Find the top rated birding trails in Dover, 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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Rode north from Millersburg, through Holmesville, to Fredericksburg, and back on a Sunday afternoon. About 10 miles each way. Parked at the Hipp Station trail head, which has basic restrooms in the building (parking lot side) and a port-o-potty in the parking lot. Parking lot could hold 2-3 dozen cars, at least.
The trail starts under tree canopy for a bit and then reasonably mixes between sections of open farm field, limited trees, and denser tree coverage. Trail, which is almost like a colonial era road between villages, is wide and accommodating for its multiple users. The trail's asphalt surface is worn, but not broken, still giving a good ride. Horse and buggy traffic is directed to one side of the trail, so one side is naturally cleaner than the other. Be sure to signal when passing to not spook a horse. Most everyone on the trail seemed friendly and many gave a quick wave hello when passing.
The trail does go onto surface residential streets through Holmesville. It's only a few small blocks, the streets are wide and only 25MPH, and well marked with green bike route signs. When you arrive in Fredericksburg, you will be just over a small bridge from the elementary school to your right, which has a small playground and basketball courts with a gravel lot (so, this is probably the noted Fredericksburg trail head). If you continue through town, following the Ohio-Erie trail signs, in just a couple blocks will be a community park, which had a port-o-potty and a picnic pavilion, nice spot to take a break (Jackson St at Henry St). There appeared to be a small convenience store by the one traffic light in town, if you need a beverage.
My one negative comment would be that the mile markers are generally difficult to see. They are painted onto the pavement of the non-horse side of the trail. The white numbers were generally difficult to see as the fading and the worn white paint lacks contrast against the aging grey asphalt.
I like riding the Panhandle trail nice black top from Washington county to WV. The lack of water is something I think needs to be looked into at some point. The water fountains that are there already are not working at mile 0 and 4.5 with the one at 5.5 just working enough to get some water. Just past the brewery there is a very rough spot. Otherwise the trail is great to ride. The WV side has been repaved this year so it's nice to ride that section now.
My husband and I usually ride on the panhandle trail weekly and today when entering at the oakdale entrance i was surprised how bad that section of the trail has become. I witnessed a few riders getting off their bikes and walking through this section. I did the same on the way back. It just needs to be graded and more gravel spread around
I think I'll start my ride in McDonald until this is remedied
I waited for the rain to pass and still had to deal with sprinkles to check this short little trail off my list of TrailLink.com’s Ohio listed trails. The Heartland trail is under development and will achieve two major goals. First, it will fill in an on-road section of the Ohio to Erie Trail route and move it on to trail from Fredericksburg to Clinton and connect the Holmes County Trail with the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail. Secondly, this trail when completed will also be a piece of the RTC’s nationwide rail trail route, The Great American Rail Trail, as it makes its way through Ohio.
The trail is so short right now it probably is unfair to evaluate it. Presently, it travels through Orrville, Ohio’s Dog Park and parallels Main Street as a widened sidewalk up to a parking lot just south of Hostetler Road. I believe that the current map on TrailLink.com is incorrect as it shows the southern part of the trail in Orrville as an on-road route down N. Ella Street to W. Market Street. However, Sterling Avenue coming out of the Dog Park is signed as a bike route and is marked with sharrows. Once you reach W. Market Street, if you turn left and ride one block down to Depot Street you will arrive at Orville’s Union Station and a new trailhead for the Heartland Trail. In addition, the present map here at TrailLink.com doesn’t show what appears to be a fairly new trailhead with bathroom facilities.
There's great potential in this trail already, I can't wait until it begins connecting to nearby towns. Only two stars for now because of its current length.
I like to ride the Olde Muskingum one way and then cross over to the towpath at Canal Fulton and Forty Corners and ride it back. Doing it this way you create a nice loop that is mostly shaded. If you want to shorten the loop, you also have the option of crossing over High Mill or Butterbridge. I live in the area and do this often. If you ride on weekdays it isn't very busy, the towpath gets more traffic. However, weekends and evenings you can get a lot of dog walkers near Canal Fulton on this trail. Because of recent flooding in the area both trails have some rough spots. Both surfaces are crushed limestone.
We rode two parts of this trail on separate occasions. First, we rode the entirety of Cuyahoga Valley National Park from Lock 39 to Botzum. Second, we rode from Massillon (Ernie's Bike Shop) to the outskirts of Akron.
Cuyahoga Park: If you're trying to decide between your mountain bike or road bike, pick the mountain bike. This trail is mostly dirt / crushed limestone, and it's quite bumpy. There are paved portions, but they're equally bumpy. Plus, if it's busy, you're not going to get up to speed anyways.
The path itself, on a Saturday afternoon, was full of cyclists and joggers. The trail meandered through the park and was quite scenic. It's northern Ohio, so there's very little elevation to tackle. Overall, if you don't mind a leisurely pace, a nice way to spend the afternoon.
Massillion to Akron: Starting from Ernie's Bike shop going North, the trail is pretty beat up. Whatever gravel was there is gone, and there's exposed concrete mixed with gravel. Which, is a rough ride. However, the closer you get to Canal Fulton, the nicer the trail becomes. From that point, North to Akron, our road bikes did just fine on the mix of paved and crushed limestone surfaces.
Outside of the surface in the start of the trail, this was an excellent ride. Great scenery, interesting things to explore off the trail, not too much traffic (on a Saturday afternoon), and the trail was well cared for. Definitely our favorite out of the two portions.
This is a really wonderful trail. We rode it from Fredricksburg to the Bridge of Dreams and back to checkout the newest section. The trail between Millersburg to Killbuck has a couple of gaping potholes at the edge of the trail due to erosion underneath. They have been spray painted with orange but if you arent paying attention and hit one you will likely crash. Stay 18-24" away from the edge!
From Killbuck to Glemnont the route is on SR 520. A couple small rolling hills but an easy drive. It was chip and sealed recently so its not smooth asphalt but in good condition. Traffic was light but it was a Sunday.
The newest section from Glenmont to Gann was awesome. Its steady 2% grade uphill from Glenmont about 3.5 miles with short but steeper section as you get to the top of the ridge then downhill to Gann. And then the same in the opposite direction but the ridge is about 4 miles uphill from Gann. Very nice trail through the woods. Watch out for the bollards on the way down. One bollard is missing but the steel plate is still in the pavement. Dont hit that!. We made the little picnic area at the Bridge of Dreams our turnaround and lunch stop before riding back to Fredricksburg.
The Hoover Park Connector Trail is a nice trail that combines asphalt and crushed limestone surfaces. It is maintained by the Stark (County) Parks. Basically this trail connects Hoover High School with Walsh University. Along the way it also connects to the Hoover Community Recreation Complex and Middle Branch Trail (and Glen Oak High School) while winding its way through several residential neighborhoods. The trail is fairly flat with a few short steep climbs that can be easily tamed if you stand up out of the saddle.
My one complaint about this trail was that there were a few spots where the trail ended at a street and it was not exactly clear where the trail picked up again. There was always an arrow sign at each of these endings indicating the direction one would need to travel but in each case the path arrow on the sign showed several turns and there was no indication how far it was to pick up the trail again. In this aspect the trail could be improved.
While I would not characterize this trail as a destination trail for people outside of the area, I can see that this trail has great utility to the local residents who can utilize it to travel between popular community facilities.
Alliance, Ohio’s Iron Horse Trail is a nice flat crushed limestone trail that runs from the University of Mount Union south through a low traffic residential neighborhood (on road) and then connects to a rail trail that quickly gets into farmland and much more wild open space. There are a couple of 2 car parking lots/trailheads along the route, but signage along the trail suggests parking at the Trailhead at First Christian Church on Beech Street. This is probably because it has a much larger parking lot, bathrooms and a picnic pavilion. I started at the FCC trailhead and headed south first. I then rode back to FCC and then up into Alliance where the trail ends at the university's gates on Clark Avenue. This is a nice little trail that currently seems more popular with joggers and pedestrians rather than cyclists based on my observations during my ride. I think if the trail were to be extended further south beyond the current end at Cenfield Avenue, NW then more people might actually bike this trail.
Great ride on the section of the trail including Millersburg to Killbuck and Millersburg to Holmesville. Trail is very flat and wide. On a hot summer day the shady sections are welcoming. There are also open areas of the trail. Trail services include shops in Killbuck, just off the trail. Millersburg within feet of the trail. Also in Millersburg there are a few fast food restaurants steps away from the trail.
The Chippewa Inlet Trail follows a creek simply known as the Inlet that flows into nearby Chippewa Lake. The trail is very flat and since it is only 4 miles long it does not take long to cover the entire route. The Inlet is in the middle of a wetlands nature preserve which makes the trail prone to flooding. So this may not be a trail to ride after several days of rain. You also may want to wear mosquito repellant.
The trail runs by and connects to Buckeye Woods Park as well. This is a recreational park that includes sports fields, picnic pavilions, playgrounds and a fishing pond. There are several small loops that you can ride in the park, but be aware of pedestrians as you ride in Buckeye Woods.
In addition, you can combine this trail with the nearby Chippewa Rail Trail, which starts just .8 miles east on Chippewa Road for an even longer ride.
This trail is a nature lovers delight and I would recommend riding it either in the early morning or late evening to maximize seeing what wild creatures may be paying a visit. This morning I saw a bald eagle sitting in a tree across Chippewa Road from the southern end of the trail.
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