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The current description of the trail here at TrailLink does says that the wood chip surface is good only for hiking/walking and mountain biking. I would limit activity to hiking and walking. There is lots of sticks and roots on the towpath on the northern end of the trail and some very deep car tire ruts in the mid-section of the trail. At best you could ride it, but with such a short length why waste your time and risk puncturing a tire. I am not trying to belittle the Zeisberger Trail and Parks group (ZTAP) trying to develop this trail, and connect it to nearby communities, but there is much work to be done before I would recommend riding your bike on this trail.
I rode the Panhandle Passage Trail in Dennison and Uhrichsville, Ohio. This isn't so much of a trail as it is an on-street loop through the parks and recreational areas of these twin towns. The most interesting or unusual part of the ride was a twisted loop through Uhrichsville’s cemetery. The only "trail" here was within Dennison's McCluskey Park around the baseball fields and playground. The route is great for the locals but it is not something I would tell people to go out of their way to ride.
There are actually two trails here, though, eventually they will probably fall under the name of Brecksville Reservation All Purpose Trail. First there is the Valley Parkway Connector Trail.
The Valley Parkway Connector Trail runs from the eastern edge of Mill Stream Run Reservation to the western edge of Brecksville Reservation. The Valley Parkway Connector Trail was the final and key link in connecting the Westside and Eastside Cleveland Metroparks. It truly connected the "Emerald Necklace" around Cleveland, OH and created about 70 miles of continuous off road trail (which includes approximately a 5 mile connection using the Towpath Trail in Cuyahoga Valley National Park.) This trail parallels the Ohio Turnpike for much of its route. You will pass under the turnpike and over Interstate 77 along the way. For a March Wednesday afternoon ride, the trail was not crowded, but it was moderately trafficked with cyclists and pedestrians. I can imagine that there will be a lot of people using this trail on the weekends particularly as the weather continues to warm up.
The other trail is the Brecksville All Purpose Trail. It is a beautiful tree shaded trail (or at least they will be once the leaves on the trees come out). Traveling east along either the Valley Parkway or Chippewa Creek Drive is easy as you descend into the depths of the Cuyahoga Valley. Heading west along either road presents some challenges with some steep climbs. Such climbs are not unusual in the Cleveland Metroparks but the two routes within the Brecksville Reservation may be among the longest and steepest on All Purpose Trails within the Cleveland Metropark Reservations.
Once you are in the valley if you head east on the trail along Chippewa Creek Drive you can connect to the Station Road Depot and Train Station for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. The Cuyahoga River flows not 50 yards from the station and the tracks. Should you choose to cross the Station Road Bridge you can walk or cycle the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. On the Towpath you can travel north into downtown Cleveland or south to Akron and beyond. The Towpath Trail is part of the Ohio to Erie Trail cross-state route. Again, this is a popular destination and it attracts lots of visitors on the weekends. You might find fewer people on these trails late in the afternoon and evenings during the summer.
While this trail is described as 34 miles, it is a 43 mile ride if you do the entire thing. It is a combination of rail trail, power line right of way, suburban streets and park trails. The street sections were unexpected but ok since there was pretty much zero traffic. You have to keep an eye out for tiny green bike trail signs along the way so as to not miss a turn. I managed to get off route a couple times and needed to use google maps and the PDF map of the trail to figure out where to go. That didn’t bother me since it was a good opportunity to get out of the saddle and drink water. More annoying were the frequent road crossings. Some were extremely busy and required use of a crosswalk button.
All this added up to a nice sense of adventure. I parked at the northern end on Alexandra road and did the lollipop counter clockwise. This worked nicely and I would recommend this trail to friends. Just be aware that this is not a typical rail trail. It requires a bit of navigational skill.
Ashtabula to the north side of Warren was great. I rode this trail twice last year. However, once you get into Warren, the trail winds through an urban setting on streets and sidewalks that aren't maintained. I rode the trail to the end and the bike path was littered with broken bottles and glass. I punctured a tire in Warren, but was able to change it and make it back to Ashtabula.
Rode this trail from Cincinnati to Cleveland and back in three weeks. The best touring I’ve ever done. This trail is very well kept. To me, Columbus to Massillon was the most scenic. But it’s hard to find any part of this ride that wasn’t great. I went in late September and had only one rainy day followed by a half day of light drizzle. Xenia, Millersville, and Mt. Vernon were my favorite stops. Can’t wait to do it again!
The North Coast Inland Trail has now been paved between Kipton and Wakeman. Enjoy it!
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.
I just did the newest section, Brinkhaven to Glenmont, today, and it was totally beautiful. Very isolated, very quiet. Two warnings, however. First, there are a few tiny bollards, about 18" high, designed to keep the Amish buggies from using one side of the trail. There aren't too many of them, but they are very solid looking. I wouldn't want to hit one. Second, this trail is a mighty climb for about half its length (then a mighty descent). First time I have needed the granny gear on a Rails-to-Trails. This must have been a REALLY challenging railroad! There are a lot of nice picnic tables along the way for you to rest, and the whole trip is definitely worth the sweat.
Nice trail, but note that it is closed at mile 5 (from the north). Work being done on highway overpasse
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