Ohio to Erie Trail
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The Ohio to Erie Trail is a rail trail in the state of Ohio, spanning from the Ohio River in Cincinnati in the southwestern corner of the state to Cleveland in the northeast. The trail is 85% completed as of December 2014. You can follow the progress of construction and view a map of the trail on its website.
Understand
The trail is sometimes called State Bike Route 1.
Prepare
What you should prepare for depends on what part of the trail you intend to use.
Single Metro Only
- Any bike, ideally road or electric.
- A bike helmet, reflectors, and lights.
- A water bottle
Full Length List
- A road bike that you're comfortable riding on mostly flat roads. Electric bikes may have difficulty making some stretches.
- A Bicycle Helmet, reflectors, lights, and spare batteries if not using a dynamo.
- Water Bottle and a snack (Refill when possible)
- Co2 cartridges or a portable pump, a patch kit, and spare innertube.
- A cell phone and charger to call for help if needed.
Depending on how much of the path you want to travel, it's wise to budget some money to pick up spares along the way. Major cities have dedicated bike stores, small cities may only have big box stores for bike parts, and villages may only have food and water, with smaller hamlets often having no shops at all.
Get in
The trail is ideal for foot and cyclist traffic. Some sections permit horse and buggy traffic as well.
Go/Walk/Ride
Greater Cincinnati
- 1 Cincinnati
- 2 Milford From here to Xenia the trail merges with the Little Miami Bike Trail
- 3 Loveland
Greater Dayton
- 4 South Lebanon
- 5 Xenia End of the Little Miami Bike Trail and a major area bike hub.
- 1 Xenia Station, 150 Miami Avenue. 1998 replica of Xenia's 1880s brick railroad station. Has restrooms and drinking water. Now the hub for a number of rail trails. Has connecting bike paths to Dayton and the college town of Yellow Springs.
- 1 Xenia Station, 150 Miami Avenue. 1998 replica of Xenia's 1880s brick railroad station. Has restrooms and drinking water. Now the hub for a number of rail trails. Has connecting bike paths to Dayton and the college town of Yellow Springs.
- 6 Cedarville Small college town.
Greater Columbus
- 7 South Charleston
- 8 London
- 1 Camp Chase Trail (Ohio to Erie Trail), 275 S. Wilson Road, Columbus, OH 43204 (West Broad St to 275 South Wilson Road), ☏ +1 614 645 3111, toll-free: +1-800-BUCKEYE (2825393). Daylight hours. 16 mile paved trail between Columbus and London; 2 locations for public parking and trail access
- 9 Columbus Passes through the southern end of the city, the downtown core, The Ohio State University, and the Northeastern end of the city.
- 10 Worthington
- 11 Westerville A northern suburb of Columbus.
- 12 Sunbury
- 13 Centerburg a small village and the geographic center of Ohio.
Amish Country
- 14 Mount Vernon The county seat of Knox County.
- 15 Gambier a small college town.
- 16 Danville a small village with a branch library you could rest at.
- 17 Gann a small village that is also known as Brinkhaven.
- 18 Killbuck a small village.
- 19 Millersburg the county seat of Holmes County.
- 20 Holmesville a small village.
- 21 Fredericksburg a small village. 16 km (9.9 mi) north to Wooster, a nearby city.
- 22 Dalton a small village. 11 km (6.8 mi) northwest to Orrville, a small city.
Greater Akron
Greater Cleveland
- 28 Cuyahoga Valley National Park (Passes through Peninsula, then back into the park)
- 29 Cleveland
Stay safe
Some sections of the trail share a road with motorists. Area motorists don't always share the road, so it's important to maintain awareness during these sections.
While Ohio itself does not have a bicycle helmet law, local cities along and nearby the trail might. Night riders are required to use front and rear lights and reflectors. Using this equipment will keep you out of trouble with local police, in addition to improving your visibility.