Find the top rated birding trails in Marion, 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.
We ride this trail several times a week. Sometimes round trip it from Butler to North Lake Park, then back to Butler. Most often we ride from Lexington to Butler and back. After riding trails all over the USA Over many years I came to realize I have a gem right in my own backyard! I live in Mansfield, Ohio.
I’ve been cycling and walking this trail for many years. I cycle this trail many times a week. It’s one of the best maintained trails in the country. I use this trail to prepare for thru hiking and biking trails all over the USA! If your looking for a fun round trip day of fun, this is perfect. Park in Butler, Ohio ride 18 miles to North Lake Park turn around and do 18 back to your car.
I have been on here a few times, it’s pretty busy, and the closer you get to the city the more homeless there are sleeping or wandering the trail.. it’s pretty sketch..
It’s not well maintained, busy, and short. It does have beautiful scenery though.
The northern trailhead in North Lake Park (Mansfield) would benefit from better signage or markings. We rode around the lake looking for access to the bike trail. A map posted near the picnic pavilion directs you up the ramp, over the bridge and onto the trail.
My husband and I rode an 8 mile section from the trailhead parking lot by the intersection of route 60 and route 20, by the old historic bridge there. The path crosses route 60, which jogs towards Vermilion, and passes a nice pond and small park area with covered benches, a work out station and a portable restroom. Wakeman has a pub, a coffee shop and an East of Chicago Pizza right uptown near the Gazebo at the park for refueling.
Had a very enjoyed day on the trail. There were more users on the trail, than I thought there would be… but everyone was spread out and hardly noticeable. The trail had some debris all along the trail, but nothing that made the trail impassable. Plenary of benches spread out… but the only restroom facility was an port-a-John at the very beginning of the trail in Marion.
I took the part of this trail formerly known as the I-670 trail, from Cleveland Ave. until it meets up with the album creek trail. The path was in poor condition, with many bumps and cracks as well as a large amount of glass I had to avoid. I would not recommend using this trail.
FWIW I use this trail a lot and enjoy it. However, certain parts are in need a a repaving as it’s either dirty or cracked (and soon after a rainstorm parts remain flooded for up to a day). Additionally, it’s crowded but not enough to hinder my ride normally.
Alright, let's get the lion out of the room - this isn't a continuous trail that you can ride for hours like the Olentangy, Alum Creek, or Scioto. That's probably why it has far fewer reviews, and generally less traffic.
But if you instead look at it from the possibility of an after work ride, perhaps with dinner in Creekside Gahanna, which connects up with it very well, then it's quite nice. The sections by the river are just as scenic as the Alum Creek Trail, and the bluebells in the forest are in full bloom this time of year.
The Gahanna section is also de facto connected, contrary to what TrailLink shows. The Central Ohio Greenways map at http://centralohiogreenways.com/interactive-map/ is more up-to-date, and shows that the only on-residential-road segment is on Nob Hill Drive. There's also one very short sidewalk-or-street section on Cherry Bottom Road just north of Johnstown Road; the full-width trail resumes north of Springbook Drive, one street later. But aside from that, you can get from Morse Road to I-270 by the airport on trail the whole way.
Signage could be better; it's very good for telling you which parks different cutoffs lead to, but not so good for telling you which way to go if you want to follow the main Big Walnut Trail. Gahanna could study what Columbus has done on the Alum Creek and Olentangy Trails for the next level of signage improvements; in the meantime have your preferred map available on your phone.
Longer term, it would be nice if more of this trail were connected; Big Walnut Creek appears to have the potential to support a trail rivaling its more well-known cousins. But until then, consider checking out the Gahanna section for a nice relaxed evening ride.
I rode this trail on 4/21/2022, my second ride on it but first since 2014 or 2015. The City has made some improvements to it over the years, with one of the most obvious ones being the 2021 repaving of the eastern section along I-670 that connects up with the Alum Creek Trail. I remember that section being a bit of a boneshaker on my previous ride, but it's smooth as can be now, a very high-quality surface.
Once you are past the repaved section, the trail looks kind of like a sidepath, being concrete, but is plenty wide enough, and you have dedicated trail all the way until you are west of Cleveland Avenue. It's only once you get west of 3rd that the traffic noticeably picks up, but the routing along Nationwide Avenue is sensible - that's a high-pedestrian-crossing, low-vehicle-speed road, so it's pretty decent for sharing a lane (but stop at the stop signs and don't run anyone over on your bike!). Neil Ave is a little faster (35 mph?), but it's short before you reach North Bank Park.
Another option is to continue west on Nationwide Avenue, past Huntington Park and to New Crew Stadium. From there, you can cross the new-in-2021 pedestrian/cyclist bridge to the Olentangy Trail. It's worth seeing the new stadium if you haven't yet, shouldn't be busy if it isn't a Clippers/Crew game day, and saves you some distance if you want to go north towards Grandview or OSU anyway.
Scenery-wise, I-670 isn't at the top of the list, but it is kind of cool seeing the Downtown Columbus skyline gradually come into closer review, right up until you're at High and Nationwide looking up at a 38-story skyscraper. Fort Hayes (east of Cleveland Avenue, between all the freeways) is also a highlight, with plenty of green space, woodchucks, and great architecture on the buildings; it's worth a short diversion from the trail.
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