| This first picture shows the end of trail at Wilson Road We are looking East from the Trailhead at Wilson Road across the road to the un-built section |
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Please Note:
There is no trail from Wilson Road about 1800' East because of a dispute
over ownership of the right-of-way. Hopefully, this can be resolved
soon. In the meantime at right is a Google Map to show you a road
route South from Wilson Road and East on Lilly Chapel-Georgesville Road
that will get you back to the trail at Lilly Chapel. Click Here to be taken to Google Maps so you can see and manipulate the map yourself. The trail is in green and stops at Wilson Road. Your detour is Wilson Road Southwest to Lily Chapel-Georgesville Road (Hwy 102) then East on Hwy102 to Lily Chapel and the start of the trail. It is about 1.6 miles from Wilson Road to Lily
Chapel |
| The town of Lilly Chapel is 1.64 miles from Wilson Road. There is a large grain elevator at the crossing of W. Jefferson Kiousville Road and the trail. Here we are looking from the crossing of the road with the trail East along the new trail. You can see part of the large grain elevator to the right of the photo. |
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In this photo we are looking West from the same location towards Wilson Road. There is a lot more of the grain elevator shown in this photo. |
| We see here a Bing.com Bird's Eye View of the crossing of W. Jefferson Kiousville Road and the trail at Lilly Chapel. As you can see the grain elevator is extensive. |
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It is 1.92 miles from W. Jefferson Kiousville Road to the trail's crossing of Olmstead Road. Here you can see the construction from Olmstead Road looking East towards the Alkire Road crossing and eventually the town of Georgesville |
| In this photo we are looking West back towards Lilly Chapel. As you can see from the photo the grain elevator is most definitely a "local landmark." |
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From Olmstead Road to the Alkire Road crossing is about .6 miles. Here we see the Alkire Road crossing of the trail. We are looking East in this photo towards Georgesville. |
| In this photo we are at the same location as above (Alkire Road) looking West back towards Lilly Chapel. |
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It is 1.1 miles from Alkire Road to the town of Georgesville, Ohio. From this vantage point, we are looking West back towards Lilly Chapel. What do you see on the track? Yes, it's a Camp Chase Industrial Railroad train. |
| The Camp Chase Railroad
Company owns the tracks in this area. While there are not many trains it
is harvest time and according to Richard Gehman, this one was carrying
grain from the elevator in Lilly Chapel towards Columbus.
This trail was originally called the "Camp Chase RailTrail" because of Camp Chase, which was a Civil War Prisoner Of War camp in Western Columbus on Sullivant Avenue. Several Ohio regiments mustered here, boarded the trail and rode West to Xenia where they got on a Little Miami Railroad train and rode South to Cincinnati, where they were passengers on a steamer that took them to the South to fight the Civil War. |
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We are now in the town of Georgesville. Here the trail crosses the tracks and goes from the South side of the tracks to the North side. |
| From the town of
Georgesville East about .25 miles is the bridge over the Darby Creek.
There is a railroad trestle over the Creek but it is probably too narrow
to use for the trail. It has not been decided how the trail will cross
the Darby Creek here. The road bridge North of the trestle is the Alkire
Road crossing.
As you can see at the top right of the photo is a round feature. It is a parking lot as you can see below. This is a Bing.com photo |
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This parking lot for the Battelle
Darby Creek Metro Park is at 8465 Alkire Road. The lot is
circular and that's what shows on the Bing.com map above. From here the
trail runs through the park. The bike trail is at the left of the
picture (out of sight and not yet built) near the tree line.
There is about a .25 mile gap from the current end of the trail to the parking lot at Battelle Darby Creek MetroPark.
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| This picture is taken from Darby Creek Drive .90 miles East of the railroad trestle over the Darby Creek. As you can see construction has started for the trail next to the railroad on its South side. |
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| Construction
Plans:
Bulletin December 2010 - Columbus MetroParks is committed to continue construction on this trail They say in their 2011 MetroParks Newsletter the following: "Camp Chase Trail. (From Columbus MetroParks 2011 Plan) Three related projects are included in the 2011 CIP budget including construction of a section of trail (1.6 miles) from the current terminus of the Ohio to Erie Trail in Madison County to sections of trail that Metro Parks will complete in 2010 in Lilly Chapel. Land acquisition issues have been resolved and that section of trail is being designed. Additionally, funds are budgeted to address the Alkire Road Bridge crossing that is being managed by the Franklin County Engineer. This project will involve “hanging” a pedestrian/bicycle bridge on the existing bridge, which is a cost effective approach to crossing Big Darby Creek. We will also begin constructing the section of the trail from Battelle Darby Creek east to Galloway. Click Here to see their November 29, 2010 MetroParks E-Newsletter Click on View Proposed Budget or Click Here and go to page 24 to see the details for Camp Chase Rail Trail Bulletin November 2010 - The groundwork appears to be complete from Lilly Chapel to the west side of Olmstead Rd. From Olmstead Rd. east to the Darby Creek, the trail is paved. No work completion East of the Darby Creek or West of Lilly Chapel towards Wilson Rd. This paving was accomplished in October 2010. The trail is now completely paved to Wilson Road (6.5 miles East of Maple Street. Now the trail is in the hands of Columbus Recreation & Parks as well as Columbus & Franklin County MetroParks. The next step (see above) will be to build trail from Wilson Road East into Franklin County on what has been called the Camp Chase RailTrail that crosses the Little Darby Nature Preserve on a beautiful railroad trestle. Bulletin March 2010: There has been a blockage with the construction East of Wilson Road, as follows. The latest news received from Metro Parks (in Columbus) is that they have cleared the section from Lilly Chapel to Olmstead and plan to pave that section this year (2010). There is an issue with Wilson Road East to Lilly Chapel (W. Jefferson - Kiousville Road Route 22) . The Camp Chase Industrial Railroad didn't own the property all the way West to Wilson Road (like they thought they did). After Metro Parks did the legal work and found out the true owners, it seems that this company (the true owner) believes they have a section of right-of-way right in the middle of a gold mine of potential future businesses. MetroParks is working to: 1. negotiate with the rail owners of the property and 2. failing that, work with the farmers in the area for an alternative route. Bulletin July 2009: The Friends of the Madison County Parks & Trails (FMCPT) are proposing a new route for the Prairie Grass Trail (AKA Ohio To Erie Trail) in downtown London. The current route is a right turn from the end of the trail onto Midway Street, Left on Center Street, left on Maple Street and follow the bike route signs. Please see My Map for details. Also see the rest of this webpage. Bulletin June 2009: Work has started on this 11 mile trail that will continue the Prairie Grass Trail into Columbus. The first section of construction has started at Wilson Road. The sections and their status (June 2009) are below.
"On To Columbus!" |
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Ohio To Erie Trail - The trail from Cincinnati North on the Little Miami Scenic Trail to Xenia . And the trail Northeast from Xenia to Cedarville, South Charleston and London East to Columbus, Akron and onto to Cleveland is collectively called the Ohio To Erie Trail |
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