Little Miami Scenic Trail | |
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Yellow Springs Station in Greene County
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Length | 78.1 mi (125.7 km) |
Location | Southwestern Ohio |
Designation |
State Bike Route 1 State Bike Route 3 North Country National Scenic Trail USBR 50 (in Xenia) |
Trailheads | Springfield to Newtown, Ohio |
Use | Cycling, walking, rollerblading, horseback riding |
Elevation | |
Elevation change | −486 ft (−148 m) |
Highest point | Springfield trailhead |
Lowest point | Little Miami Golf Center trailhead, Newtown |
Hiking details | |
Trail difficulty | Easy (fully accessible) |
Season | Year-round |
The Little Miami Scenic Trail is the third longest paved trail in the United States, running 78.1 miles (125.7 km) though five southwestern counties in the state of Ohio. The multi-use rail trail sees heavy recreational use by hikers and bicyclists, as well as the occasional horseback rider. Over 700,000 people made use of the trail in 2014.
Most of the trail runs along the banks of the Little Miami River, in a dedicated, car-free corridor known as Little Miami State Park. This unusually linear state park passes though four counties, with a right-of-way running about 50 miles (80 km) long and averaging 66 feet (20 m) in width for a total of about 707 acres (286 ha). Elsewhere, the corridor ranges from 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3.0 m) in width.
The Little Miami Scenic Trail is signposted as State Bike Route 1 south of Xenia and State Bike Route 3 throughout. It is the backbone of a nearly continuous network of paved multi-use trails, centered on the Miami Valley area, that stretches 330 miles (530 km) and connects the Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus metropolitan areas. The Little Miami trail is an incrementally growing section of the Buckeye Trail and North Country National Scenic Trail, while the trail south of Xenia also forms the southern leg of the Ohio to Erie Trail.
The largely wooded corridor was created along the right-of-way of the old Little Miami Railroad. The original railway bed is still visible beside the trail in various places along the trail route.