Find the top rated bike trails in Dayton, whether you're looking for an easy short bike trail or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a bike trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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The Great Miami River Trail is the backbone of one of the nation’s largest paved trail networks, spanning 340 miles throughout Ohio’s Miami Valley. The route connects beautiful natural areas, small...
The Fairfax Trail is 1.5 miles long and parallels the north side of Murray Ave, between Settle Street and Red Bank Road. The Murray Road portion overlaps with the Murray Road Hike/ Bike Trail. There...
The Paint Creek Recreational Trail is the flagship pathway of a planned trail network in the Ohio counties of Fayette, Ross and Highland. Nearly 35 miles of paved trail are currently open linking the...
The Canal Feeder Trail begins at Graceland Cemetery on the south end of Sidney and continues southwest on a former historical canal towpath dating back to the 1840s. The paved trail parallels the...
The 15-mile Creekside Trail is part of a network of more than 340 miles of trails that travel throughout Ohio’s scenic Miami Valley. The route follows a nature-filled corridor offering many...
D Street Trailhead Park is nestled along Richmond’s waterfront on the East Fork of the Whitewater River. From the park, travelers can go north on the Cardinal Greenway (which, at 62 miles, is...
The Miami & Erie Canal was built between 1825 and 1845, an engineering marvel stretching from Cincinnati to Toledo. This canal was heavily used until competition from the railroad caused the decline...
The 4C Bicentennial Trail is one of several throughout Wilmington, OH, and runs between Southeast Neighborhood Park and Fife Avenue (CR 82), just across the road from the south end of Denver Williams...
The paved Tecumseh Trail skirts the quaint city of New Carlisle. The trail takes users through some beautiful wooded areas along a former railroad corridor and connects to Smith Park. At the popular...
The Lowe's Connector Trail parallels Lowe's Drive in Wilmington, OH, and links Rombach Avenue with Prairie Road; however, this is no sidewalk once you reach Prairie Road. The trail is best used to...
Mad River Trail offers a paved, 7-mile route along its namesake river in northeastern Dayton and is part of one of the nation's largest network of paved, off-street trails. Its western end begins...
The Sharon Woods Loop Trail encircles a picturesque lake in popular Sharon Woods in Sharonville. The county park offers a visitor center, boathouse, golf course, picnic areas and athletic fields over...
Centerville’s Archway Trail runs adjacent to a new road on a former railroad corridor that connects downtown to a recently developed neighborhood. The wide, paved trail is one of several open...
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The Newport Southbank Bridge, commonly known as the Purple People Bridge due to its unique paint scheme, links the large Ohio city of Cincinnati with Newport, Kentucky, a medium-sized city rapidly...
The Greenville Creek Trail is a nice, albeit short, retreat through suburban Greenville. The paved path follows its namesake creek, passing under streets and linking neighborhood parks with downtown....
The James Ranch Connecting Spur provides an important link between two major trails spiraling out of the trail hub of Xenia. On its east end, the trail connects to the Little Miami Scenic Trail, which...
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The Buck Creek Trail runs between Buck Creek State Park and Plum Street by Wittenberg University. At its eastern end in Buck Creek State Park, the trail makes a loop and heads into 2 different...
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Ohio’s Miami River Valley, with 340 miles of off-road trails, is home to one of the nation’s largest paved trail networks. The trails connect cities and small towns; link to cultural, educational, and...
The 29-mile Prairie Grass Trail is one of four rail-trails that radiate from Xenia Station, the hub of a vast, paved trail network in southwestern Ohio. The site is a former Baltimore & Ohio (B&O)...
The Ohio to Erie Trail is a colossal project, not just for the state of Ohio but also nationally. Dreamed up more than 25 years ago, this route will eventually connect the Ohio River in Cincinnati to...
The Little Miami Scenic Trail is a jewel in the crown of Ohio rail-trails, spanning just over 78 miles from the outskirts of Cincinnati to Springfield over historical bridges and through tranquil...
The Wright Brothers Huffman Prairie Bikeway runs from South Street in downtown Fairborn, along the north side of Kauffman Avenue adjacent to an active rail line, to National Road. At that point, the...
The James Ranch Connecting Spur provides an important link between two major trails spiraling out of the trail hub of Xenia. On its east end, the trail connects to the Little Miami Scenic Trail, which...
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The 7-mile Iron Horse Trail (open in two disconnected segments) utilizes approximately 2 miles of former Penn Central right-of-way, providing users a pleasant route through neighborhoods, as well as a...
The Lunken Airport Bike Path offers a 5-mile loop around Cincinnati's municipal Lunken Airport. Much of the trail sits atop the levee that protects the airport from flooding of the Little Miami River....
The Towler Road Spur is a short but pleasant route in the trail hub of Xenia, Ohio. Although the paved pathway parallels the roadway, it's separated from traffic by a wide grassy median dotted with...
The Lebanon Countryside YMCA Trail offers 8 miles of paved pathway winding through Lebanon, from downtown to a connection to the 78-mile Little Miami Scenic Trail. The trail begins in the north near...
Hydraulic Canal Run begins in picturesque French Park, where stands of mature trees provide the perfect shady spots to picnic. From here, you can also connect to Piqua City Linear Park, a rail-trail...
The Lowe's Connector Trail parallels Lowe's Drive in Wilmington, OH, and links Rombach Avenue with Prairie Road; however, this is no sidewalk once you reach Prairie Road. The trail is best used to...
The Newport Southbank Bridge, commonly known as the Purple People Bridge due to its unique paint scheme, links the large Ohio city of Cincinnati with Newport, Kentucky, a medium-sized city rapidly...
The Tecumseh Trail Multi-use Pathway offers a pleasant route, partially on the former Pennsylvania Railroad's Columbus-to-Saint Louis freight mainline. The rail route was also once used for Lincoln's...
The Miami & Erie Canal was built between 1825 and 1845, an engineering marvel stretching from Cincinnati to Toledo. This canal was heavily used until competition from the railroad caused the decline...
The 29-mile Prairie Grass Trail is one of four rail-trails that radiate from Xenia Station, the hub of a vast, paved trail network in southwestern Ohio. The site is a former Baltimore & Ohio (B&O)...
Mad River Trail offers a paved, 7-mile route along its namesake river in northeastern Dayton and is part of one of the nation's largest network of paved, off-street trails. Its western end begins...
The Camp Chase Trail plays a role in two of Ohio’s most exciting trail projects: it is a key piece of the cross-state Ohio to Erie Trail and an integral part of the Central Ohio Greenways network...
The Williamsburg to Batavia Hike/Bike Trail connects its two namesake communities on a paved route that winds through East Fork Wildlife Area and along scenic William Harsha Lake. The experience is...
The Ohio to Erie Trail is a colossal project, not just for the state of Ohio but also nationally. Dreamed up more than 25 years ago, this route will eventually connect the Ohio River in Cincinnati to...
The Cardinal Greenway, the longest rail-trail in Indiana, stretches just over 61 miles from Marion to Richmond along a former CSX railroad corridor. The trail takes its name from the Cardinal, the...
Centerville’s Archway Trail runs adjacent to a new road on a former railroad corridor that connects downtown to a recently developed neighborhood. The wide, paved trail is one of several open...
The Stillwater River Bikeway winds through Dayton's northern suburbs, following the tree-lined eastern shore of its namesake waterway for much of the way. Two disconnected segments of trail are...
The Cardinal Greenway, the longest rail-trail in Indiana, stretches just over 61 miles from Marion to Richmond along a former CSX railroad corridor. The trail takes its name from the Cardinal, the...
The Towler Road Spur is a short but pleasant route in the trail hub of Xenia, Ohio. Although the paved pathway parallels the roadway, it's separated from traffic by a wide grassy median dotted with...
The Sharon Woods Loop Trail encircles a picturesque lake in popular Sharon Woods in Sharonville. The county park offers a visitor center, boathouse, golf course, picnic areas and athletic fields over...
The Fairfax Trail is 1.5 miles long and parallels the north side of Murray Ave, between Settle Street and Red Bank Road. The Murray Road portion overlaps with the Murray Road Hike/ Bike Trail. There...
The 15-mile Creekside Trail is part of a network of more than 340 miles of trails that travel throughout Ohio’s scenic Miami Valley. The route follows a nature-filled corridor offering many...
The Luther Warren Peace Path is shady 1.2-mile journey along a level paved surface, delightfully cool in summer. The trail includes two old railroad bridges, one covered and built as a local Boy Scout...
The Lowe's Connector Trail parallels Lowe's Drive in Wilmington, OH, and links Rombach Avenue with Prairie Road; however, this is no sidewalk once you reach Prairie Road. The trail is best used to...
The Roberts Pass Trail runs from downtown London, Ohio, to rural Fairfield Township. The trail passes through farmland for 6.5 miles, although dense tree cover shades the route at all...
Ohio’s Miami River Valley, with 340 miles of off-road trails, is home to one of the nation’s largest paved trail networks. The trails connect cities and small towns; link to cultural, educational, and...
The Great Miami River Trail is the backbone of one of the nation’s largest paved trail networks, spanning 340 miles throughout Ohio’s Miami Valley. The route connects beautiful natural areas, small...
The James Ranch Connecting Spur provides an important link between two major trails spiraling out of the trail hub of Xenia. On its east end, the trail connects to the Little Miami Scenic Trail, which...
Centerville’s Archway Trail runs adjacent to a new road on a former railroad corridor that connects downtown to a recently developed neighborhood. The wide, paved trail is one of several open...
The Tecumseh Trail Multi-use Pathway offers a pleasant route, partially on the former Pennsylvania Railroad's Columbus-to-Saint Louis freight mainline. The rail route was also once used for Lincoln's...
The Lunken Airport Bike Path offers a 5-mile loop around Cincinnati's municipal Lunken Airport. Much of the trail sits atop the levee that protects the airport from flooding of the Little Miami River....
The Lebanon Countryside YMCA Trail offers 8 miles of paved pathway winding through Lebanon, from downtown to a connection to the 78-mile Little Miami Scenic Trail. The trail begins in the north near...
The Shaker Trace Trail forms a loop around Miami Whitewater Forest, the largest county-run park in Hamilton County. The fully-accessible, paved trail runs for nearly 8 miles through the park’s...
The 29-mile Prairie Grass Trail is one of four rail-trails that radiate from Xenia Station, the hub of a vast, paved trail network in southwestern Ohio. The site is a former Baltimore & Ohio (B&O)...
Piqua City Linear Park was constructed on an abandoned railroad bed from the city's easternmost point to its westernmost point. Midway, it connects to the Great Miami River Trail and is part of the...
The Xenia–Jamestown Connector links these two eponymous communities and travels east beyond Jamestown to the Greene–Fayette County line at Rosemoor Road. It’s part of Ohio’s Miami River Valley trail...
Mad River Trail offers a paved, 7-mile route along its namesake river in northeastern Dayton and is part of one of the nation's largest network of paved, off-street trails. Its western end begins...
For running purposes it has a decent biking trail through a thin veil of trees.
I rode this section of the trail north in August 2017. Like the rest of the trail it is well-maintained and signed. The Middletown section is the most industrial portion of the trail. There is a 1.5 mile gap between where the trail ends north of Middletown and where it picks up again just south of Franklin, Ohio. This gap can be bridged by riding the shoulder of Route 73 until you reach Baxter Road. Route 73 is a divided roadway so the cars and trucks are traveling at high speed. Fortunately, the shoulder is pretty wide and the distance can be covered in 10-15 minutes. Once you are back on the trail heading north, you pass through the cities/towns of Franklin, Miamisburg, and West Carrolton before reaching Dayton and the UD campus. Like much of this trail the towns and cities nearby embrace the trail and cater to cyclists. This section of the trail is the least shaded of all, so those with fair skin definitely should lather up with sunscreen. You might also want to consider the temperature forecast before riding this section as it was pretty hot during my August ride.
I have ridden the trail several times both as a part of a link in the Ohio to Erie Trail and as a destination trail itself. The last time I rode this trail was on May 24, 2017.
The Lunken Airport Bike Path is a 5 mile loop that essentially follows the perimeter of the airfield. It is flat path except for two short climbs onto the levees that protect the airport from floods of the Ohio and Little Miami Rivers. For those of you that have or will bike the Ohio to Erie Trail (OTET) I have found that the part of the Lunken Airport Bike Path that crosses through the Reeves Golf Course at the end of the runway, is a much safer way to go than the on road route suggested for the OTET to get from Lunken Airport to the Village of Marimont as it will help you avoid what I found to be a very troublesome and dangerous Beechmont traffic circle. It may add a few extra miles to your trip, but I have found that I do not enjoy negotiating this traffic circle with it's driver blind spots. Someday, according to a sign at the corner of the Lunken Playfield at the end of the Lunken property along Wilber Avenue, the OTET will be connected directly to Little Miami River Trail so that OTET riders will be able to avoid riding along very busy Columbia Parkway (US Rte. 50). If you are going to ride the OTET this is definitely an area you want to look at in Google Maps.
Last May I once again rode through this park. I have previously ridden through this park twice on journeys along the Ohio to Erie Trail. Using the trails of the park and its airport connecting trail is a good way to avoid a difficult-to-navigate-safely double traffic circle near Lunken Airport where Wilmer Avenue and Wooster Road intersect with Beechmont Avenue.
The Otto Armleder Memorial Park and Recreation Complex is a Hamilton County MetroPark that sits along the Little Miami River and in the landing and flight path of Cincinnati's Lunken Airport. This airport serves primarily private planes and corporate jets and because of this the land the park occupies probably would not be a good fit for residential housing.
The park consists of soccer fields, picnic areas, a dog park, a 1.9 mile biking/hiking loop and a few addition pathways along the athletic fields that can be added to the primary bike/hike loop for variety and additional length. There is also a 1.2 mile connector bike/hike route that connects to the Lunken Airport Bike Path.
This is a nice little park, and riding the primary loop trail was fun but it certainly didn't take very long to complete. Adding in the additional pathways in the athletic fields and taking some pictures took up some additional time but it was a pretty quick ride. If you are looking for a safe, flat pathway to work on speed and distance this very well could be the trail for you. I was here on a Tuesday afternoon and there were only 4 other riders/walkers I encountered. It may be much more crowded at other times or on the weekend. Multiple laps would add to your mileage totals. After finishing a once around all the parks pathways, I took the connector trail and rode around Lunken Airport. Parts of that trail seemed much busier than the one in the park.
I rode this trail during the last week of May, 2017. The Williamsburg to Batavia Hike Bike Trail is a planned 13.5-15 mile trail that will link these two Ohio towns and also provide access to parts of the East Fork State Park and the Harsha Lake Reservoir. Currently, there is about 5.5 miles of this trail completed. I parked at the East Fork State Park Campground Entrance and rode out to Williamsburg and back and then out to the other trail endpoint at Zagar Road. There is an additional trail section that is not yet open (gated) that goes to Greenbriar Road which I also biked. Future plans for the trail are to use Greenbriar Road to connect to Batavia and other parts of the Harsha Lake Reservoir via Slade Road. Whether these roads end up being abandoned like Williamsburg Bantam Road is unknown by me.
I found this route confusing as the map given to me by the park ranger at the campground was just in black and white and did not distinguish between park roads, abandoned roads or trails. She simply highlighted the route and suggested that the trail toward Batavia followed the park roads at least as far as the trail has been completed. You will find that there a number of climbs between the campground and Williamsburg. In hindsight, had I paid more attention to the map sign in Willamsburg, I may have actually ridden a bit further down Greenbriar road to see if the Slade Road portion of the trail was accessible.
I rode this trail near the end of May, last year. This loop trail within Sharon Woods MetroPark is a very pretty little trail around a man-made lake. The loop is about 2.5 miles long, with extensions to overlook the lake's harbor and to a lakeside lodge. I rode two laps around the lake as well as taking side trips to the harbor overlook and to the Lakeside Lodge for a total of 6.1 miles. The trail actually passes underneath I-275. There are a few short climbs that should not give anyone who bikes every once and a while any trouble. The path is paved but narrow (7-8 feet wide) with quite a bit of pedestrian traffic. I can't image how busy it must be on the weekends. If you're from out of town you will have to pay a one-time use fee of $5. Different levels of season passes are available for locals. This is run by the Hamilton County Metroparks. Definitely, worth a look. I'll be back.
Blacktop all the way. Some moderate hills. More enjoyable or easier to walk, than bike. Very scenic along Little Miami. Lots of trees. Take a friend along. Very remote area.
I rode this trail in May of 2017 along with the other 2 trails in Wilmington, Ohio that are listed in TrailLink. The Lowe's Drive Trail is what I would catagorize as a retail/commercial trail. It is approximately 3/4 of a mile long. It connects to the 4-C Bicentennial Trail via a multi-use trail in Williams Memorial Park. This trail simply parallels the road that the Lowe's Home Improvement Store is on and passes by a factory (Timbertech), a grain elevator, and the Wilmington Water Treatment Facility.
My issue with this particular trail has to do with it's purpose. Was it constructed for bicycle commuting to commercial and retail areas of Wilmington? Is it ultimately a link of a much bigger future citywide trail network? I don't really know. I recently learned that the rail line that this trail crosses over is being converted into the Clinton-Fayette Friendship Trail in nearby Sabina, Ohio so i guess there is the possibility that sometime in the future these trails could be linked.
The 4-C Bicentennial Trail is what I would categorize as a MetroPark trail. It is approximately 1.8 miles long and has a few short climbs that are steeper than what you would find on a rail trail. This trail is connected to Wilmington, Ohio's Luther Warren Peace Path rail trail by way of an on-street/sidewalk connector trail called the Q-Path Urban Trail. The 4-C Bicentennial Trail actually starts at a small playground just off of Wall Street, runs through Lytle Creek Nature Preserve, and ends up running to and through Williams Memorial Park and ends at Rombach Avenue. If you would cross Rombach Avenue you would then connect with the Lowe's Drive Trail. By combining all these small trails, the city of Wilmington has the start of a nice trail network. Perhaps, plans are to encircle the city in the future and then connect to other trails in Clinton County.
The Luther Warren Peace Path is an actual rail trail. It is approximately 1.3 miles long. It appears that it may be able to be extended beyond it's present end point to the West at South Nelson Avenue. However, it would probably take some creativity as across this street is the driveway to the Wilmington Landfill. Extending this trail to the east does not seem possible as it appears that the Luther Warren was just a spur to an existing rail line that crosses Grant Street.
The Luther Warren is one of three trails in Wilmington that are listed here in TrailLink. The other two trails are the 4-C Bicentennial Trail and the Lowe's Drive Trail. The Luther Warren and the 4-C Bicentennial are connected by a marked on-road/sidewalk route designated as the Q-Path Urban Trail by the city of Wilmington. The Q-Path apparently also connects the campus of Wilmington College to these other bike trails. Combining all these trails in an out and back ride I rode a little over 9 miles in May of 2017.
On April 2, 2017, I rode the southern portion of the Great Miami River Trail from Fairfield, OH to Rentschler Forest MetroPark at the Reigart Road Entrance northeast of Hamilton, OH. Here the trail ends as there is a gap from here to the northern portion of the trail which picks up south of Middletown, OH. The round trip was just over 20 miles. This section of the trail is well marked. I was especially impressed that almost all of the driftwood and litter debris that the Great Miami River had deposited along the trail when the water level had been higher, had been moved off of the trail by either volunteers or City of Hamilton workers. It is nice to see the pride in what the trail means to the community. I'd love to see the gap between the Hamilton and Middleton sections of this trail completed and the GMRT become one continuous trail.
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