Find the top rated cross country skiing trails in Norwalk, whether you're looking for an easy short cross country skiing trail or a long cross country skiing trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a cross country skiing trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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Traveling just over 18 miles through some of the most scenic areas of the Buckeye State, the Richland B&O Trail is an ideal way to immerse yourself in the region. Built partially as a result of the...
The Lester Rail Trail in Ohio's Medina County runs 3 miles between Abbeyville Road and Lester Road in York Township. The trail passes through bucolic farmland with scattered remnants of prairie, where...
For nearly 9 miles, the Mill Stream Run Reservation All Purpose Trail runs through a wooded park in Berea, a western suburb of Cleveland. Though the trail loosely parallels Valley Parkway, you will...
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The North Coast Inland Trail is a series of trails across multiple northern Ohio counties that, as they expand and connect, are emerging as an impressive long-distance trail between Cleveland and...
The Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway extends 17 miles along the city's Lake Erie shoreline, between the suburbs of Euclid and Lakewood. The bikeway has on-road sections, and the route is signed. The...
The Huron River Greenway MetroPark Trail has two separate segments, each just under 1 mile long. The northern (Huron) segment runs from DuPont Marsh State Nature Preserve off River Road and heads...
Cleveland Metroparks’ Lake to Lake Trail links Lake Isaac and Lake Abram in Middleburg Heights via an asphalt- and boardwalk-surfaced path. The two lakes are the largest remaining glacial wetlands in...
The Steel Mill Trail is a 2-mile continuation of the Bridgeway Trail, which lies within the Black River Reservation, a scenic wooded park in Lorain. The Steel Mill Trail picks up at the north end of...
The Brideway Trail is found within the Black River Reservation, a park in Lorain County, where you can walk, jog, inline skate, cross-country ski or bike. The trail runs between Day's Dam in Lorain...
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The County Line Trail travels the path of the former Erie Lackawanna Railroad between Rittman and Creston. A highlight of the trail is a former Baltimore & Ohio freight station located just west of...
The Rocky River Reservation All Purpose Trail parallels Valley Parkway through several western suburbs of Cleveland, but this is no traditional suburban side path. Instead, the winding trail through...
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The North Coast Inland Trail will one day stretch across northern Ohio from Indiana to Pennsylvania on a network of connecting off-road trails. Today, large sections of the trail, especially from the...
The Brideway Trail is found within the Black River Reservation, a park in Lorain County, where you can walk, jog, inline skate, cross-country ski or bike. The trail runs between Day's Dam in Lorain...
Cleveland Metroparks’ Lake to Lake Trail links Lake Isaac and Lake Abram in Middleburg Heights via an asphalt- and boardwalk-surfaced path. The two lakes are the largest remaining glacial wetlands in...
The Rocky River Reservation All Purpose Trail parallels Valley Parkway through several western suburbs of Cleveland, but this is no traditional suburban side path. Instead, the winding trail through...
The Huron River Greenway MetroPark Trail has two separate segments, each just under 1 mile long. The northern (Huron) segment runs from DuPont Marsh State Nature Preserve off River Road and heads...
The Steel Mill Trail is a 2-mile continuation of the Bridgeway Trail, which lies within the Black River Reservation, a scenic wooded park in Lorain. The Steel Mill Trail picks up at the north end of...
The Lester Rail Trail in Ohio's Medina County runs 3 miles between Abbeyville Road and Lester Road in York Township. The trail passes through bucolic farmland with scattered remnants of prairie, where...
The County Line Trail travels the path of the former Erie Lackawanna Railroad between Rittman and Creston. A highlight of the trail is a former Baltimore & Ohio freight station located just west of...
The North Coast Inland Trail is a series of trails across multiple northern Ohio counties that, as they expand and connect, are emerging as an impressive long-distance trail between Cleveland and...
The North Coast Inland Trail will one day stretch across northern Ohio from Indiana to Pennsylvania on a network of connecting off-road trails. Today, large sections of the trail, especially from the...
The Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway extends 17 miles along the city's Lake Erie shoreline, between the suburbs of Euclid and Lakewood. The bikeway has on-road sections, and the route is signed. The...
For nearly 9 miles, the Mill Stream Run Reservation All Purpose Trail runs through a wooded park in Berea, a western suburb of Cleveland. Though the trail loosely parallels Valley Parkway, you will...
Traveling just over 18 miles through some of the most scenic areas of the Buckeye State, the Richland B&O Trail is an ideal way to immerse yourself in the region. Built partially as a result of the...
The Steel Mill Trail is a 2-mile continuation of the Bridgeway Trail, which lies within the Black River Reservation, a scenic wooded park in Lorain. The Steel Mill Trail picks up at the north end of...
The Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway extends 17 miles along the city's Lake Erie shoreline, between the suburbs of Euclid and Lakewood. The bikeway has on-road sections, and the route is signed. The...
Cleveland Metroparks’ Lake to Lake Trail links Lake Isaac and Lake Abram in Middleburg Heights via an asphalt- and boardwalk-surfaced path. The two lakes are the largest remaining glacial wetlands in...
For nearly 9 miles, the Mill Stream Run Reservation All Purpose Trail runs through a wooded park in Berea, a western suburb of Cleveland. Though the trail loosely parallels Valley Parkway, you will...
Traveling just over 18 miles through some of the most scenic areas of the Buckeye State, the Richland B&O Trail is an ideal way to immerse yourself in the region. Built partially as a result of the...
The Brideway Trail is found within the Black River Reservation, a park in Lorain County, where you can walk, jog, inline skate, cross-country ski or bike. The trail runs between Day's Dam in Lorain...
The Lester Rail Trail in Ohio's Medina County runs 3 miles between Abbeyville Road and Lester Road in York Township. The trail passes through bucolic farmland with scattered remnants of prairie, where...
The North Coast Inland Trail will one day stretch across northern Ohio from Indiana to Pennsylvania on a network of connecting off-road trails. Today, large sections of the trail, especially from the...
The Rocky River Reservation All Purpose Trail parallels Valley Parkway through several western suburbs of Cleveland, but this is no traditional suburban side path. Instead, the winding trail through...
The Huron River Greenway MetroPark Trail has two separate segments, each just under 1 mile long. The northern (Huron) segment runs from DuPont Marsh State Nature Preserve off River Road and heads...
The North Coast Inland Trail is a series of trails across multiple northern Ohio counties that, as they expand and connect, are emerging as an impressive long-distance trail between Cleveland and...
The County Line Trail travels the path of the former Erie Lackawanna Railroad between Rittman and Creston. A highlight of the trail is a former Baltimore & Ohio freight station located just west of...
I decided to try riding the whole thing, and it was an adventure!
Started as far NW as I could, which is a little more than a mile W of Elmore, where the trail is more of a suggestion. It worked out because within 1 minute of being on the trail, I met an older guy (didn't get a name), who told me the trail is being extended that way, and it would get real nice in a mile, at Elmore. It did, and I went on my way down, crossing under the toll road. After several more miles, it ended just outside of Fremont and I had to do the city street thing. Other than a short stretch on US 20, the city streets were pretty nice passing a lot of older style homes in a residential area. From there, went on further to Clyde, where it goes right through downtown. After that I raced a train for a few miles until the trail stopped at a crossing...that I had to cross. The train parked and I ended up going under it to keep going. The trail picked up on the N side of the tracks (route 177 to US 20) and became a large sidewalk along US 20 Through Bellevue. Turning S, was tricky. The "path" is a very tiny almost sidewalk size road along some tracks called Monroe st. It eventually turns E and then you pick up a crappy gravel trail at local route 22. Stay on the gravel for many miles through Monroeville, to Norwalk. From here, there's a little bit of paved trail, and a decent amount of city street traveling. Have your Google maps handy here! You'll go up Main st, then use local 18. When it ends, the trail is across the street and slightly S of your position. It's also the crappy gravel, and uphill. I consider this the general hardest part of the trail as you're going miles on this. When it ends, it's due to someone not selling out, and you have to go around. I went N, E, then S to avoid US 20. I recommend it and it's not crowded. Then you go E into Wakeman, which has a nice little bridge crossing a creek, and then...nothing it seems. Actually you go up River st a few hundred feet, an then get on this nice brand new trail they built, which swings S onto the side of US 20 for 2-3 miles. Then N on County Line rd for a few hundred feet, then E on nice trail for many miles to Oberlin. Oberlin was a nice little town, with lots of people out and about. The station was a nice respite for my push to the end. So after a break, I continued. The trail rides N-NE now for several miles all the way to Elyra. When I did this, the bridges on the road at trails end were being rebuilt, so I (and several other folk) walked my bike across one of the bridges that was super rough. Then as the trails do NOT link up, I used W River road, to Ford road (a few miles) to get to Black River Reservation and continue on trail all the way to route 611 in SW Loraine. That was a very nice set of trails, and I highly recommend those northmost trails of the route. After a few miles of riding city streets of W Loraine, I made it to Century park on the lake. In general this was a really nice trail, but due to the train, a few turn around moments, and the gravel in the Norwalk area, it wasn't perfect. But if you want to ride a trail (or set of trails) that really go somewhere, this comes highly recommended. Trails ridden: The 3 sets of the NCIT trail, plus the Steel Mill trail. Total route miles: 87
I rode 3.25 miles from the Script Cleveland Sign located west of Edgewater Beach to West 28th Street and then down into the flats to connect to the Cleveland Foundation Centennial Trail. This trail is easy to follow, is well signed with directional and historical signs and safely transports a bike rider to a connection with the next link in the chain of trails making up the Ohio to Erie Trail route. Once you reach W. 28th Street you may either take it and Loop Drive or continue on Washington Avenue to W. 25th Street in order to connect to the start of the Cleveland Foundation Centennial Trail. In either case, you will be travelling around or through Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority low-income housing units. In addition, the roads in this area are a bit rough. Control your speed so that you don't hit a deep pothole and affect your rims.
I rode all of this trail, as shown on the Trail Link map, on a warm Saturday afternoon in September, 2019.
1) Started at the intersection of Edgerton Rd and Valley Parkway at the eastern end of Mill Stream Run Reservation,
2) rode east along (but not on) Valley Parkway, into Brecksville Reservation,
3) rode along Chippewa Road east to the Station Road Bridge in the Cuyahoga Valley National park (CVNP),
4) rode west to Brecksville Village along Chippewa Rd,
5) returned east to Valley Parkway then west to my starting point.
There are long up hill stretches in both directions; so, no easy way to do this trail! The payback is the exhilarating down hill stretches. In general, you have to go up out of, or down into, the East Branch Rocky River and Cuyahoga River valleys at the west and east ends of the trail, respectively. The trail is smoothly paved all along, except for the short segment in the CVNP which is damaged by tree roots. Car traffic on Valley Parkway and Chippewa Road was light, so there wasn't much noise. Bicycle and pedestrian traffic on the trail was very light. Even though Valley Parkway is not really a park, strips of woodland and a golf course run along it, making it pleasant. In the CVNP, be sure to take in the lovely view from the Station Road Bridge.
Click on "nearby trails" next to the Trail Link map to see the amazing network of paved bike trails to which this trail is linked.
Trail is as good as any I have ever ridden. Good asphalt surface. Had the privilege of riding a few miles with 18 year trail volunteer "Pete". Lot's of knowledge from him. Thanks for your service!
Best way to describe my trip: Clean path, corn stalks, yellow and green soy bean fields, friendly folks, Sandusky river, trains, good parking areas and shelters.
Pretty good for a trail that goes through a completely built-up suburban area. Flat and well-paved along its entire length. The prettiest part is along the shore of Lake Isaac nearly the southern end. Connects to Lake to Lake Trail at Lake Isaac. I recommend doing the 2 trails together. The numerous road crossings are annoying, but the major ones have pedestrian traffic lights, so they are safe.
Nice trail. Crosses 20+roads.
I had initially intended to ride the entire Huron County portion of the NCIT in one day but unfortunately I got a late start and was forced to break this cross county ride into two separate rides.
In both cases I started my ride in Norwalk, Ohio from the N. West Street trailhead. I decided that I would ride east first and then return. There is a 3.2 mile on-road stretch in Norwalk east of the trailhead on N. West Street starting at State Street and continuing until you reach the Clinton portion of the trail starting at Laylin Road. Leaving Norwalk this on-road section of the trail was well marked and motorists are informed to share the road. However, except for one small portion where there are bike lanes you are riding on the road in traffic with no berm. My impression was that these roads were not exceptionally busy but that could have been due to the time of day I was riding. Since I have never been very comfortable riding on roads that I am unfamiliar with when I reached the end of the actual trail east of Collins, Ohio I chose not to continue with the on-road route to Wakeman when I reached Derussey Road. In addition, I was concerned that returning from Wakeman late in the day would put me on the roads in Norwalk right about the time the sun would be at a difficult angle where drivers would be looking into the sun as they and I were headed west. The map posted here on TrailLink.com for this portion of the NCIT does not show the on-road portions of the trail as part of the trail. The Firelands Rails to Trails Group that manages the Huron County portion of the trail views these on-road segments as part of a complete trail in their county.
The off-road trail surface is composed of crushed limestone. Inside the city of Norwalk it is packed down pretty well and any type of bike tire would be able to navigate the trail easily. East of Laylin Road the surface gets much softer. I have 2 inch Schwalbe Marathon Plus Touring tires and I could feel the increase in rolling resistance so be warned that this might not be a trail friendly to bikes with thinner tires. Firelands Rails to Trails considers the trail scenery west of Collins as some of the best on the entire NCIT, but for me I felt as though I was riding through a green tunnel most of the time. I suppose that in early Spring and late Fall when there aren't as many leaves on the trees and brush that the views of the scenery are much better.
A week later when I returned to Norwalk to complete remainder of the Huron County portion of the NCIT I rode from Norwalk to Bellevue, Ohio. The this portion of the North Coast Inland Trail travels west through Monroeville and on to Bellevue while paralleling an active Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad rail line. Once you get to Bellevue, if you take an on-road route through town, you can connect with the Sandusky and Ottawa Counties portion of the NCIT. I had intended to ride to the to the start of this next county segment but the on-road segment through Bellevue was not signed or acknowledged at the end of the Huron County NCIT section so I decided to turn around. If you intend on riding the entire NCIT check out the connecting on-road sections on a map before you go.
Again, the trail between Norwalk and Bellevue is a crushed limestone surface that was somewhat soft. It appeared that shortly before my ride additional stone had been recently laid down on the trail. Wider tires would help on this surface, but perhaps after some time this newly laid stone will compact and the surface will feel a little less soft.
Riding this trail section reminded of the Katy Trail in Missouri. Perhaps it was the trail surface and the corn and soybean fields that surround the trail. Perhaps it was the farming towns that these trails run through and mileage between them that is similar as well.
I would like to see the Firelands Rails to Trails Group, who have done a great job of promoting and maintaining the Huron County portion of the NCIT, to continue to push to purchase, develop, and maintain more of the missing portions of the trail so that on-road riding is eliminated almost completely. I also hope that some day the trail will be paved as well. Sometime in the future I will have to take a couple of days and ride the entire 100 mile plus North Coast Inland Trail in one ride.
I started in Elmore and headed east towards Bellevue, but the on-road traffic conditions in Fremont were too much for me. I got to ride about 11 of the 28 miles.
Excellent, flat and hard-paved as a dedicated trail from Elmore to Fremont, pretty scenery on this very flat section of Ohio. Nice to see open farmland, and to cross under the Ohio Turnpike.
In Fremont the trail continues onto a light-traffic but 4-lane curbed street with no adjacent sidewalk. The curb means that I couldn't quickly get off the road itself, so I rode on the grass and through parking lots to stay away from the possibility of cars. I didn't see many bike signs, so I made a couple of wrong turns on quiet country roads (which was wishful thinking) but righted myself with google maps. The route continues on 4 lanes until turns right onto a 2-lane streett a narrow berm. During the day of my ride, there was heavy traiff, utility work and new building construction underway, with cones blocking the berm access, I had had enough by that point and turned around.
I rode what I will call the northern and southern sections of the trail. On the northern segment the trail runs from the Erie County water tower to River View Drive. The southern segment runs for about a mile along the old Wheeling & Lake Erie rail corridor from North Main Street in Milan, Ohio. So, the lawsuit mentioned in other reviews here must have been favorable to the abutting landowners as the trail certainly does not cover the same distances as mentioned in zars 2010 review.
The northern section has a grass surface that covers a solid crushed gravel under layer. The DuPont Marsh is pretty with many types of aquatic birds to be seen. Where the trail ends you get a good opportunity to see the Huron River. The southern section is very similar to the northern section of the trail in that it has a grass surface covering a crushed gravel under layer. However, the surface is softer than what you find in the northern portion of the trail and probably difficult to ride after a prolonged rain. Definitely, not a trail for skinny tired street bikes.
At this point the Huron River Greenway is probably best left to the local communities as the grass surface and several mile gap between segments do not make it attractive to people looking for new trails to ride. Until local property owners decide to reopen their portions of the rail corridor to the public I would imagine that improvements to the trail surface and additional amenities probably are not in the picture for Erie MetroParks. There are a few pretty sights on these two trail segments but until they are connected to each other or to some other nearby trail I would not go out of my way to ride this trail.
The Richland B&O Trail runs through the Richland County, Ohio towns of Butler, Bellville, Lexington, and Mansfield. What's nice about this trail is that the distance between towns is approximately the same throughout the trail -- approximately 6 miles. Throughout its run, the trail goes through several types of scenery from farmland through woods and into urban settings.
The trail is paved but I noticed that several areas are suffering from tree root uplift so the surface gets bumpy at times. In addition, some road crossings are tricky, particularly, either due to the amount or speed of traffic and in some cases the angle at which the trail crosses the road. The worst offending crossings have flashing stop signs directed at riders and pedestrians on the trail, but I feel that perhaps these crossings should also have push button flashers for the trail users to activate to alert drivers when they want to cross.
Overall a trail worth checking out.
The Loudonville Pedestrian and Bicycle Pathway is a pleasant little utilitarian path. It runs between the Riverside Park in the town of Loudonville, Ohio and the entrance to the campground in Mohican State Park to the south. Most of this pathway runs parallel to State Route 3 and runs through the commercial district south of town. Much of the businesses in this commercial district focus on the camping and canoeing tourists that come to take advantage of the Mohican River and the nearby state park. From what I can see it provides access to local residents to reach the businesses along Route 3 which I'm sure employ quite a few people. It also provides the tourists staying at the numerous campgrounds along this stretch to a number of eateries in the area and the town in general. The pathway is is good shape except for a 100 foot section just north of Wally Road that has been dug up and not repaved at this point.
Currently this trail services only the local community, but I’ve read of plans to attempt to connect this trail with Mohican Valley Trail, which is part of the OTET (Ohio to Erie Trail) Route. This 16.5 mile proposed route is called the Wally Road Multimodal Corridor Concept Plan and would connect to the MVT in Brinkhaven, Ohio. I would not consider this trail one to travel to at present, but if the Wally Road Multimodal Corridor Plan is developed, then it and the Loudonville P&B Pathway would be a part of something worth seeking out.
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