In the middle of my Ohio adventures this morning I did some rides on the O and E towpath in and around Akron. I'll present them as one ride, starting south of the city and heading north to Peninsula.

The guidebook called the area to the south "Mesopotamia" because it's between bodies of water. But it's also fairly barren, with no services until the Portage Lakes area:



Statue just off the trail marking the Native American contributions to the area. BTW, just over the bridge is a shopping center with a Hamburger Station. Ask me how I know that. :-)



The trail becomes paved as you enter Akron, rubber capital of the world and crystal meth capital of Ohio. When the towpath trail reaches Summit Lake, tribute is paid to the canal builders. Faced with a swampy body of water to cross, the canal built a wooden, floating towpath for the mules. So the present day trail crosses surrounded by water.



The trail rises and ends as it enters downtown Akron. The missing link should be complete by this fall. At the moment the trail snakes up some nosebleed streets into the center of town. The detour isn't well marked. I got lost a couple of times, but I eventually found the towpath again. It's an urban park passing through the downtown, at times using sidewalks.





The trail bridge leading out of the downtown, and down a 5 per cent grade for a mile.



The reason for the 5 per cent grade is the steep ascent the canal had to make. Just north of the downtown is the area called "Cascade Locks." The canal needed 15 locks in little more than a mile to get boats up and down from Summit Lake. Once past this area, you are back on gravel and amid nature, following the Cuyahoga.