Kokosing Gap & Heart of Ohio Trails
/Kokosing Gap Trail
Howard to Mount Liberty - 40 miles RT
I jumped ahead in the last blog and screwed up our riding timeline a bit. Usually, I keep a written journal (how archaic!) of the day’s activities and then refer to it when I’m writing our blog a few days later. I neglected to do this on our last few days of cycling. I corrected the error in my last blog, but if you read it before the correction and feel like you’re experiencing a little déjà vu, you are. Mea culpa! On to the rest of the story…
We parked at the Howard Rotary Club Park next to the historic Howard Stone Arch Bridge. We’d ridden as far as this arched bridge last time, but today we took the time to learn more about it. Using local masons and locally quarried stone, the Howard Stone Arch passage was built in 1874 under US-36 allowing the Cleveland-Mt. Vernon-Delaware Railroad bed to pass through. It’s a beautiful piece of architecture with a huge historical red mill that towers over the trail.
In the guide, David had noted some sort of a labyrinth alongside the trail and we were watching for it though we weren’t quite sure what to expect. I would have missed it altogether, but old eagle eye picked it out and we stopped to look. It took a little imagination, but we could see the outline of where the labyrinth had been in the overgrown grassy field. An autumn maze, maybe?
The route took us through the lush campus of upscale Kenyon College. We stopped briefly at a park in the nearby little town of Gambier to view the old train engine and caboose.
We completed our ride on the Kokosing Gap Trail through countryside along the Kokosing River to Mount Vernon. It’s a beautiful ride. The trail is meticulous with rest stops and benches about every 1/2 mile.
At Mount Vernon, we met up with Downtown Connector Trail. The connector trail was only about a mile long and though there were a couple of very busy street crossings, we threaded our way through the city without too much difficulty. The ride over the Pennsylvania RR bridge was great with super views of the South Main Street viaduct bridge (Ohio Rte 13) built in 1892.
At the Kokosing Gap Trail’s Mt. Vernon terminus, a sculpture was erected in July 2021 to honor its 30th anniversary.
We crossed busy South Main Street at a crosswalk. The 1967 restored Cleveland, Akron & Columbus (CA&C) Railroad Depot stood on the other side with covered picnic tables, restrooms and a visitor center.
Here we picked up the Heart of the Ohio Trail and continued 9.5 miles to a rest area at Mount Liberty, our destination for the day. We turned around and headed back.
We had passed Ariel Foundation Park on the way to Mount Liberty, but hadn’t stopped to explore. On our return ride we decided to divert a bit and check it out. The park is an old PPG (Pittsburgh Plate Glass) factory facility closed in 1976 and recently repurposed into an open air museum of sorts.
Aptly named ‘The Ruins’, remnants of old factory buildings are still in place along with informational signs and ‘glass’ sculptures scattered over the grounds.
We especially enjoyed the sculpture entitled ‘River of Glass’.
The 280’ Rastin Observation Tower was built in 1951 by PPG as a smokestack. A circular staircase of 224 steps now entwines the tower leading to an observation deck about half way up. We were content to climb up just a short distance and enjoy the views from there.
Back on the trail, we headed back through Mount Vernon. As we passed the old Mount Vernon RR depot and were waiting to cross Main Street, I looked up and saw the side of an old brick building advertising the Buckeye Candy & Tobacco Company and Mail Pouch Tobacco. An answer to a previous mystery about the Mail Pouch signs we’d seen on local barns was solved.
The return trip was pleasant over trestle bridges and through green forests, but we were very pleased to see Blanche waiting for us in the parking lot in Howard.
We did our first 40 mile day today… and we survived with nary a problem. Veteran cyclists and younger cyclists do 40, 50, 60+ miles all the time, but for us it was a first and worth celebrating. We headed to Flappers, a pub in downtown Mount Vernon, and enjoyed cold Yuenglings on tap and sandwiches for lunch. One more cycling day left before we head back to Rhode Island.
Heart of the Ohio Trail
Mount Liberty to Sunbury - 30.5 miles RT
The day dawned cool and sunny. We drove to the Mount Liberty parking area, left Blanche, and headed out once again on the Heart of Ohio Trail. Like the Kokosing Gap Trail, the Heart of Ohio Trail is well-maintained. The asphalt trail is an easy, pleasant ride through the countryside along the Dry Creek. Evidently the trail has been extended since TrailLinks showed it ending several miles before it actually did.
We rode on a trail next to, but separated from the highway, then after crossing the highway, saw a commemorative obelisk marking the high point of the Heart of Ohio Trail at 1285’.
We were in ‘finish-up mode’ today and took very few photos. The trail was, for the most part, easy riding and well-marked. We passed through Centerburg, the mid-point of the Ohio-Erie Trail and continued riding. Having ridden all of these wonderful trails, mostly maintained by volunteers and privately funded, we decided contributing to each would be a worthwhile donation when we return to Las Vegas. It’s on the ‘to-do’ list for when we get home.
On the outskirts of Sunbury, the trail ended and we threaded our way through neighborhood streets, around detours and finally into the the center of Sunbury. We picked up the very short Sandel Legacy Trail, .6 miles and called it a day.
The return trip was, as always, somewhat bittersweet. We were happy to have completed as much of the GART as we did, but would have liked to do more. It was, however, time for a break and time to head back to Rhode Island. We plan to return to Sunbury in a few weeks and continue cycling a few more sections of the GART before heading back to Las Vegas.
In the meantime, we’ll be busy with other activities. So join us as we head back to New England. By the way, did you ever see the World’s Largest Big Mac? We did… we’ll share next time.