Stillwater River Recreation Trail - Island MetroPark North to Sinclair Park

The Great Miami River Recreation Trail ( AKA Horace M. Huffman, Jr. Bikeway & River Corridor Bikeway) , runs along both sides of the Great Miami River in downtown Dayton, Ohio. North of Island MetroPark and South of the Stewart Street Bridge the trail is only on the East Bank of the Great Miami River. At Island MetroPark this trail; the Stillwater River Recreation Trail runs North to Sinclair Park.

This webpage highlights the 3.8 miles from the trail's beginning at Sinclair Park in the South to Island MetroPark. If Five Rivers MetroParks is able to secure a right of way this trail section could be connected to the rest of the Stillwater River Recreation Trail in Englewood MetroPark. If that happens this trail would start at Englewood MetroPark and end at Island MetroPark and the entire length would be the Stillwater River Recreation Trail.

How to Get There Sinclair Park is on the North side of Needmore Road (which becomes Old Shoup Mill Road) in Northwest Dayton, just after it crosses the Stillwater River. Sinclair Park , which is in Harrison Township, has water, restrooms and parking. To get to the trail you must cross Needmore/Shoup Mill Rd. which is four lanes wide with fast traffic. Luckily there is a button to control the signal light and you cross the road to the South side. Following the South side of the road, you travel East and cross the Stillwater River almost immediately on the bike lane of the bridge. The trail follows the road for about a mile, before using a former narrow road bridge into the Northern portion of the Wegerzyn Horticultural Center, a Five Rivers MetroPark.

Below are photos and descriptions of the trail that will take you to Island MetroPark at Helena Street in Northern downtown Dayton.

The Great Miami River Recreation Trail in Dayton starts at Sinclair Park in Harrison Township. The trail follows the Stillwater River South on the East bank of the river to Triangle Park where the Stillwater River flows into the Great Miami River. At that point the trail will be on both banks of the Great Miami River. We are at the corner of Riverside Drive and the Wright Brothers Parkway. Across the street we can see the sign for Sinclair Park. There is parking, water and restrooms here for your use.	Click on Thumbnail for larger image

Click on Thumbnail for larger image	We cross the road (Please use the crossing button). The trail starts to curves to the right at this point and will soon cross the Stillwater River bridge.

The trail continues to curve around to the right as it meets the Wright Brothers Parkway. Here we see that the trail crosses the bridge over the Stillwater River.	Click on Thumbnail for larger image

Click on Thumbnail for larger image	The trail has come out from behind the buildings and will soon parallel Needmore Road which becomes Shoup Mill Road in this area. This street has about seven names so the city of Dayton decided to call the entire road; "Wright Brothers Parkway. The trail goes by an apartment complex on the left; "Foxton" and an abandoned house.

Now we are looking Northwest again. The trail leaves the bridge and goes behind a small building complex. There are several buildings on our right as the trail approaches the Wright Brothers Parkway.	Click on Thumbnail for larger image

Click on Thumbnail for larger image	We are looking back down the trail. We have crossed over the small bicycle bridge. "Friend wife" is just crossing the bridge.

The trail continues North for about one half mile until it comes to the turn left as you can see in the photo at right. We are coming to a small bridge.	Click on Thumbnail for larger image

Click on Thumbnail for larger image	This is the end of the road that the trail shares going North. On the right are the community gardens area. We are now on the trail proper continuing North

In this photo we are passing by the model airplane flying field	Click on Thumbnail for larger image

Click on Thumbnail for larger image	Here we are looking along the narrow road North towards Needmore Road. The Stillwater River is on our left the and playfields and fishing area North of Wegerzyn Gardens. The Gardens are just South of this picture. At the Northern end of the park are public garden plots and the Model Airplane Flying Field. From this point South the trail shares the park road. See my River North Small Map that shows our route from Sinclair Park South to Island MetroPark and the Helena Street Bridge.

It's about 1.5 miles from the bridge over the Stillwater River at Needmore Road near Sinclair Park to Wegerzyn Gardens at right. Open most days there is water and restrooms available here. After you pass the buildings then you pass the large parking lots on the left, as you are traveling South.	Click on Thumbnail for larger image

Click on Thumbnail for larger image	We are still traveling down the road from Siebenthaler Avenue to the Wegerzyn Gardens. The gardens are behind us to the North. Here the trail splits off from the road and goes under the Siebenthaler Bridge over the Stillwater River. You can see the new bridge in the background of this picture.

We have gone under the bridge and are on the other side of the Siebenthaler Avenue bridge looking South. The road at the left of the picture is DeWeese Parkway and the trail will follow it for a mile or two. As you can see the trail splits into a section close to the road and a park road, close to the river.	Click on Thumbnail for larger image

Click on Thumbnail for larger image	This image is looking back the way we came to the North. The bridge is about 1/2 mile away and the two trails I told you about converge here. They become two once again just South of this point. The river is on the left of this picture.

Looking left, or East from the Trail in another 1/2 mile or so is the Boonshoft Musueum of Discovery It's across DeWeese Parkway. It was once called the Dayton Museum of Natural History.	Click on Thumbnail for larger image

Click on Thumbnail for larger image	In another 1/2 mile or so we come to the Jim Nichols Tennis Center which is also across the street from the trail. The brick building in the photo are restrooms and there is a water fountain both of which are open when the tennis courts are in use.

We are looking South to where DeWeese Parkway ends in Ridge Road. The trail is about to go under the bridge across the Stillwater River at Ridge Road. The trail is about a mile from the Siebenthaler Bridge to the Ridge Road Bridge.	Click on Thumbnail for larger image

Click on Thumbnail for larger image	Here we see the bridge and the trail going under it to enter Triangle Park of Five Rivers MetroParks.

In this picture we are looking back at the Ridge Road Bridge (towards the North). We have gone under it and we are now in Triangle Park.	Click on Thumbnail for larger image

Click on Thumbnail for larger image	The trail follows the river for a short distance between the beautiful trees in this picture and then the trail curves to the left (East) to cross the Great Miami River.

In this image we are looking North, back the way we came, across the playfields in Triangle Park at the Ridge Road Bridge in the background. The trail is along the river following the line of trees in the distance.	Click on Thumbnail for larger image

Click on Thumbnail for larger image	We have reached the bicycle and pedestrian bridge over the Great Miami River. This is the West entrance from Triangle Park. Crossing the bridge will take us to Island MetroPark.

This is a view of downtown Dayton taken from the center of the bridge that we are now crossing over. In the foreground we can see the Helena Street Bridge over the Great Miami River. From the bridge you can ride the trail on either bank of the River as far South as the Stewart Street Bridge. In the background are the towers of Dayton, Ohio.	Click on Thumbnail for larger image

Click on Thumbnail for larger image	Here we see the entire bridge from the East bank of the Great Miami River looking North. Across the bridge is Triangle Park, Ridge Road, Siebenthaler Avenue and Wegerzyn Gardens all to the North of where this photo was taken. We are now in Island MetroPark. Along the river on nice days you'll see sculls from the Dayton Rowing Club which has its offices just South of the Helena Street Bridge.

Looking South from the red bridge across the River we come to the parking lots, playgrounds, a dynamite fountain for getting wet in the Summer and the restrooms of Island MetroPark as you can see at right. The South end of the park is at Helena Street. As mentioned above you can ride either bank of the Great Miami River downtown. From the parking lot turn right, cross the Helena Street Bridge and then turn left and you'll be on the West Bank of the River. Or turn left from the parking lot and turn right on the first road which is parallel to the trail on the East Bank. It will take you South to Deeds Point where you can cross the green bicycle bridge across the Mad River to the continuation of the West Bank trail	Click on Thumbnail for larger image

Click on Thumbnail for larger image	To help you understand where you've been I've cut this map down to size. At the top (North) is Sinclair Park in Harrison Township and at the South is Island MetroPark and the Helena Street Bridge. Click on the map to see the trail section thus far. On the next webpage we will continue on the trail South to the Stewart Street Bridge on the East Bank Trail and return up the trail on the West Bank to Island MetroPark.