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Rode the entire length of the trail through Ashtabula County to the Trumbull County line. Parked at mile 2 in Orwell and biked 24 miles up to Ashtabula and back and then down to the Ashtabula/Trumbull County line.
Trail is in very good paved condition and cleared of leaves.
Ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant steps away from the trail in Orwell. They are biker friendly. Even offer outdoor seating if you want to keep and eye on your bike.
I last rode this trail previously back on June 14, 2019. At that time, Wasson Way was only 0.6 miles long running from Madison Road near the Rookwood Pavilion shopping plaza to Tamarack Avenue near the Withrow High School Athletic Fields. Back then, Phase 2 of Wasson Way was under construction. The second phase was to feature a bridge over I-71 and to continue the trail west, to its final western destination of Xavier University. Phase 2 had been completed and I wanted to go back and check out the added length, particularly since my oldest daughter, Amanda, is a graduate of Xavier University.
Wasson Way, currently is a paved rail trail that now runs from behind the Valvoline Instant Oil Change on Madison Road near Rookwood Pavilion Shopping Center to Montgomery Road across from the Xavier University campus. This is a distance of 1.25 miles. The trail’s course is generally flat, with a slight rolling hills feel to it. There is a slight but noticeable climb from Interstate 71 up to the trail’s western end. To reach the center of the Xavier University campus you would have to cross Montgomery Road and ride through the Queen City Physicians University Station Internal Medicine parking lot and an additional XU parking lot to reach the buildings on the Xavier campus. Since it was beginning to get dark, Amanda and I chose not to ride onto the Xavier Campus on this day.
Wasson Way is a nice little trail. As currently constructed, it gives the students of Xavier University a clear unobstructed path to the restaurants and retail shops of the Rookwood Pavilion area. The path pavement is new so it is in great shape. However, I think that additional lighting should be added to the trail in the vicinity of Xavier University for security purposes. In addition, this current iteration of Wasson Way is just the beginning of a much bigger project. According to the Wasson Way website, the former rail corridor that the trail is being built upon is “one of the country’s great undiscovered greenways — over 6 miles of mixed use trail that goes from Victory Parkway near Xavier University through twelve local neighborhoods. Wasson Way is a key east-west corridor in CROWN, the Cincinnati Riding Or Walking Network. CROWN will create a 34-mile trail loop connecting Wasson Way to the Murray Path, Little Miami Scenic Trail, Canal Bikeway, Ohio River Trail, Mill Creek Greenway Trail, and more…” I can't wait to come back and ride this trail whenever a new phase of the project is completed.
We had a very warm Fall and it was great to get out and enjoy a fall ride. Biked from Countyline (Trumbull and Mahoning Counties) to Western Reserve in Canfield and back for a 25 mile round trip. Nice trail. The newly constructed tunnel under the OH turnpike is open. It's very nicely lit as well.
This trail is amazing!! You can get more miles if it’s taken from Plumb road past Groveport.
Great scenery, unsuspecting calmness and tranquility.
I had ridden part of the Scioto Greenway several times as it is a critical link in the Ohio to Erie Trail (OTET) route. This time, I chose to ride Scioto Greenway Trail to see what the other sections of this trail had to offer.
I chose to start at the center of the trail. I parked at the Boat House Restaurant & Event Center found at Confluence Park. Confluence Park is a peninsula that is formed at the intersection of the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers. The Boat House has a large parking lot which sits at the intersection of the Scioto Greenway and Olentangy Trails. This makes parking here very convenient for cyclists.
From the Boat House, I chose to ride west first. What I was most curious about in this portion of the trail was what was worth being seen beyond the Hilltop Connector Trail as I had never gone beyond that point when riding the OTET. Unfortunately, there really isn’t much to see. While a good part of the trail west of Confluence Park does follow the Scioto River you don’t see much of the water as the trees and undergrowth only give up small glimpses of the river. The eventually crosses over Dublin Road (US-33) and travels along this road until it reaches West 5th Avenue. If you were to skip a section of the Scioto Greenway, this western section should be the one you drop.
After I peddled back to Confluence Park and then headed east toward downtown Columbus. This section of the trail is absolutely beautiful. I enjoyed the trail views of the Scioto River, the downtown skyscrapers, and the many bridges that crossed the river. The section from Confluence Park to when the trail passes under Interstate 70 is one of my favorite sections of trail from throughout Ohio. It is definitely a parklike setting with well manicured lawns, improved landscaping, picnic areas, and memorial statues. You view all this with a backdrop of downtown’s tall buildings. This section of the Scioto Greenway, on both sides of the river, is definitely worth a trip to check it out.
When you pass under I-70 you enter into Scioto Audubon Metro Park. The 120-acre park provides active recreation activities to the community. Activities such as hiking, biking, jogging, inline skating, kayaking, and fishing can be enjoyed here. I found that this was the busiest area along the route on the Saturday afternoon that I rode the trail. The natural areas of this section were quite a contrast to the commercial west and the manicured downtown areas. When you reach the southeast corner of Scioto Audubon, you find yourself at the boat (kayak/canoe) launch area to Greenlawn Avenue Low Head Reservoir. At first, I thought that I had reached the end of the trail, however, the trail does continue along West Whittier St. up to the Columbus’ Brewery District, a section of German Village. Once you reach Front Street in the Brewery District the trail leads to Greenlawn Avenue and its bridge where the street and trail cross back over the river. Once you come off of the bridge you loop back underneath it, and the trail follows the Scioto again for a little over 1.5 miles while it passes by the athletic fields of Berliner Park. The trail just dead ends right before reaching OH-104. This is probably the most wooded portion of the entire trail.
After backtracking back to the downtown section of the trail, I crossed from the East Bank to the West Bank of the Scioto River. I crossed using the Main Street Bridge which has a raised bike and pedestrian deck separated from the bridge’s traffic deck. On the West Bank of the Scioto River you will pass by and have access to COSI, the Ohio Center of Science and Industry, and the National Veterans Memorial and Museum. After passing the Veteran’s Memorial Grove, you will pass under two railroad bridges and OH-315 before you reach North Souder Avenue Bridge where the bike lane will take you back over the Scioto River one more time into Confluence Park and the Boat House Restaurant and Event Center parking lot.
I really enjoyed this trail. There is a lot to see and a wide variety of sights along the way. I would highly recommend checking it out. I’m somewhat curious to find out how well lit the downtown section of the trail is at night because I think that if it is well lit it would be a great place for an evening ride.
Great little ride, 7 miles down and 7 miles back. Interesting spots along the way - Eastwood Park, Dayton Firefighters Training Center, National Museum of USAF, Riverscape Park, Downtown Dayton. Nice ramps going from trail up to store level of Downtown. We rode one block from Riverscape Park over to Canal St. Arcade & Deli for lunch. Great place with great sandwiches. Tons of arcade games. Nice outdoor seating. Really enjoyed this short trail. Clean & well maintained.
The Hellbranch Trail is a greenway that I would describe as a commuter path. It runs predominantly in a North-South direction through the western portion of Hilliard, Ohio. It connects the Hilliard neighborhoods of Hoffman Farms, Colonial Lanes, Heritage Lakes, Lakewood, Westbriar, and Brookfield Village to local parks such as Homestead Metro Park, Roger A. Reynolds Municipal Park, the Hilliard Family Aquatic Center, Franks Park, Clover Groff Natural Area, Spindler Dog Park, and Spindler Sports Complex.
The trail is extremely flat with very little change in elevation. The trail has a combination of trail surfaces: asphalt, widened cement sidewalks and crushed stone. My biggest complaint about this so-called trail is a lack of signage. For a named trail or route there was absolutely no signs to indicate where this route went. In a bicycle friendly city such as Hilliard that can be a problem. There are a lot of separated bike paths that parallel the roads of the city. Due to a lack of trail signs, if you are trying to follow a specific route, when you come to a road intersection many times you're not sure whether you should cross the street to continue in the same direction or make a turn. If I had not used the TrailLink app on my phone I would probably have made a number of wrong turns on my outward leg of my out-and-back ride of this trail.
If you live outside of Hilliard, I would suggest following TrailLink's recommendation to park at the Spindler Sports Complex and ride north. I think that if you ride in this direction the trail's path will be a little more clear (since there are no trail signs) than if you choose to ride from the north. Since this trail travels through quite a few residential neighborhoods there are not a lot of trailheads along the way, but Spindler Sports Complex in the south, Roger A. Reynolds Municipal Park in the center, and Homestead Metro Park off of the connected Heritage Rail-Trail in the north are areas with plenty of parking.
I enjoyed this trail. It was a very pleasant ride. It has a lot of utility to connect the citizens Hilliard to their city's parks, but I don't think it is a must ride/walk Ohio trail for people outside of Hilliard. I do think that it is a significant enough route for the city's residents that it would be worthwhile for the city to mark the trail route with signs and distances to the different city facilities along the way.
I did an 11 mile round trip on an out-and-back ride on a sunny Autumn day. I rode from the northern end in Heath, Ohio and headed to the National Road (US-40) in Hebron (Atherton), Ohio at the southern end. Along the way you travel through suburban neighborhoods, cross over several bridges, and enter into the wide open spaces of corn and soybean fields in the southern half of the trail. Perhaps they should rename this trail the High School Connector Trail as you pass by Heath High School on the northern end and arrive at Lakewood High School when you reach the trail's southern end.
This rail trail has a paved surface that is in good shape with well marked striped street crossings. The bridge crossings are in great shape as well. My only complaints are that this trail is currently more geared toward the local citizenry than anyone outside the area. There are really no trailheads along the route unless you count parking at the two high schools along the route. Secondly, I think that this trail would get a lot more use if it could be connected to the other Licking County trails found in nearby Newark, Ohio. Using Google Maps, the northern end could be extended about 1.1 miles into Newark. However, connecting to the Newark Trail or the T.J. Evans Panhandle Trail becomes tricky due to having to get around active rail lines and rail yard. In addition, crossing Hopewell Drive, the current northern end of this trail, is a very busy street, so a simple street crossing will not be adequate. I hope that city and county leaders consider making connections between the county's trails a park and infrastructure priority.
I went to this trail a couple of weeks ago for a short, quick bicycle ride because I didn’t have much time that day. I even rode past the Brew Dog bu which t bye paths before was not completed. Basically I did a loop, twice. Good for a short ride in the city. I think the loop was a little over 5 miles.
I found this trail to be pleasant. The write up said it was 1.5 miles, but I continued following the asphalt trail and went 2.5 miles between the park in Loudonville and the entrance to Mohican State Park. Nice trail.
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