Find the top rated birding trails in Decatur, 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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Nice surface, it was nice not to be on the roads listening to cars.
I have ridden on this trail different times and love it each time. It is all asphalt or concrete which makes bike riding easier..
Rode a quick 26 miler out n back from Richmond. Well kept and well marked trail.
This is a nice railtrail mostly through farm lands in the country land of Indiana! Make sure to pack lots of water as someone else said. We took water and still didn’t have enough! Thankfully we came upon one of the trailheads that had water. My husband was not happy with the water quality though ¿¿
Looking for a tough assignment? Try this one. I might be the first reviewer to have done this trail from end to end. This is the slowest 36 miles that I have ever done.
Why do it? My interest in the Miami and Erie Canal started as a kid, as the canal was part of the backyard of my parents' house near Dayton, about an hour's drive south.
In 2019, I set out to do this trail from its beginning in Ft, Loramie Ohio to its end in Delphos Ohio. It took me three attempts.
Some facts: The entire 274 mile length of the Miami and Erie Canal started in Cincinnati and ended somewhere near Toledo. This particular "Miami and Erie Canal Trail" trail covers about 36 miles of it. Another reviewer referred to "Farnsworth" ...actually, that is a misplaced review that belongs to the "Towpath Trail" which is not this trail, but easy to be confused, as that trail also is along a more northerly section of the same Miami and Erie Canal. (BTW the Towpath Trail is much easier than this one.)
It took me three tries to finish the Miami and Erie Trail (e.g., see comment about culvert) but it's feasible to do it in one trip if you know where you are going.
While the trail is "good," as in clearly marked, and hikers have no problem, it is not easy to cycle with a few exceptions. You will need a mountain bike to take it from end to end. Forget about taking your kid along for this one - it's really rugged in spots. Some parts of the trail are hard-paved, others are graveled, but much is grassland along the edge of farmers fields. Sometimes the trail disappears and you are riding the adjacent road.
Fort Loramie - In a word: disconnected. Go to the State Park and ride along the lake's edge on the road side, and do a quick tour of the park. The lake was a feeder to the canal. It's placid and pretty. Ride the road along the canal hiking trail, then you will come to Ohio Rt 66, and realize that the bike path isn't really there...it's someone's backyard, or - across the road - a rough uncut farmers field with ground hog burrows under the uncut grass. That might be Ok for hiking, but not for bikes. If you want to make it to Minster-New Bremen, then load the bike on your car, or ride the edge of OH 66.
Minster-New Bremen - this is a nice stretch, the trail is a mix of graveled and hard-paved path and canal-side streets. Stop at the AWESOME WORLD CLASS!!! Bicycle Museum of America. On display is the world's first bicycle .. the real deal.
Going north, expect the paving to be excellent for awhile, and suddenly you are riding through rough grassland along the edge of farm fields. Get used to it and enjoy the solitude and the relaxed speed of 6 mph. Sometimes you are on tire tracks in the woods. Nice!
As you approach St. Mary's OH. you realize you are again in people's yards, so you go back onto Ohio Rt 66 for a bit. Go into Geiger Park and get back in the trail, see the canal boat in the center of town, and then,,,you might get lost (as I did), ask for directions, it's OK. Friendly locals. Suddenly, you are dead-ended at a culvert (just too small and wet to be reasonable for biker, but a hiker, hmmm) that goes under the divided highway. Later, you learn that you were supposed to go left at the culvert, and cycle on the grass along the highway, go under the bridge, and you are back on track. It gets nice with 40 acre lake.
After St, Mary's comes Kossuth, then Spencerville - lots of grass pedaling until you reach the adjacent gravel pit, where the the trail is paved with stone chips. Nice!
Then continue onto Delphos, which is quizzical. What do they have in mind as they newly pave the trail (in process as I write this) but come to a dead-halt in someone's backyard?
Overall, a tough and sometimes confusing path combined with the world class bicycle museum. Glad to have done it.
as long as you don’t mind utilizing the sidewalks you can go all the way down to Fort Wayne Outfitters, whereupon the new park just opened up in front of their building! also a means of riding down to Turnstone, where I was a client back in ‘07
On July 30 I rode from Richmond to Economy return. It was a glorious ride! Loved it! Safe and shady most of the way. However, beware the Oak Mites! The next morning I woke up with welts all over my forehead, neck and shoulders. I had even showered immediately after my ride but I had a severe allergic reaction. I am not from this region and had never heard of these critters that can flourish in July and August especially in years when locusts also flourish. But the trail is so great I would do it again but take more precautions.
Very little shade on the trail. My bike pedometer measured it at 10.5 round trip not the 6.5 one way as app states. Just resurfaced part of the asphalt. Farmer was spraying fields along path and didn’t like riding in the chemical mist. Only saw 2 other riders on trail.
I rode 5.6 miles on an out-and-back ride on the West Bank Trail in Celina Ohio. The trail is located on the western shore of Grand Lake St. Marys in Mercer and Auglaize Counties of Ohio. The trail is flat with no elevation change. Most of the time you are riding right along the edge of the water. The West Bank Trail connects two parks, goes by the public boat launch, and passes quite a few boat docks. There are great views of the lake throughout the trail's length making it a very scenic ride.
One word of caution: the path is quite narrow in spots which could be problematic if the trail is crowded. Someone could end up in the lake.
The Franklin Township Greenway is very flat with almost no change in elevation at all. The trail surface is asphalt which is in good repair. The trail parallels and crosses over State Route 219 several times on the southern shore of Grand Lake near Celina, Ohio. Unfortunately, you don't get to see much of the lake from the trail. You really are really riding along the farm fields that surround the lake. You do get to see a number of canals where the residents and boaters dock their boats. The trail is beautiful in its own kind of way, but with few trees in the area to serve as wind breaks I can see where riders could face really strong headwinds at times. The greenway seems to have been designed for the many people of the boating community that utilize the lake. It's probably the best way to keep casual cyclists off of a busy roadway with cars traveling at high speeds.
It would be really cool if the residents of Franklin Township, Celina, St. Mary's and Mercer and Auglaize Counties could complete an off road route all the way around Grand Lake. Then you might have something worth checking out; particularly if you’re also interested in boating.
I ride this trail frequently. It is a very nice trail, but it needs a little TLC. There are a few areas where tree roots are pushing up the asphalt and there are a couple other areas where holes need repaired. Very enjoyable otherwise.
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