Great Ohio Lake to River Greenway
08-15-16, 01:55 PM
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Great Ohio Lake to River Greenway
I live in Pittsburgh and was considering getting a ride to Lisbon, OH and then riding my bike to Ashtabula and then maybe on to Erie through the Great Ohio Lake to River Greenway.
The OH state website https://www.dot.state.oh.us/Division.../Bikeways.aspx is not particularly helpful in terms of explaining how much of this trail might actually be complete.
Can any folks from Ohio tell me how complete the trail is?
Thanks,
Tom
The OH state website https://www.dot.state.oh.us/Division.../Bikeways.aspx is not particularly helpful in terms of explaining how much of this trail might actually be complete.
Can any folks from Ohio tell me how complete the trail is?
Thanks,
Tom
08-16-16, 01:21 PM
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That's right in my regular riding area.
If you start in Lisbon there is 10 miles of paved Little Beaver Creek Greenway heading north to Leetonia. There you follow roads for a mile or so before coming to the final mile of the Columbiana County paved trails in Washingtonville.
At the Columbiana/Mahoning county line there is something like a 6 mile gap, where you'd have to follow the paved county roads. It wouldn't be a terrible ride, as long as you didn't do it during high traffic, like between 3 & 6. Just south of Canfield the Mill Creek Metroparks Bikeway starts, and continues all the way north to the Mahoning/Trumbull County line.
There the Niles Bikeway takes over, leading up to the center of Niles. There is another gap there, which is going to involve some in-town road riding. Best way would be to go up route 169 into Warren. There you get on the Warren Bike Trail, which leads through town to the south end of the Western Reserve Greenway Trail. This trail takes you up about 15 miles to the Trumbull/Ashtabula County line. Note that there is a bridge closed on the WR Greenway in Trumbull County, just north of the Oakfield trail head. There is an easy detour on the paved road just to the east that only adds .3 mile to the distance.
From the Ashtabula County line the paved trail continues all the way up into the city of Ashtabula, on West 52nd Street I believe. That's within riding distance of the lakeshore, but you're going to want to have a map handy because a route isn't marked by signage.
All in all a great ride. Little Beaver Creek Greenway is exceptionally scenic, with a few mild hills. There are also a couple of hills on the Mahoning county trail and Niles Bikeway. The Western Reserve Greenway has very little gradient, and is a nice ride. As for the gaps, the one between Washingtonville and Canfield is very doable, even to a traffic hating rider like me. The gap between Warren and Niles has you going through a slightly rough area of town, but you're on a good sized road. The detour gap in Trumbull County is truly insignificant.
Any other questions feel free to ask. Western Reserve Greenway is my home trail.
Steve Z
If you start in Lisbon there is 10 miles of paved Little Beaver Creek Greenway heading north to Leetonia. There you follow roads for a mile or so before coming to the final mile of the Columbiana County paved trails in Washingtonville.
At the Columbiana/Mahoning county line there is something like a 6 mile gap, where you'd have to follow the paved county roads. It wouldn't be a terrible ride, as long as you didn't do it during high traffic, like between 3 & 6. Just south of Canfield the Mill Creek Metroparks Bikeway starts, and continues all the way north to the Mahoning/Trumbull County line.
There the Niles Bikeway takes over, leading up to the center of Niles. There is another gap there, which is going to involve some in-town road riding. Best way would be to go up route 169 into Warren. There you get on the Warren Bike Trail, which leads through town to the south end of the Western Reserve Greenway Trail. This trail takes you up about 15 miles to the Trumbull/Ashtabula County line. Note that there is a bridge closed on the WR Greenway in Trumbull County, just north of the Oakfield trail head. There is an easy detour on the paved road just to the east that only adds .3 mile to the distance.
From the Ashtabula County line the paved trail continues all the way up into the city of Ashtabula, on West 52nd Street I believe. That's within riding distance of the lakeshore, but you're going to want to have a map handy because a route isn't marked by signage.
All in all a great ride. Little Beaver Creek Greenway is exceptionally scenic, with a few mild hills. There are also a couple of hills on the Mahoning county trail and Niles Bikeway. The Western Reserve Greenway has very little gradient, and is a nice ride. As for the gaps, the one between Washingtonville and Canfield is very doable, even to a traffic hating rider like me. The gap between Warren and Niles has you going through a slightly rough area of town, but you're on a good sized road. The detour gap in Trumbull County is truly insignificant.
Any other questions feel free to ask. Western Reserve Greenway is my home trail.
Steve Z
