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.[1][2][3]

Slippery Elm Trail
Rails to Trails
Length13 miles[1][2][3]
LocationBowling Green, Wood County, Ohio
Established1995[4]
Trailheads Bowling Green, Portage, Rudolph, North Baltimore
Usehiking, bicycling and in-line skating
Elevation
Gradeflat railroad grades
Hiking details
Trail difficulty Wheelchair accessible[2]
Months12
SightsRudolph Savanna, Cricket Frog Cove, Black Swamp Preserve
SurfacePaved[1][2][3]
Right of wayBaltimore & Ohio[5][6]
WebsiteWood County Park District: Slippery Elm Trail

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.[4]

Location

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

Crossing Mileage[1] Notes[1][2][3] Coordinates[1]
(mi)(km)
Montessori School, Bowling Green, Ohio 0 0 Parking, non-school hours only. Northern terminus 41°22′00″N 83°39′25″W
Black Swamp Preserve 0.5 0.80 Bathrooms and parking off S. Maple St., via Gypsy Lane. Bike repair station.[9] 41°21′38″N 83°39′37″W
US 6 1.3 2.1 Underpass 41°20′57″N 83°39′36″W
Portage, Ohio 2.8 4.5 Bathrooms and parking. Bike repair station.[10] 41°19′36″N 83°39′36″W
Rudolph, Ohio 4.9 7.9 Bathrooms and parking.[11] Rudolph Savanna, with sand dunes, and native savanna meadow of tall prairie grasses, under mature trees.[12][13] 41°17′54″N 83°40′11″W
SR 281 (Defiance Trail) 6 9.7 41°16′59″N 83°40′20″W
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
Freyman Road 9.5 15.3 Cricket Frog Cove,[14] half mile west of trail, bathroom and parking. 41°14′01″N 83°40′23″W
North Baltimore, Ohio 12.8 20.6 Bathroom and parking at southern terminus.[15] 41°11′00″N 83°40′30″W

References
  1. "Slippery Elm Trail, Ohio". Google Maps. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  2. "Slippery Elm Trail". Trail Link. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  3. "Slippery Elm Trail". Ohio Bikeways. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  4. Wood County Park District: Slippery Elm Trail Archived 2014-03-01 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Camp, Mark (2005). Railroads Depots of Northwest Ohio. Arcadia Publishing. p. 9. ISBN 9780738534015. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  6. "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. "[Wood County Park District] Slippery Elm Trail". www.wcparks.org. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  10. "[Wood County Park District] Slippery Elm Trail". www.wcparks.org. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  11. "Slippery Elm Trail to get stop-off site". Toledo Blade. 12 October 2006. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  12. "Slippery Elm Trail offers 13 miles of natural beauty". NBC 24. 2010-10-07. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  13. Wood County Park District: Rudolph Savanna
  14. Wood County Park District: Cricket Frog Cove
  15. "North Baltimore seeks to balance past with future". Toledo Blade. 12 February 2001. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
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