Find the top rated birding trails in Sheffield Lake, 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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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.
The North Coast Inland Trail has now been paved between Kipton and Wakeman. Enjoy it!
Biked from Elmore to Fremont (and back). Very nice flat asphalt paved trail. Trail goes through a few very small towns. Along this trail you will see plenty of cornfields (in season) and pass by numerous working farms. This is rural Ohio at it's best. You will also have a view of the Ohio Turnpike on several occasions. There are some wooded sections of the trail. Trail surface in very good condition.
Trail towns along the trail are welcoming and friendly.
It's approx 10 miles between Elmore and Fremont. Each half-mile is marked with a sign. In the trail towns there are mileage signs as well.
Parked in Elmore at the old train station. There are places to eat and shop in Elmore. Parking in Elmore is at Ory Park on Rice Street. There is a bike shop and rental in Elmore. In Fremont there are places to eat and shop but to access them, you have to street ride. The trail continues on the other side of Fremont.
An all around great trail and fun ride!
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.
The Central section is 8.3 miles of Asphalt Pavement. Newly paved is most of the South section from Headwaters Park to Middlefield Square, which is 6.5 miles. The trail does continue on the other side of Middlefield Square. It's not paved.
Two new Trailheads with shelters and maps and beautiful flower gardens. At Headwaters Park Trailhead there is a new shelter. A completely new trailhead is at Tare Creek Road which offers a shelter and plenty of parking.
Along the Central Section is the newly constructed Claridon Woodlands Park featuring 3 separate paved trails totaling 2.2 miles. Also Recreation areas including a ropes course, pump track/single mountain bike track, boulder wall and a Nature-based playground.
There is an uphill grade from Headwaters Park towards Chardon.
A great trail now is 12 miles of asphalt pavement and has five covered bridges.
Nice trail but very poor signage in Middlefield, can go several different ways and not marked if you do not know the area. One route takes you through a parking lot which is not safe.
Loved this trail. Not crowded and nice and flat. I am a new rider and actually made the full ride. 12 miles and mostly shady.
2-day trip planned from Western PA to bike one way and ride train back. Drove pike to Route 21 (area) but somehow could not relate to directions to Canal Towpath. Found Brecksville train station to park and cycled to and into Cleveland (Port of Cleve) and returned with 34 miles of enjoyable riding even with fear of getting lost in Cleve. city streets. Could not locate North Akron train station so followed directions to Berlin. During a previous search I had found Ft. Laurens park and trail entrance but did not realize that it is in fact the Zoar trail and resembles canal towpath but not Ohio & Erie. Rode south to Route 800 and across biker friendly river bridge, but could not convince myself to search trail signs any further. Rode into and North of Berlin to find the much improved trail and enjoyed yet another 27 miles of towpath riding. Having been born and raised in Southern Tusc. County, I will hope to search out the Zoar trailhead and explore much more as only an 81 year old rider can do.
I think this should probably be renamed the “Cleveland LakeNear Bikeway”. We rode it from the northern end and it starts in a beautiful park with a marina and beach but quickly dead ends in a parking lot behind a highrise. We probably missed a sign but it’s pretty easy to find the continuation on a very busy section of Lakeshore Blvd that does have a marked bike lane but requires vigilant urban riding skills. After a couple miles it becomes much less trafficked going by beautiful homes and gardens. It then gets pretty ugly again for a few miles approaching downtown when you’re still on road sandwiched between noisy I-90, a mostly industrial area, and an airport.
We didn’t bother to continue past downtown because the ride was so disappointing.
The trail is well marked, relatively flat, and well paved but mostly on the road.
There are rare glimpses of the lake. If you’re looking for a family friendly ride this is definitely not for you.
This is a smooth, flat, clean trail which is in excellent condition. The locals love it. In the summers when I ride, I always see people of all ages walking, skating and bicycling. There is one section where you have to go out into a country road for about a mile. It’s my least favorite part of the trail, but I suppose the residents did not authorize their backyards to be used for the trail. There is ample parking at either end of the trail, as well as in strategic points along the way. The railroad is very active, providing an element of loud excitement for the whole family. At the Rittman end of the trail is a quaint little restaurant called The Depot, situated in a former train station. It’s a great place for a meal as part of your riding day. We absolutely love this trail.
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