michaelwc

does anyone know if the portage county bike and hike trail has been connected to the summit county portion of it? all the maps i see show that section "under construction." i'm planning a trip tomorrow around kent/akron.

TIA!

Jawn P

Welllllll it's kind of a maze of trails coming into Kent. Depending on where, it's connected for the most part.

Off of the top of my head:

Trailhead at Lake Rockewell Rd. by Beckwith's Orchard, runs east into Ravenna, runs West into Kent. Ends at the Crain St. bridge. You can get to other Cleveland-Bound trails pretty easily from there.

Trailhead at Stow-Munroe Falls Rd. runs into the Summit county. You can take it all the way to Cleveland if you so desire.

Trailhead at Hudson Rd. and Judson, runs into the Summit trail. All the way to Cleveland too.

PM me or something if you've got any other questions. I think I might be the resident Kent expert.

michaelwc

It looks like I'll be riding on mostly the Summit trail because it seems to be more complete.

Here's where I plan to start:
ok, according to https://www.portageparkdistrict.org/i...portagemap.pdf if I take that west it should be able to get me to the park. then:

I should be able to get here by going through the park to the county line then heading a bit north, right? I cant seem to find the section of the trail that goes from the park to around Rt. 261 on google maps. Would I just be better off bypassing that section and taking Middlebury Rd. right to Munroe Falls Kent Rd. and the trailhead? From there I understand the trail all the way up to 303.

Then it's a straight shot east to:But does it continue east at all? It's supposed to run back to Lake Rockwell Rd. trailhead and meet up with the east/west part.

From what I can tell the loop that goes from Towner's Woods south across 59, through the KSU campus and over to the park isn't done (or never will be).

Am I right in my thinking with all this? In the process of figuring out how all this worked I think I figured out my route.

Jawn P

Bear with me, as I'm a bit tired.

First and foremost, the Portage trail system is not finished, and you can't take the hike and bike form the Orchard to Judson.

The best way to get from the Orchard to Stow Munroe Falls Rd would be something like this. Be careful when you get off at the Crain St. bridge.

The two Portage trails (Hudson and Judson, and Stow Munroe-Falls) meet up here. As you can see, it's pretty far out, as far as I can remember about 10-15 miles. The trails then meet up, and very quickly after that you're at 303. You have the option of taking 303 down into the Valley, or continuing on the hike and bike into Sagamore, Bedford, etc etc.

If you said you're trying to get into Akron, maybe hopping off the trail at Barlow, taking it west into the valley, then heading south on Akron-Peninsula / Riverview / or the Towpath might be your best bet.

michaelwc

John,

I rode this yesterday and pretty much just followed the loop of the Summit bike and hike trail. It's a beautiful trail along it's southern side until you get to Rt. 8 and stays pretty desolate and sun-soaked until you're back in the woods.

Mike