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Ohio to Erie trip report
PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World
Published: December 2, 2024
After two straight years of orthopedic surgeries I took a giant step in getting my mind and body in a place they hadn’t been in for quite a while - back into outdoor adventure.
And that giant step began with baby steps back in February with countless sessions of PT, stretching, resistance training and cardio conditioning…all fueled by a goal of cycling the 326-mile-long OTET (Ohio To Erie Trail).
By September I’d begun to believe that I might still be capable of performing physically challenging endeavors again like the OTET. Yet what sealed the deal was an amazingly gorgeous stretch of October weather that begged me to make the trek a reality.
Now if you’re not familiar with the OTET, check out my July 24, 2023 column for a general introduction to this wonderful cross-state track. But in today’s column I’d like to relate my firsthand experience of riding four consecutive days from Cleveland’s Edgewater Park to Cincinnati’s Downtown waterfront - the OTET in reverse.
So I had decided on four days because I believed my fitness was at the 80-plus miles/day mark. And when you click on the OTET website (https://www.ohiotoerietrail.org) planning page, it will match up your “days to complete” preference with a mileage-destination schedule––complete with lodging/camping/food options for each day.
Thus, my four-day preference matched up with 84 miles ending in Dalton, 71 miles ending in Mt. Vernon, 103 miles ending in Cedarville and 75 miles ending in Cincinnati.
Now I chose to do what’s called “credit card” cycle touring, where I was staying in hotels rather than carrying a tent, sleeping bag and all the accompanying camping gear as I had in many of my cross-country trips of yesteryear. And let me tell you, what a comfortable difference.
So day one entailed two stretches.
The first consisted of Cleveland’s Edgewater Park south to Massillon, a fabulously scenic 70-mile stretch that meanders through the Cleveland Flats, Tremont, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, downtown Akron and then parallels the Tuscarawas River into downtown Massillon.
The second stretch entailed the flat 10-plus-mile Sippo Trail which parallels Sippo Creek and connects the Towpath in suburban Massillon to the southwestern rural farm community of Dalton.
Day two was a great surprise to me––and brand new riding territory to boot. It began with a 17-mile stretch of road riding from Dalton to Fredericksburg, the longest road section of the OTET’s 31 total miles of road riding. And it was a surprise because the route turned out to be a collection of awesome little rural backroads with minor traffic and stellar scenery. Billed as the hilliest section of the OTET, this stretch was far more rolling than hilly.
The remainder of the day was made up of several really stunning trails that have been linked together over the years to create the OTET - the Holmes County Trail, the Mohican Valley Trail and the Kokosing Gap Trail––any one of which would be considered an awesome bicycle ride in and of itself.
Day three was the long one (I hadn’t done a century in three years) and I have to say that if you want to do the OTET, make darned sure you download the route on your cyclocomputer or have written directions, because there are few OTET trail signs along the never-ending maze of trails I encountered in and around Columbus.
Several of the day’s more memorable trails included: the Heart Of It All Trail, the Alum Creek Trail, the Lower Scioto Greenway, the Camp Chase Trail and the Prairie Grass Trail.
My final day was on a stretch of trail that has to go down as one of the most beautiful I’ve ridden in the state: The Little Miami Scenic Trail South. And if I were to narrow it down, the stretch of Little Miami between Oregonia and Milford, sitting right next to the Little Miami River, would be the crown jewel.
I finished this cross-state cycling trip riding the Ohio River Trail into downtown Cincinnati where a friend picked me up for the infinitesimally short five-hour car trip home.
Yes, completing the Ohio To Erie Trail was exactly what I needed for 2024, and as I sit here reminiscing about that journey it gives me even more optimism for the outdoor adventure possibilities coming at me in 2025.