Find the top rated birding trails in Boardman, 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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It's been cold for quite a while now but one Sunday the temps got up into the 40's and a lot of people took advantage of the trail that day. Cyclists, walkers, and runners. It was good to see that many people out. Most of the restrooms are closed for the Winter but there are still a few open. The marina is empty as all the boats were removed. Saw 2 different bald eagles.
Parked at the Butler end of the trail at Fellowship Crossing. Biked uphill to Cabot and back, which was 10 miles each way. Coming back about the last 6 miles is downhill into Butler.
The trail is gravel. Some sections of the trail seemed to be washed out.
Towards the Butler end the trail is only a few feet wide.
But still a nice trail.
If you go from Butler to the other end in Freeport it's 21 miles.
We parked near the fire department in Midway, PA. The parking lot is situated nearly on the trail with easy access. We took the trail left and rode about 3.5 miles to Sturgeon where the nice asphalt path became crushed rock near the Allegheny Co line. We turned around there preferring the asphalt and rode to Burgettstown, PA. At Burgettstown we turned around and rode back to our car only because we are older folks who bike only about 20 miles round trip. It was a nice cool fall feeling day. We saw many squirrels, birds, and beautiful golden rod fields dotted with purple iron-weed flowers throughout. A Giant Eagle grocery store is very near the McDonald, PA entrance to the trail which is a plus if you wanted to get drinks or snacks for the journey. Overall impression – Washington Co. is the winner when it comes to the Panhandle Trail. They have done an excellent job in making the bike trail smooth with asphalt, conveniently located porta-johns and nicely mowed areas and benches along the trail.
Adding to what smk wrote in the preceding review: The trail is indeed closed a short distance south of Kirk Rd. because of construction on a new I-76 underpass. Going south, the detour around this closure is: West on Kirk Rd, south on Turner Rd., east on Herbert Rd. While the extra distance due to this detour is not much, I gave up on it because Turner road is narrow, shoulderless, and hilly. There is no visibility over hilltops, and a car speeding over one is too likely to knock down a cyclist on the other side. Unsafe, in my opinion. So the remedy was to ride back to the northern trail end, put the bike on the car, drive to the southern trail end, and ride north to the closure point. This interruption spoiled an otherwise nice ride. Based on the work crew I saw (just two guys), this construction job could take a long time.
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 note that it is closed at mile 5 (from the north). Work being done on highway overpasse
The renovated portion of the Panhandle from Burgettstown to Weirton is paved and beautiful. We bicycled this trail in mid-September and the goldenrod was plentiful. There is Harmon Creek next to this section for quite awhile. When we got to West Virginia, the surface changed to dirt and small stones. This was OK, but you can't ride as fast on it. We hoped to have lunch in Weirton, but there are no sandwich or snack places anywhere near the trail. You have to go on the road to the downtown of Weirton, and we did not do that. We went back to Burgettstown and were amazed to get free hot dogs at the Grand Opening of a small market right at the parking lot for the trail. We just lucked out. It is 12 miles from Burgettstown to Weirton with a rise and fall of 500 feet. A great ride.
Though this trail is relatively short, it's short and sweet and to the point! Basically flat trail runs from Sharpsville to the rail trestle on Shenango Lake. Some of the trail is canopy shaded and other areas are open. There is street parking at the Sharpsville end, and a small lot towards the end of the trail at mile 1.9. Completely asphalt paved. The trail passes the Shenango Dam as well as the lake. For a side trip, you can venture into Sharpsville and check out the old canal lock. Off the trail is some great fishing!
Labor Day Weekend we biked 31 miles. Parked at Sunside Trailhead in Champion and headed North to Orwell, and back. Makes for a nice 30+ mile trek. It's 15 1/2 miles from Champion to Orwell. Newly repaved section near Orwell. While passing the Wildlife viewing area we noticed the observation deck/platform has been removed. It's been falling apart so this is probably a good thing.
The Central section is 8.3 miles of Asphalt Pavement. Newly paved is most of the South section from Headwaters Park to Middlefield Square, which is 6.5 miles. The trail does continue on the other side of Middlefield Square. It's not paved.
Two new Trailheads with shelters and maps and beautiful flower gardens. At Headwaters Park Trailhead there is a new shelter. A completely new trailhead is at Tare Creek Road which offers a shelter and plenty of parking.
Along the Central Section is the newly constructed Claridon Woodlands Park featuring 3 separate paved trails totaling 2.2 miles. Also Recreation areas including a ropes course, pump track/single mountain bike track, boulder wall and a Nature-based playground.
There is an uphill grade from Headwaters Park towards Chardon.
A great trail now is 12 miles of asphalt pavement and has five covered bridges.
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.
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