Find the top rated birding trails in Avon Lake, whether you're looking for an easy short birding trail or a long birding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a birding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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Biked from Elmore to Fremont (and back). Very nice flat asphalt paved trail. Trail goes through a few very small towns. Along this trail you will see plenty of cornfields (in season) and pass by numerous working farms. This is rural Ohio at it's best. You will also have a view of the Ohio Turnpike on several occasions. There are some wooded sections of the trail. Trail surface in very good condition.
Trail towns along the trail are welcoming and friendly.
It's approx 10 miles between Elmore and Fremont. Each half-mile is marked with a sign. In the trail towns there are mileage signs as well.
Parked in Elmore at the old train station. There are places to eat and shop in Elmore. Parking in Elmore is at Ory Park on Rice Street. There is a bike shop and rental in Elmore. In Fremont there are places to eat and shop but to access them, you have to street ride. The trail continues on the other side of Fremont.
An all around great trail and fun ride!
This is an excellent trail. All paved, mostly flat with only minor inclines, good facilities. Please disregard reviews prior to 2016 because construction was completed in 2015. The only problem is that the description in TrailLink lacks adequate detail, so I would like to provide the following info. Please refer to the TrailLink map to make sense of this info:
This trail is made up of three separate segments in Ohio's Portage County. Two of these segments are sort of connected, and the third is actually the extension of another trail altogether. All three segments run roughly in the east-west direction.
1) The southernmost segment runs along the Cuyahoga River in its western half and through the center of the Kent State University campus in its eastern half. It is about 4 miles long, one way. Expect heavy pedestrian traffic on the campus section on class days.
2) The middle segment runs from a point north-east of Ravenna to downtown Kent. It is about 9 miles long, one way. It is mostly a nature trail.
3) The northernmost segment, also known as the Franklin Connector, is just a 1.6 mile extension of the "Hike & Bike Trail", which TrailLink describes and maps separately under that name. (No "Portage" in the latter name.)
Segments 1 and 2 are connected by a rideable north-south foot path along the Cuyahoga River in Kent's Franklin Mills River Edge Park. At one point, you have to choose between leaving the path and going briefly on River St, which is parallel to the path, OR carrying your bike up or down some stairs. Important : I recommend using the foot path as much as possible when traveling between the segments 1 and 2. You could ride on Kent city streets, but they are complicated and the views along the foot path are much nicer.
Nice trail but very poor signage in Middlefield, can go several different ways and not marked if you do not know the area. One route takes you through a parking lot which is not safe.
Loved this trail. Not crowded and nice and flat. I am a new rider and actually made the full ride. 12 miles and mostly shady.
2-day trip planned from Western PA to bike one way and ride train back. Drove pike to Route 21 (area) but somehow could not relate to directions to Canal Towpath. Found Brecksville train station to park and cycled to and into Cleveland (Port of Cleve) and returned with 34 miles of enjoyable riding even with fear of getting lost in Cleve. city streets. Could not locate North Akron train station so followed directions to Berlin. During a previous search I had found Ft. Laurens park and trail entrance but did not realize that it is in fact the Zoar trail and resembles canal towpath but not Ohio & Erie. Rode south to Route 800 and across biker friendly river bridge, but could not convince myself to search trail signs any further. Rode into and North of Berlin to find the much improved trail and enjoyed yet another 27 miles of towpath riding. Having been born and raised in Southern Tusc. County, I will hope to search out the Zoar trailhead and explore much more as only an 81 year old rider can do.
I think this should probably be renamed the “Cleveland LakeNear Bikeway”. We rode it from the northern end and it starts in a beautiful park with a marina and beach but quickly dead ends in a parking lot behind a highrise. We probably missed a sign but it’s pretty easy to find the continuation on a very busy section of Lakeshore Blvd that does have a marked bike lane but requires vigilant urban riding skills. After a couple miles it becomes much less trafficked going by beautiful homes and gardens. It then gets pretty ugly again for a few miles approaching downtown when you’re still on road sandwiched between noisy I-90, a mostly industrial area, and an airport.
We didn’t bother to continue past downtown because the ride was so disappointing.
The trail is well marked, relatively flat, and well paved but mostly on the road.
There are rare glimpses of the lake. If you’re looking for a family friendly ride this is definitely not for you.
This is a smooth, flat, clean trail which is in excellent condition. The locals love it. In the summers when I ride, I always see people of all ages walking, skating and bicycling. There is one section where you have to go out into a country road for about a mile. It’s my least favorite part of the trail, but I suppose the residents did not authorize their backyards to be used for the trail. There is ample parking at either end of the trail, as well as in strategic points along the way. The railroad is very active, providing an element of loud excitement for the whole family. At the Rittman end of the trail is a quaint little restaurant called The Depot, situated in a former train station. It’s a great place for a meal as part of your riding day. We absolutely love this trail.
I recommend parking behind the McDonalds in Mantua. We rode to Garretsville and had lunch at the Garrettsville Tavern and brewery, it was delicious. In March of this year a portion to the west of Mantua opened. Not sure how far it goes so we will try that new trail next.
This is a very nice short trail. Fairly new, so still in good shape, hopefully be able to keep it like that. Slightly uphill from Rittman to Creston. Short lightly traveled road section in Sterling. A lot of options to take to the roads for a longer ride.
Nice trail, crushed gravel. Usually not as busy as the other side of the river, the Canal Trail. You have more chance of seeing people riding their horses on this section. They have right of way.
The Summit County portion of the trail is maintained well for skaters; Portage County, not so much—they don’t clean up the debris well and the tree root bumps are a pain. I’d recommend ALU wheels no smaller than 84mm in size in order to safely clear stones and sticks. The inclines at most of the road intersection are brutal not only due to their steepness but also because of the blind spots caused by curves. It’s the only Bike and Hike path where I actually wear protective gear. Freedom Trail (off 261 and Middlebury Rd) is ideal for skaters except for the absolutely terrible and frequent road intersections the further west you travel (from Kent).
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