Slippery Elm Trail

Slippery Elm Trail
Rails to Trails
Established 1995[1]
Length 13 miles[2][3][4]
Location Bowling Green, Wood County, Ohio
Trailheads Bowling Green, Portage, Rudolph, North Baltimore
Use hiking, bicycling and in-line skating
Elevation
Grade flat railroad grades
Hiking details
Trail difficulty Wheelchair accessible[3]
Months 12
Sights Rudolph Savanna
Surface Paved[2][3][4]
Right of way Baltimore & Ohio[5][6]
Website Wood County Park District: Slippery Elm Trail

The Slippery Elm Trail is a rail to trail conversion in Wood County, Ohio that runs 13 miles from Bowling Green, through Portage and Rudolph, to North Baltimore, Ohio.[2][3][4]

History

Excerpt from 1898 Ohio railroad map[7]

The Bowling Green Railroad Company was founded in 1874. It functioned as a spur line to link Bowling Green to the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railway (C.H. & D.) that ran northwest of Bowling Green, through Tontogany, Ohio. In 1987, the CH&D railroad purchased enough stock to control the Bowling Green line. In 1890, the Bowling Green Railroad Company absorbed the portion of railroad that makes today's trail, which was then called the Toledo, Findlay and Springfield Railroad. The line was later purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1917, and operated as B&O until 1978. [5][6][8]

The Wood County Parks District opened the rail trail in 1995.[1]

Location

The trail is maintained by the Wood County Parks District, and the routing is per the following table:

Crossing Mileage[2] Notes[2][3][4] Coordinates[2]
(mi) (km)
Montessori School, Bowling Green, Ohio 0 0 Parking, non-school hours only. Northern Terminus 41°22′00″N 83°39′25″W / 41.366670°N 83.656851°W / 41.366670; -83.656851 (Slippery Elm Trail, northern terminus, Montessori school)
Black Swamp Preserve 0.5 0.80 Bathrooms and parking off S. Maple St., via Gypsy Lane. 41°21′38″N 83°39′37″W / 41.360554°N 83.660222°W / 41.360554; -83.660222 (Slippery Elm Trail, Black Swamp Preserve)
US 6 1.3 2.1 Underpass 41°20′57″N 83°39′36″W / 41.349176°N 83.659976°W / 41.349176; -83.659976 (Slippery Elm Trail, US Route 6 underpass)
Portage, Ohio 2.8 4.5 Bathrooms and parking. 41°19′36″N 83°39′36″W / 41.326725°N 83.660012°W / 41.326725; -83.660012 (Slippery Elm Trail, Portage, Ohio)
Rudolph, Ohio 4.9 7.9 Bathrooms and parking.[9] Rudolph Savanna, with sand dunes, and native savanna meadow of tall prairie grasses, under mature trees.[10][11] 41°17′54″N 83°40′11″W / 41.298445°N 83.669709°W / 41.298445; -83.669709 (Slippery Elm Trail, Rudolph, Ohio)
SR 281 (Defiance Trail) 6 9.7 41°16′59″N 83°40′20″W / 41.283172°N 83.672131°W / 41.283172; -83.672131 (Slippery Elm Trail, State Route 281)
Cygnet Road 8.9 14.3 Cygnet, Ohio is 1 mile east. Between Cygnet Rd. and Freyman Rd, path follows winding creek instead of old railroad bed. 41°14′27″N 83°40′27″W / 41.240939°N 83.674133°W / 41.240939; -83.674133 (Slippery Elm Trail, Cygnet Road)
Freyman Road 9.5 15.3 Cricket Frog Cove,[12] half mile west of trail, bathroom and parking. 41°14′01″N 83°40′23″W / 41.233657°N 83.673110°W / 41.233657; -83.673110 (Slippery Elm Trail, Cricket Frog Cove)
North Baltimore, Ohio 12.8 20.6 Bathroom and parking at Southern Terminus.[13] 41°11′00″N 83°40′30″W / 41.183399°N 83.674929°W / 41.183399; -83.674929 (Slippery Elm Trail, North Baltimore, sorthern terminus)

References

  1. 1 2 Wood County Park District: Slippery Elm Trail
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Slippery Elm Trail, Ohio". Google Maps. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Slippery Elm Trail". Trail Link. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Slippery Elm Trail". Ohio Bikeways. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  5. 1 2 Camp, Mark (2005). Railroads Depots of Northwest Ohio. Arcadia Publishing. p. 9. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Tontogany to North Baltimore". AbandonedRails.com. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  7. ↑ Railroad map of Ohio (Map). loc.gov. 1898. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Ohio Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs (1906). Annual Report of the Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs. L.D. Meyers & bro. p. 64.
  9. ↑ "Slippery Elm Trail to get stop-off site". Toledo Blade. 12 October 2006. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  10. ↑ "Slippery Elm Trail offers 13 miles of natural beauty". NBC 24. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  11. ↑ Wood County Park District: Rudolph Savanna
  12. ↑ Wood County Park District: Cricket Frog Cove
  13. ↑ "North Baltimore seeks to balance past with future". Toledo Blade. 12 February 2001. Retrieved 8 April 2016.


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