Total distance is 10 miles. New mile markers every 1/2 mile. It ends at Lake Erie. The new section is 4 miles and has a combination of wooded, parks, street and city. It is definitely not boring.

I rode this trail on an exceptionally warm December day back in 2019 long before it was listed here on the TrailLink.com website. As stated in this website's trail description, this trail is at present, the most prominent piece of the planned 25 mile West Creek Greenway trail loop which will connect the Cleveland Metroparks West Creek Reservation in Parma and the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to the communities of Valley View, Independence, Seven Hills, Brooklyn Heights, and Cuyahoga Heights.

I parked and started at the Cleveland Clinic Business Operations Center off of Brecksville Road in Independence, Ohio. From here I headed east and downhill toward the Towpath Trail in Valley View. Unlike the trail description listed by TrailLink, I would not characterize the trail as running slightly downhill. You will drop 227 feet in elevation over the course of the first 1.5 miles, with 204 feet of that in a single half mile stretch. I mention this for two reasons. First, while many will find this type of drop exhilarating, it is unlikely that you will be able to completely cut loose as you will probably encounter quite a few pedestrians out using the trail just as I did. Secondly, since the West Creek Greenway loop is far from being completed, returning to your starting point will require that you climb back up out of the Cuyahoga Valley where the grade will reach 11% at points. Thus, in my opinion the trail is not for novice, or out-of-shape cyclists, or for young children on bikes.

When you head east out of Cleveland Clinic Business Operations parking lot, you enter wooded terrain that follows Hemlock Creek as it descends toward the Cuyahoga River. The trail surface is predominantly asphalt with concrete on many of the bridge surfaces. Since the trail opened in September 2019, the surface was smooth as glass when I rode in December of that year. The trail passes through the remnants of the millionaire William H. Hunt's estate, Terraced Lakes, which was created out of a historic mining landscape that created the foundation stones for many of Cleveland's first buildings. On your way you will cross over five bridges including a 200 foot span over the Cuyahoga before you reach the Towpath Trail at the eastern end of the trail. On the western end, the trail continues past the Cleveland Clinic Business Center and crosses over Brecksville Road, where it runs along Selig Boulevard passing Independence City Hall and then ends in Elmwood Park. In the future, this western end of the Hemlock Creek Trail will connect further westward toward the Seven Hills Recreation Center as some part of the West Creek Greenway.

This is a beautiful trail, and a great start to the larger West Creek Greenway. It's worthy of at least 4 stars but the climb out of the Cuyahoga Valley isn't a friendly one for everyone. Perhaps as this trail connects to future links in the West Creek Greenway then my rating of 3 stars will need to be re-evaluated.