Explore the best rated trails in Lorain, OH, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Lake-to-Lakes Trail and Euclid Creek Reservation All Purpose Trail . With more than 45 trails covering 4401 miles you're bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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.
Nice trail for walking, running, and cycling. On the Saturday morning that I rode this, there were two guys blowing leaves off the trail, so it is being maintained. Be aware that there is about a quarter mile of the route that is off trail and you’re on a country road. The road doesn’t appear to be heavily traveled, though.
The trail is mostly really nice with great scenery along the entire thing. West of Norwalk, you will run into few issues, with the dip just to the West of the trailhead having some ruts due to runoff. Going East from Norwalk has some beautiful farmland, but you would be wise to keep an eye down at the trail itself. From ruts and potholes formed to attempts to fill these with sand, along with smelly evidence of horses, there are plenty of things that could quickly wreck your day if you aren't paying close attention. I've tried submitting a review previously, but maybe negative reviews are not authorized? Makes me wonder if any reviews are worth their salt on here honestly.
I was coming from the West. Once I got to the gateway trail head, there were signs at first to direct where to go, but it didn't prevent me from losing the suggested path. Once I pulled up the map from here, the line didn't align with any trail or road near Cascade park and it had it going right through a very closed, very tall fence at the Elyria Police station. Unless there is an underwound tunnel that I didn't see the entrance to, this map was apparently drawn by someone that hasn't been through there. Maybe it was "this is about where we want it to go" at one point, but don't trust the map.
Overall I enjoyed riding the NCIT when I found what to me is the true start of a rail trail.
I feel both TrailLink and the Lorian County parks are misleading on the overall length and nature of the trail. Not all of the advertised 19.3 miles are continuous asphalt for pedestrians and cyclists. There are gaps that would require you to either use a dedicated bike lane (not too big of an issue) or sharing a sidewalk or road shoulder with no shade (a much larger issue to me).
To me the true rail trail experience starts at The Gateway Trailhead in Elyria (6302 Gateway Blvd, Elyria). From there it is a short on road section to a little over 15 miles of paved, mostly flat trail. The trail is in very good condition, has mile markers every half mile and although it has a fair amount of road crossings there was only one in the 15 miles that was busy.
Scenery is mostly farmland, with a small bit of woods and wetlands. Oberlin is a good stop off with many options for food only a short ride off the trail. If I had known to start at the Gateway Trailhead this would have been an easy 5 star trail for me.
It's short but sweet...a real nature bike trail...rails to trails. Always worth the ride out on River Road.
Best kept secret! Smooth, paved, shaded trail that seems to be overlooked by all! Rode from start to end- then back- saw very few riders along the way. A true gem of level trails. Full disclosure…. There is a portion of riding on public streets… and not very challenging as far as inclines go. Overall a very pleasant experience!!
The Heartland trail's pavement currently ends in Marshallville. However, the park district keeps the next 4 miles mowed. You have to go off trail on worn paths to get around gates that are installed to keep vehicles off the trail. The park district plans to have this 4 mile section paved in 2026. It was fun to ride this section. Of course this requires a bike that is able to ride on grass/gravel.
The bridge that is shown going over the West Branch of the Black River in Cascde Park is closed. Lorain Metro Parks suggest a different route going through Elywood Park. See link to Cascade Park for recommended route. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59ef5b028c56a84a63338fb7/t/6165c8462503246a8bc3c064/1634060358894/Cascade-Park-website.pdf
John
This is a great trail with great surface.
There could be some improvement to the signage for the route when coming into the Bellevue from the west. I now suspect that you should take Riddle Rd south to Gardner Rd east into town but I must have missed the sign. I was planning to take Portland Rd north when I got to it but there was a train blocking the crossing and several crossings after (long train). So I actually just kept riding the rough road along the tracks for a couple miles east before I could get around it (train sat there for very long time).
This is a good trail and it is great that the corridor is intact to continue the North Coast Inland across Northern Ohio.
When comparing to other portions of the North Coast Inland Trail it is apparent this section of the North Coast Inland Trail is not a nice as the counties to the west or east. This section may be operated by a volunteer organization called Firelands and maybe they do not have quite the resources their neighboring counties have for trail maintenance or to gain access to all the rail right of way. So the surfaces are not quite as nice as neighboring counties and there is a road section to zig zag connect around missing rail right of way. Nice there is a path along highway 20 in other non-rail right of way area.
I may have been looking in the wrong spots but was trying to find a drinking water source at the Firelands building in Monroeville but could not find one. So that would be a welcome addition.
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