The trail is built on the right-of-way of the former Toledo, Norwalk, and Cleveland Railroad and is a paved, 12 foot wide trail, in good condition, and is mostly straight and basically flat. Heading south from Oberlin, you travel a tree-lined path with glimpses of corn and soybean fields beyond the often dense tree and bush line. Benches are scattered along the trail and stone mile markers from the old railroad days still stand in many places. Trail mileage is marked in both directions every half-mile. A short segment south of Oberlin takes riders onto a low-use side road with a marked bike lane, but all the rest is dedicated bike trail.Kipton marks the end of the trail and an historical marker in a park along the trail serves as a memorial for The Great Kipton Train Wreck of April 23, 1891, when two trains collided head-on only fifty feet east of the Kipton depot, killing eight people. The collision was so violent that a large piece of one of the steam engines struck the depot roof and rolled off, and the concussion alone broke most of the depot’s windows. The collision was blamed on the station engineer’s watch being slow by four minutes, which caused him to miscalculate when to move one of the trains on to a side track. As a result of the accident, officials hired Cleveland jeweler Webb C. Ball to investigate railroad time protocols which resulted in new regulations for railroad time tracking and the creation of a quality timepiece, the Ball Railroad Watch. Ball's seminal work is said to be the origin of the familiar saying, "On the ball."
The trail travels north of Oberlin to Elyria displaying much of the same type of scenic beauty for its miles. Horses and wildlife can be seen as well as occasional homes and farms.
All in all, this trail proided far more scenic value than I had anticipated for a midwestern "prairie" trail and I highly recommend it to all!
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