Album: Piqua City Linear Park/Rivers Edge Section/Hydraulic Canal Path
March 2007. These three trails make up an 11 mile triangle loop in Piqua, OH, 30 miles north of Dayton. The Linear Park section goes East-West 5.5 miles; 2.3 miles into Downtown, and another 3.2 miles, past French Park and the Hydraulic Canal Path, to its West terminus. The Hydraulic Canal Path goes along a former man-made canal, with remains of its locks. The Rivers Edge Section starts under the Downtown bridge over the Great Miami River and heads Northwest along the river.

Album: Great Miami River Trail Dayton, OH
This is commonly called the River Corridor Bikeway; 22.6 miles in length. It is not a rail-trail, but an inner city bikeway along a waterway. I first rode this in 2000 and was pleasantly surprised. It has hardly any elevation changes, and very few routes on roadways. I took these pictures in early November 2005 and May 2006.

Album: Little Miami Scenic Trail-Terrace Park Extension 2006
This segment extends the Southern end 2.7 miles from Milford through Terrace Park almost to Newtown. It was dedicated on June 10, 2006, and is another link in the planned Ohio to Erie Trail. The State of Ohio bought this right-of-way in 1979, but the Village of Terrace Park was able to block paving the rail-trail for 27 years. I first rode this segment in 1997 when it was only a dirt path. It wasn’t officially open for use, but it was kept clear. The before and after is remarkable. Ohio really does a nice job of developing their linear parks, and adding the necessary parking and facilities. There are plans to pave another 3.5 miles of the abandoned right-of-way to Lunken Airport. There it will connect to the Lunken Bike Path. The City of Cincinnati is committed to building a series of bikeways to complete the connection to the Ohio River on the riverfront.

Album: Olentangy/Lower Scioto Trail Columbus, OH
This is probably an example of how not to route a rail-trail through a city. It’s 18 miles in length, that is if you can stay on the route. The South and North sections are okay, but the rest has endless route turns on city streets and too much traffic to avoid. The trail goes right through the downtown business section, and the Ohio State campus. There are route signs with a bicycle pictograph, but sometimes they are hard to see while avoiding traffic. One good thing about going through downtown is there is a “Brewery District” with a lot of brew pubs and taverns on and around Front Street.

Album: Holmes County Trail
This rail trail is a good example of how a community can come together for the common good of everyone. Eventually, this section will be 29 miles long, and one link in the Ohio River to Lake Erie Trail. So far, there are 10.1 miles paved, and 12.2 miles of “primitive earthen” surface sections open. The two paved sections have a parallel, finely crushed limestone trail for horses and horse-drawn buggies. In fact, the Holmes County Trail Coalition received a $541,000 Amish Buggy Safety Fund grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation. Also, the coalition received a TE-21 $1.8 million grant, and an additional $410,000 from the Clean Ohio Trail Funds/Ohio Department of Natural Resources. That totals about $2.75 million, so far.

Album: Richland B & O Trail
This is a nice 18 mile, East-West trail from Butler to Mansfield, OH. There is plenty of parking at three places: the West end at Mansfield, the midpoint at Lexington, OH, and the East end at Butler. The last time I looked at their web site, there is a possibility of extending the trail from Mansfield to Ashland.

Album: Simon Kenton Trail
I measured 14.7 miles from Springfield to Urbana, OH. Phase I, II, and III are complete. On that flat terrain with only corn and soybean fields, the trail looks like it goes on to infinity, but it's only a few miles.

Album: Hockhocking Adena Bikeway
16.4 miles from Athens to Nelsonville, OH. Contrary to the "bikeway" name, this is a true rail trail, and a nice one, too. That scene along Ohio University looks like a picture postcard. Athens is about 3 hours east of Cincinnati on OH 32/The James Rhodes Appalachian Highway, but it is a nice, 4-lane divided highway.