Eagle City soccer fields a half-mile away. Just south of the soccer field connection is a new, 1000-foot trail connection to the sparkling new SplashZone water park.
Though the trail crosses several more busy roads, including State Route 72, there are still pleasant views, especially of some of the beautiful old homes as you begin to get closer to downtown Springfield. After you cross Buck Creek on a trestle bridge, you'll reach a connecting trail that heads to Buck Creek State Park almost 4 miles to the east.
Across Warder Street you begin to travel with another rail-with-trail. This continues for three quarters of a mile past East Main Street and to Linden Avenue where the trail turns into bike lanes on both sides of East Washington Street. The rail-trail picks back up after crossing East Limestone Street. At this point you have entered the Clark State Community College campus. Cross Fountain Avenue and you have reached the endpoint at South Center Street by the Heritage Center and Clark County Library.
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Parking & Trail Access:
To reach the Urbana Trailhead at the YMCA, take US Route 68 to US Route 36 east (Scioto Street) for 1.5 miles. Turn left onto Commercial Drive and look for the YMCA in front of you.
The Springfield trailhead is at the intersection of South Center Street and West Washington Street. From Interstate 70 take State Route 72 north for 1.7 miles. Bear left onto South Limestone Street. After a little more than a tenth of a mile take a left onto West Pleasant Street for another quarter mile. Turn right onto S. Center and look for the trail on the far side of the intersection with W. Washington.
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Rode the trail Oct. 17th, 2010
By jschmack in October, 2010
I and my wife rode the trail from Urbana to Springfield, a little over 30 miles of it. The trail is very nice, clean, well maintained. Very ideal for a 69 yr. old couple.

But, the internet site directions for the YMCA are not good. It is Community Drive and not Commercial Drive that you use to get to the Y. (Commercial Drive is on the other side of Urbana, per my GPS. The Y would not come up on my GPS ! Also we passed the Y 4 times before realizing that it was set back from Rt. 36 a ways and hard to see behind the business buildings. There are no signs identifying the Y along the highway.
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