October-November 2008
As I write this fall is here and the cycling season is winding down in Ohio. Oh sure, there are some good days left, but that number is dwindling. This year so far, I have ridden 1100 miles split roughly between rail-trails and road riding. It has been a good year overall for riding, in spite of a few personal setbacks.
The rails to trails system of development never ceases to amaze me. Talk about recycling! Taking unused railroad corridors and turning them into multi-purpose trails is wonderful. It is impressive what people and their communities can do when they pull together the resources necessary to construct a rail-trail. And the health benefits are known to all who use the trails, walkers, cyclists, rollerbladers, and more.
To the best of my research abilities, the first rail corridor converted into a recreational trail was the Elroy-Sparta State Trail in Wisconsin, which opened in 1965. Then in 1966 the Illinois Prairie Path opened. This was much longer ago than I had realized, and it took a while for this concept to catch on.
But it did catch on and in Ohio alone we have 80 trails covering 973 miles according to the Rails to Trail Conservancy. Ohio also currently has 34 trail projects going for an additional 285 miles. This puts us at 6th in the nation. Not bad!
The Longest trail in the nation is currently the Katy Trail in Missouri at 225 miles. In second place for distance is the Great Allegheny Passage in Pennsylvania and Maryland at 150 miles.
The Little Miami Scenic Trail #1 is currently the longest in Ohio covering approximately 96 miles.
