Find the top rated running trails in Bedford, whether you're looking for an easy short running trail or a long running trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a running trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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Very well maintained paved trail from the trail head at Tannery Park in Kent to the southwestern end near Perkins in Akron. We were pleasantly surprised at the trail.
My wife and I have been avid road cyclists in the past, but with the increase in distracted drivers have opted to stay on well maintained trails (preferably paved).
Have been riding the Portage County Bike and Hike trail, but looking for other opportunities tried this route. Mostly flat with just a few small hills.
As other reviews have stated there are several road crossings that are somewhat annoying but we usually ride early on Saturday and/or Sunday morning, so traffic is light at those times.
Very nice trail to ride. It’s asphalted, well maintained, shaded and other trail users are friendly/courteous.
I rode 5.97 miles on an out-and-back ride on the Bruce G. Rinker Greenway through the Progressive Insurance Headquarters campus in Mayfield, Ohio. This is a very flat, wide asphalt pathway through a parklike setting.
Beside riding by the numerous Progressive Insurance buildings, you also pass by athletic fields, the Parkview Pool, the Mayfield Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library, the Grove Amphitheater, and part of an industrial/commercial park before ending up on the south end of the trail at the First Responders Memorial Trailhead at the Mayfield Village Fire Department. Since there is lots of recreational and business sites along this trail, the trail is busy, so don't expect to post record speeds while riding this trail.
Combine this trail with the All Purpose Trail in the Cleveland Metroparks' North Chagrin Reservation [across SOM Center Road (Rt. 91)] from the Progressive Insurance campus for a much longer ride.
The North Chagrin Reservation All Purpose Trail is a decent shaded trail that’s relatively flat except for the southern end of the trail which descends into/climbs out of the Chagrin River Valley.
I rode almost 14.5 miles on a complete out-and-back ride of the North Chagrin Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks in Willoughby, Ohio. The trail is listed as only 4.2 miles long, however, if you follow all the trail spurs off the main north-south All Purpose Trail, and follow the Strawberry Pond Trail along SOM Center Road (Rt. 91) as shown in TrailLink's map then you quickly add additional miles to the 4.2 mile long All Purpose Trail that runs through the park.
My one complaint about this trail is that the All Purpose Trail from Strawberry Pond north to the Chardon Road Entrance should be repaved. There are lots of bumps due to tree root lifting, quite of few dips from water ponding on the trail, and even some rough spots due to erosion.
Combine this trail with the Bruce G. Rinker Greenway in the nearby Progressive Insurance Headquarters Campus [across SOM Center Road (Rt. 91)] from the North Chagrin Reservation for a much longer ride.
This trail is a real gem. You get to experience a great variety of scenery. The trail surface is paved and in pretty good shape, although there are some areas that could use a repaving. The route combines a rail trail with a city greenway, residential streets, and park trails. My biggest complaint has to do with the crossings of some of the more heavily traveled roads that the trail crosses; mostly in the Stow Loop. [Kent Rd. (Rt.59), Graham Rd., East Steels Corners Rd., Seasons Rd., and W. Aurora Rd. (Rt 82) in Sagamore Hills] Keep you eyes open and be aware of the drivers at these crossings. Twice I had a car stop to allow me to cross and people decided to pass around the stopped car as I was crossing. At one light where I was given a cross signal I had a car stop in the middle of the cross walk in front of me as I crossed. These crossings should be better marked, perhaps with signs with flashing lights at all of them with signage about stopping for all crossing cyclists. Regardless, I ride this trail several times a year because of the scenery.
I took a day to ride all 3 Segments of the Portage Hike & Bike Trail and here are my impressions.
---The Franklin Connector is the shortest and most isolated of the 3 segments of this trail. It does not connect to either of the other two segments, it does however connect to the Bike and Hike Trail of Summit County at Young Road. This segment is very flat and goes through a wetlands area. Looking at a map of the Kent area, it certainly appears that this segment could be extended eastward and connect up with the Towner's Woods Segment of the trail. The asphalt surface of this trail was rough in spots.
---The southern most segment of the Portage Hike and Bike is the Cuyahoga River/Kent State University segment. tThis segment follows the Cuyahoga River from Middlebury Road through Fred Fuller and John Brown Tannery Parks, then there is a short on-road sharrow section on Summit Street and Franklin Ave. to connect to a bike path that goes through downtown Kent, Ohio until you reach the University. You will then ride on the Lester A. Lefton Esplanade through Kent State University until you reach Dix Stadium on the eastern end of Campus. The trail is fairly flat except for the middle of the KSU campus where you have to climb a couple of hills. On the western end you can connect to the Freedom Trail after a short .2 mile bike lane and travel into Akron, Ohio. If you plan on riding the Esplanade through campus, I would suggest riding this segment of the trail during the summer when there are not many students on campus.
---The longest segment of this trail is the Towner's Woods Segment. It sort of connects to the Cuyahoga/KSU segment in Franklin Mills Riveredge Park. However, the path through this park is narrow and can be crowded with pedestrians. In addition there is a stairway where you would have to carry your bike through. This trail runs from downtown Kent through the northern end of Ravenna, Ohio and beyond it is very flat but has a number of street crossings in Ravenna. I have seen long range plans to someday try to extend this trail eastward to Warren, Ohio where it could connect with the Western Reserve Greenway. I have not seen any recent news that this extension is in progress.
If the three sections of this trail could be connected without any barriers, and the Towner's Wood Segment extended to the Western Reserve Greenway in Warren this trail would give county residents trail access to quite a wide portion of Ohio. This would then really be an All-Star Trail.
Took a quick out-and-back ride on the Freedom Trail from the Portage-Summit County Line near Kent, Ohio through the City of Tallmadge and on into Akron, Ohio. The Freedom Trail is a pleasant trail with a few gradual hills. My only complaints are there are quite a few road crossings as this old rail line crosses just south of the traffic circle in Tallmadge, and at this point the western end in Akron does not yet connect to the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Heading N/E, first 1/3 mile out of Kent (Crain/Lake/water st intersection) pretty heavily washboarded. Remainder is relatively flat, with easy grades crossing over few roadways. Nice
This section connects to the Bike and Hike Trail which is part of the Summit County, Ohio Metropark System. I started at the eastern end of this trail segment at the Tenney Trailhead. Heading west, the Portage County portion of this trail ends at Spell Road. But the trail continues from there as the Bike and Hike Trail. I rode on the Summit Bike and Hike up to Young Road where in the past I have turned south on Young Road to ride on the Stow Loop of the Bike & Hike. This was a very flat trail that seemed to go through a wetlands area. My one complaint was the asphalt surface was somewhat rough in spots. This was a 4.03 mile round trip.
Maps indicate that if the Franklin Connector was extended further east it could connect to the "main line" portion of the Portage Bike and Hike. Such a connection would connect the cities of Kent and Ravenna to the Summit County Bike and Hike Trail and the Cleveland Metropark All Purpose Trail System.
On Memorial Day Weekend 2019, we road our bikes 50 miles from Massillon (Hampton Inn is just a block away from the trail) north to Northfield and back the next day. We routinely ride 50 plus miles on rail trails and towpath trails. (GAP trail, Erie Canal in NY) I had lots of problems with this trail. I had checked for alerts, and what I had found greatly understated the problem areas.
At Manchester Road, the path was blocked and under reconstruction with no marked detour. We followed others under the equipment, walking our bikes over some gravelly areas (.2 miles or so?) and then lifted our bikes over the fence at the end.
Through Barberton, the trail is lovely but the rolling terrain follows the ups and downs of the hills rather than the level ride of a towpath or train bed.
In downtown Akron, there are confusing signs and roadblocks. We went one way on the way there, and another on the way back, but doable.
After Mustil Store, the trail has been detoured straight uphill for about 1 mile before putting you back on huge gravel chunks for a bit before returning you to the trail. Very frustrating because you can see the rail bed below you proceeding on it's flat and steady route. I wanted to walk on the tracks instead of the detour, but caution got the better of me.
We stopped at R Shea Brewing on Merriman Rd for lunch which was great. The Path signage around there was confusing.
The scenery along the way is lovely with the usual geese, ducks, turtles, etc and wonderful birds around the Beaver Marsh and Summit Lake.
But there are many areas where the trail bed needed some attention. Rocky, rutted, little or no crushed asphalt.
We stayed at a lovely B&B in Northfield, Shady Oaks. But the road to reach it was an evil 1.5 mile hill. I would only recommend it to others if the owners agree to pick you up at the trail. I didn't know to ask!
So, I can see that this is a good trail and I'm glad we did it, but I would tell people that it's just not in that great shape for a long ride right now.
This is a nice short rail trail that services this community as another recreational opportunity. I would not call this a destination trail by any means. The surface is crushed limestone except for the concrete surface on the bridge that crosses over a passage in the lake. Most of the time you are surrounded by water on both your left and your right. Riding or walking this trail at dawn or twilight might give you better chances to encounter wildlife. There always seems to be people out on the lake boating or fishing when the weather is good. I did not encounter anyone else on the trail today, but previously I have shared the trail with runners and dog walkers.
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