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Review

This rail-trail, formerly known only as the Oberlin Bike Path, has been expanded in both directions to become the Lorain County section of the North Coast Inland Trail. Currently this section starts near Kipton and makes its way northeast to Elyria, Ohio.

North Coast Inland Trail - It's Just A Lovely Ride by OhioRailTrails

For higher quality video, go here & select 'watch in high quality.'

The western endpoint is at Baird Road about .8 mile west of Rt. 511 in Kipton. You'll find the closest west end trail parking in the village at Community Park. This delightful green space is sandwiched between the bikeway and a nearby parallel road and provides ample parking, water, a portable toilet, picnic tables and more. You could say it's a linear park alongside a linear park!

The paved bikeway leaves Kipton slicing the countryside in a straight line as it passes farm fields, pastures and wooded areas. About 3 miles east of Kipton the trail ends abruptly at Hamilton Road. A bike route sign encourages cyclists to continue on using a roadside bike lane that guides them along a .4 mile jaunt to connect with the west end of the Oberlin Bike Path at Pyle-South Amherst Road.

The broad 12' wide path narrows to about 10' here and shows some horizontal cracks in the trail surface revealing its age compared to the outlying segments. But the condition is still quite good as you ride alongside a golf course and past a spur that connects with the Oberlin Recreation Complex.

Where the bikeway reaches South Professor Street, it now crosses and passes directly alongside the old train depot buildings. A previous detour around the complex has been removed and a water fountain and bench added to the grounds.

Further along at Main Street there's a crosswalk signal for trail users. While waiting for a passing shower to subside, we noticed some local cyclists returning from their trail ride to their cars in a nearby grocery store lot. The absence of a good trail parking here will be remedied when a park-n-ride project is completed at the historic Gasholder Building less than a block away and directly alongside the trail.

The bikeway makes its way out of town and on to Elyria before coming to an end alongside Industrial Parkway. From this point a bike lane continues on toward the downtown area, but it soon comes to an end. Looking ahead we spotted a bike route sign and thought we'd try our luck. The trail maps posted along the bikeway show a road route over to Lorain where we could explore the Bridge Water Trail. But when we tried to follow the signs, we soon became lost. Bike route signs are notoriously spotty, whether due to poor placement or poor maintenance of downed or missing markers. In this case, we came to a 'T' and had to turn left or right and saw no signs in either direction. As luck would have it, another rain shower entered the picture at that moment and left us with no patience for exploring, so we turned back. Be sure to print off a copy of the map if you want to try this route. It can be found here on the Lorain County Metro Parks web site.

With the exception of a few brief detours, the bikeway follows a former railway that was laid out straight as an arrow. This is in distinct contrast to trails that follow rivers or meander through valleys.

We should also mention that a Lorain County bike route, Back Roads & Beaches, uses a portion of the trail along its route. You'll see the signs west of the Oberlin trail section.

Signage on the trail is excellent. Not only were the crossroads and rec center spur marked, but additional signage covered maps and safety in clever and inexpensive ways. Crossroads are named by two methods: small signposts and painted road names on the trail surface. One might consider this overkill, but should a vandal or accident remove the placard or post, the traveling cyclist still knows where he is.

Painted on signs are used creatively on this trail and also cover helmet safety and passing etiquette. The large trail map signboards are also a great addition and clue visitors in on the regional reach of the bikeway.

Mile markers are placed every 1/2 mile and show the distance to each endpoint of the trail - ! Yet another creative use of an old method. We found the reported distances to be a little off at each end, for some reason. Perhaps one mile at the west end and maybe 1/2 mile at the eastern terminus. These distances may have included the Elyria bike lane or a future endpoint extension. Regardless, it's of no real concern and you'll know why you covered that last mile or so in record time.

We noted that horses and snowmobiles are not allowed on this trail. And that may explain why the surface is aging so well. Maintenance is another matter and one that is difficult to gauge from only one random visit. But if our time spent on the Lorain County portion of the N.C.I.T. was any indication, it's top-notch!

Two class designations are given below. The Oberlin Bike Path connects directly to more trail, while a western section has a short 1/2-mile bike lane along a roadway that connects it with the rest of the trail.

Check out other sections of the NCIT.

Trail Specs:

Kipton Oberlin Elyria (Lorain)

Note: Kipton serves as the west end trailhead since there is no parking at the end of the bikeway at Baird Road, just west of this point.

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