I had ridden part of the Scioto Greenway several times as it is a critical link in the Ohio to Erie Trail (OTET) route. This time, I chose to ride Scioto Greenway Trail to see what the other sections of this trail had to offer.

I chose to start at the center of the trail. I parked at the Boat House Restaurant & Event Center found at Confluence Park. Confluence Park is a peninsula that is formed at the intersection of the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers. The Boat House has a large parking lot which sits at the intersection of the Scioto Greenway and Olentangy Trails. This makes parking here very convenient for cyclists.

From the Boat House, I chose to ride west first. What I was most curious about in this portion of the trail was what was worth being seen beyond the Hilltop Connector Trail as I had never gone beyond that point when riding the OTET. Unfortunately, there really isn’t much to see. While a good part of the trail west of Confluence Park does follow the Scioto River you don’t see much of the water as the trees and undergrowth only give up small glimpses of the river. The eventually crosses over Dublin Road (US-33) and travels along this road until it reaches West 5th Avenue. If you were to skip a section of the Scioto Greenway, this western section should be the one you drop.

After I peddled back to Confluence Park and then headed east toward downtown Columbus. This section of the trail is absolutely beautiful. I enjoyed the trail views of the Scioto River, the downtown skyscrapers, and the many bridges that crossed the river. The section from Confluence Park to when the trail passes under Interstate 70 is one of my favorite sections of trail from throughout Ohio. It is definitely a parklike setting with well manicured lawns, improved landscaping, picnic areas, and memorial statues. You view all this with a backdrop of downtown’s tall buildings. This section of the Scioto Greenway, on both sides of the river, is definitely worth a trip to check it out.

When you pass under I-70 you enter into Scioto Audubon Metro Park. The 120-acre park provides active recreation activities to the community. Activities such as hiking, biking, jogging, inline skating, kayaking, and fishing can be enjoyed here. I found that this was the busiest area along the route on the Saturday afternoon that I rode the trail. The natural areas of this section were quite a contrast to the commercial west and the manicured downtown areas. When you reach the southeast corner of Scioto Audubon, you find yourself at the boat (kayak/canoe) launch area to Greenlawn Avenue Low Head Reservoir. At first, I thought that I had reached the end of the trail, however, the trail does continue along West Whittier St. up to the Columbus’ Brewery District, a section of German Village. Once you reach Front Street in the Brewery District the trail leads to Greenlawn Avenue and its bridge where the street and trail cross back over the river. Once you come off of the bridge you loop back underneath it, and the trail follows the Scioto again for a little over 1.5 miles while it passes by the athletic fields of Berliner Park. The trail just dead ends right before reaching OH-104. This is probably the most wooded portion of the entire trail.

After backtracking back to the downtown section of the trail, I crossed from the East Bank to the West Bank of the Scioto River. I crossed using the Main Street Bridge which has a raised bike and pedestrian deck separated from the bridge’s traffic deck. On the West Bank of the Scioto River you will pass by and have access to COSI, the Ohio Center of Science and Industry, and the National Veterans Memorial and Museum. After passing the Veteran’s Memorial Grove, you will pass under two railroad bridges and OH-315 before you reach North Souder Avenue Bridge where the bike lane will take you back over the Scioto River one more time into Confluence Park and the Boat House Restaurant and Event Center parking lot.

I really enjoyed this trail. There is a lot to see and a wide variety of sights along the way. I would highly recommend checking it out. I’m somewhat curious to find out how well lit the downtown section of the trail is at night because I think that if it is well lit it would be a great place for an evening ride.

The Hellbranch Trail is a greenway that I would describe as a commuter path. It runs predominantly in a North-South direction through the western portion of Hilliard, Ohio. It connects the Hilliard neighborhoods of Hoffman Farms, Colonial Lanes, Heritage Lakes, Lakewood, Westbriar, and Brookfield Village to local parks such as Homestead Metro Park, Roger A. Reynolds Municipal Park, the Hilliard Family Aquatic Center, Franks Park, Clover Groff Natural Area, Spindler Dog Park, and Spindler Sports Complex.

The trail is extremely flat with very little change in elevation. The trail has a combination of trail surfaces: asphalt, widened cement sidewalks and crushed stone. My biggest complaint about this so-called trail is a lack of signage. For a named trail or route there was absolutely no signs to indicate where this route went. In a bicycle friendly city such as Hilliard that can be a problem. There are a lot of separated bike paths that parallel the roads of the city. Due to a lack of trail signs, if you are trying to follow a specific route, when you come to a road intersection many times you're not sure whether you should cross the street to continue in the same direction or make a turn. If I had not used the TrailLink app on my phone I would probably have made a number of wrong turns on my outward leg of my out-and-back ride of this trail.

If you live outside of Hilliard, I would suggest following TrailLink's recommendation to park at the Spindler Sports Complex and ride north. I think that if you ride in this direction the trail's path will be a little more clear (since there are no trail signs) than if you choose to ride from the north. Since this trail travels through quite a few residential neighborhoods there are not a lot of trailheads along the way, but Spindler Sports Complex in the south, Roger A. Reynolds Municipal Park in the center, and Homestead Metro Park off of the connected Heritage Rail-Trail in the north are areas with plenty of parking.

I enjoyed this trail. It was a very pleasant ride. It has a lot of utility to connect the citizens Hilliard to their city's parks, but I don't think it is a must ride/walk Ohio trail for people outside of Hilliard. I do think that it is a significant enough route for the city's residents that it would be worthwhile for the city to mark the trail route with signs and distances to the different city facilities along the way.

I went to this trail a couple of weeks ago for a short, quick bicycle ride because I didn’t have much time that day. I even rode past the Brew Dog bu which t bye paths before was not completed. Basically I did a loop, twice. Good for a short ride in the city. I think the loop was a little over 5 miles.

Great trail but ultra crowded during OSU school months.

No way is this trail 22.5 miles. Not even 17.5. I have ridden this trail for many years - I get 13 miles and change from trailhead at Worthington Hills to downtown at Scioto Trail intersection.

If you do the entire trail, it's worth noting it's easier to go north to south than the opposite because of hills.

Bike trail continues to get worse every year. It’s so rough now I’m afraid of blowing tires and an the one review said I to have went through quite a few tires and tubes. Only riding when I can’t go any where else it’s so sad. It could be really nice but they continue to not do anything about the homeless and they make it a not for use path.

My daughter and I rode 7 miles on it today for the first time and it was awesome!!! We will definitely go back and ride further!

Very nice trail. It is very busy, but scenery is nice. Not totally flat but, but no big hills in the part we were on.

Great trail for biking, real rough for skaters to get on from heritage park and is bumpy with wide cracks, especially if you don’t have true outdoor wheels. Worth a shot but I probably wouldn’t skate the section I did (the last two miles?) again.