Great Miami River Recreation Trail in Hamilton, Ohio

The Great Miami River
Recreation Trail
[GMRRT] in Butler County
Trail in City of Hamilton, Ohio

Part Of
The Great Miami River Recreation Trail [GMRRT] (Butler County)

Approximately 5 miles

Click on Photo for Larger Image

Trail Description	Surface
Route	Map
Construction Plans	Parking & Restrooms
Hotels, Motels, B&Bs and Campgrounds	Trail Review
Request for Help From My Readers

Trail Description - This page will describe the part of the Great Miami River Recreation Trail in the City of Hamilton, Ohio. The current trails runs South (downstream) on the East bank of the Great Miami River from the Main-High Bridge approximately 5 miles past Joyce Park into the City of Fairfield at Waterworks Park . Above you can see a Google Earth photo of the trail area in downtown Hamilton. You can see the Main-High (Main Street - High Street) bridge at the top of the photo. Here is a link to Yahoo Maps where you can see the area and manipulate it for yourself. The current trail ends in Waterworks Park in Fairfield. They have plans to continue the trail South from there. See below for Trail Construction Plans

Route - South from the Main-High Street bridge in Hamilton 5 miles through Joyce Park in Hamilton to Waterworks Park in Fairfield.

Surface - Asphalt 10' wide

Map - None available at this time. I'm working on it.

Request for Help From My Readers - I've asked my readers to provide their photos and description of this 5 mile trail in Hamilton & Fairfield to me. Perhaps I'll be able to get to Hamilton this Summer in order to photograph it myself. This trail will be extended North along the Great Miami River to the existing trail in Middletown called (Nominal Name) the Middletown Trail Segment. The entire trail construction is from Crains Run Nature Park, (the most Southern point in Montgomery County, to Franklin called the Crains Run Segment (nominal name) to Hamilton and Fairfield. The section from Franklin to Middletown is partially funded. The City of Hamilton has some funding from the Hamilton Community Foundation.

Parking and Restrooms - In Hamilton there are Fitton Center, parking at the low level dam on the river, at the Wastewater Plant on Fairview Avenue, Joyce Park and at the Waterworks Park in Fairfield. Presumably, there are restrooms at Joyce Park and Waterworks Park.

Hotels, Motels, B&Bs & Campgrounds near the Trail - Each trail has it's own accommodations near the trail. Click on the link to be taken to the Accommodations in the Miami Valley RailTrails Area

Trail Review -

This picture shows the wide sidewalk on the new Main-High St. bridge over the Great Miami River in Hamilton. This bridge is the North end of the trail in the city.	Click on Photo for Larger Image Don Burrell: OKI

Click on Photo for Larger Image Don Burrell: OKI	Here is a charming photo of a sculpture of a man teaching his daughter to ride her new bicycle. It is located at the Fitton Center (101 S. Monument Ave.) in downtown Hamilton. It is called First Ride by J. Seward Johnson Jr. (1997) See also "Hamilton: City of Sculpture "

In this photo you are looking North towards the Main-High bridge. The overhead truss bridge you see in the distance is the railroad bridge South of the Main-High bridge. Beyond it you can just make out the Main-High bridge in the background. You can also see the Fort Hamilton monument to the right of the photo provided by Mr. Don Burrell of OKI	Click on Photo for Larger Image Don Burrell: OKI

Click on Photo for Larger Image	In this Google Earth image at left, you can see Waterworks Park in the middle of the photo. You can see the ball diamonds. If you click on the Yahoo Maps link below, you can see the park and move North along the Great Ohio River until you get to Hamilton's Main-High bridge. From this you may be able to get an idea of the extent of the 5 mile trail. See Yahoo Maps for a image of the South end of the trail at Waterworks Park in Fairfield.

Trail Construction Plans - Both the City of Hamilton and the City of Fairfield plan to extend the trail.

City of Hamilton Plans - The city has plans to extend the trail North and East from the current Northern end at the Main-High Street bridge in downtown Hamilton. The plan is to build a trail alongside the old Miami & Erie Canal that ran from Cincinnati through Hamilton to Toledo. The local name for the waterway is the "Old Hydraulic". The city would like to use the levee alongside the Great Miami River to get the trail to the low dam West of Smith Park. However the route is not yet determined in this area. There is an existing bridge over the Old Hydraulic, that will take the trail to its North bank. The trail will continue on the North bank running East until the river turns North at the intersection of River Road and Allison Avenue. At that point a bridge will be construction from West to East over the Hydraulic. The trail will continue on the East bank of the River North paralleling River Road until it reaches the Rentschler Forest Preserve where the trail will join an several existing trails in the Preserve. (see Trail Map of Rentschler Forest Preserve 5.67 Mb). Construction on this 5 or so mile extension of the Great Miami River in Warren and Butler Counties would have already started except for a pending litigation that is holding up progress.

At right is a photo of the proposed rail along the Ohio & Erie Canal just North of Hamilton and running Northeast to the Rentschler Forest Preserve. I've added red marks to the Google Earth image to show the planned trail route and Smith Park. See Yahoo Maps to see where the trail will go. You can see Smith Park

Click on Photo for Larger Image

City of Fairfield Plans - The city plans to extend the trail South from its current end at the city's Waterworks Park. The plan is to continue the trail South to Marsh Park. the park will have a trail built around the two lakes in the park and the trail will leave to the West to run alongside River Road around the large Martin Marietta Materials gravel pits alongside the Great Miami River. The trail will continue alongside River Road until it reaches the Great Miami River where it makes a sharp "U-Shaped" bend to the West near the City of Fairfield's Waste Treatment Facility. I am informed that this construction will take 5 - 10 years to complete.

At right is a photo from Google Earth that shows the beginnings of the planned additional trail in the City of Fairfield. As discussed above the trail will continue to Marsh Park and then alongside River Road until the trail gets to the Waste Treatment Facility.

Here is a link to Yahoo Maps where you can see Waterworks park at the far right. Below (South) if it is Marsh Park (two small lakes) and to the right (West) is the large gravel pits of Martin Marietta Materials. You can see the "U-Shaped" bend in the Great Miami River and you can manipulate the map.

Click on Photo for Larger Image

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