Mill Creek Park perk expands
Trail addition gets rave reviews
Trending
YOUNGSTOWN -- Kevin Wegendt of Youngstown and his friends run in Mill Creek Park throughout the year. Completion of a new one-third-mile extension of the East Park Hike and Bike Trail is making that experience a little easier.
The extension completes more than 7 miles of off-road pedestrian and bicycle trails stretching through Mill Creek Park from Boardman-Canfield Road (U.S. Route 224) to the Ford Nature Center on Old Furnace Road.
Ford Nature Center, Lanterman's Mill, East Newport Boat Launch and East Golf Hike and Bike Trail are now connected through the trails.
"I think this is fantastic," Wegendt said Thursday morning. "This is much safer than when you are in traffic."
Wegendt said he would normally run along East Park Drive to travel through that section of the park. East Park is a two-lane road shared by automobile, bicycle and pedestrian traffic, in addition to runners like him. He said runners always have to be alert for motor vehicle traffic when they run on the road.
Wegendt's running partner on Thursday, "Scooby" Jonathan Bolha, said he likes to run in the gravel along the edge of the roadway, but that, too, can present dangers.
Wegendt and Bolha were among several runners using the new trail, but there also were multiple dog walkers and multiple bicycle riders.
John Kerensky of Youngstown took his two dogs, Beauxnamean and Balto, on a walk from their home near the park along the new extension on their way to an open space where they played catch and fetch with a flying disc.
Kerensky said the new trail is nice, and it is in one of the nicest parts of the park. It is close to Lanterman's Mill and the trails along the east and and west gorge trails just north of the mill.
Kerensky said the new trail has so many turns through the wooded area because the MetroParks was trying to cut down as few trees as possible during the construction.
Nick Derico, natural resources manager of the MetroParks, said Kerensky is half right. The MetroParks was trying to cut down as few trees as possible and achieved that in this project. The MetroParks also did not disturb any wetlands.
But Derico said another reason for the winding effect of the path is that a curvy path is more aesthetically pleasing and more interesting than a straight trail.
Derico said he is happy a large number of people are using and enjoying the new trail. "It's been kind of a long time coming on this project," Derico said. "It's good to see it come to fruition." He said weather prevented it from being done last year as hoped.
The project included grading and excavation, placement of an aggregate base, installation of asphalt courses, seeding and mulching.
The new trail picks up where the first phase of the trail ends near the Lanterman's Mill overflow parking not far from the remnants of the former Idora Park. The trail travels north and ends at the start of the East Cohasset Hike and Bike Trail, which is on the two-lane East Cohasset Drive that is restricted to bicycle and pedestrian traffic.
The first phase, created in 2019, is 750 feet long and runs north from Lanterman's Mill. That phase also improved the state Route 62 (Canfield Road) intersection.
The East Park Hike and Bike Trail is now a half-mile long, and the other bike and pedestrian trails from Route 224 north are 7 miles.
Mill Creek Park was established in 1891 by Volney Rogers as the first park district in Ohio. In 1989, the lands now known as Mill Creek MetroParks became a metropolitan park district.
erunyan@vindy.com