DESCRIPTION

The Heritage Rail-Trail is a classic rail-to-trail conversion that runs a tad over 6 miles from Old Hilliard to Cemetery Pike. It is maintained severally, by The City of Hilliard and Franklin County Metro Parks. There is an excellent website devoted to the trail with it's history and a lot of other information which can be found here: http://www.heritagerailtrail.org/.

The eastern trail head is located in downtown Old Hilliard off Main St. between Cemetery Rd and Hayden Run Rd. There is a sizeable amount of free parking at the trail-head. There are also some exercise bars and bike racks. The trail passes by a large retention pond that backs the Hilliard-Darby High School and there is a small park to the north side with benches and a shelter. Once past this point, the trail straightens out (and I do mean straighten. With the exception of some intention shifts of a couple of yards to the left or right--and some "blips" designed, I suspect, to slow speeding users as they approach road crossings--this trail is essential a bee-line in the direction of Plain City.)

The trail section administered by Hilliard--which stretches to Hayden Run Rd (about the first two and a half miles) starts out bracketed by tall walls of brush and trees through which you can occasionally see housing developments (there are a few access paths). The trail crosses, at grade level, Leppert Rd with trail stops signs. Cross traffic does not stop. By the time you reach the first mile post, the brush has begun to diminish and so have the houses and you are out in farming country. Mostly soybeans from the look of it. The trail is flat and straight and when it reaches Cosgray Rd, there is another cross and, on the other side, you pass Homestead Park, to your right (north side), This is a sizeable  rail-road themed local park and you can find water, comfort facilities and parking.

The trail character does not vary a lot from here through MP 2.0 and 3.0 to Hayden Run Rd, mostly farmland, some brush and a few trees. At Hayden Run Rd, there a third crossing and the Metro Parks section begins. There is a small metropark, Heritage Park, on the west side of the road with parking, seasonal comfort facilities, a small horse corral and the start of the bridle path which parallels the trail from here to its end. The trail loops into the park and back --there is a fenced off section of old trail--and then straightens out again. It picks up a tree line on the north side which runs pretty much all the way to the finish. There is a crossing at Amity Pike but no parking or facilities. The 4.0 mile post is a little ways south and east of the crossing. From Amity Pike, it's a little over two miles through farming country with no access until you reach Cemetery Pike where the trail currently ends. There is a small parking area (no more than two or three cars could fit, I think.)  The Der Dutchman restaurant has a sign at the trail end showing the route into Plain City via surface streets. Turn left (south) into Cemetery Pike and turn right onto

IMPRESSIONS

If you like it flat, straight and wide-open, this is your trail. There are a couple of different access points which allows for varying the direction and distance. The Hilliard portion is a little more sheltered and has the busier cross streets and has more user traffic with the parks at Main St and Cosgray Rd. The Metro Parks portion is more remote and has fewer breaks. The automobile traffic is not heavy, btw, just two-lane country black-top fast. Which means care in looking both ways because it can come up on you very quickly. A nice trail for a long focused run.

AERIAL MAPS

Click on the thumbnails below to bring up the maps in a separate window. Please note: The Heritage Trail runs north-east to south-west. I have rotated the images 45 degrees in order to decrease the file sizes to manageable level. In all the pictures, true north is indicated with an icon. Also: the extent of the higher resolution photography does not cover the entire trail. The higher res portion is set at a 2800 or so foot eye level. This photography was made after the trail was built and all landmarks are shown. The remainder of the trail is shown in lower res photography taken before the trail was built. I have indicated the landmarks for reference purposes. Also, the lo-res section (map 3) is set at a higher eye level (4600 feet or so) so the scale of this map is not the same as the first two. The maps are thumb-nailed below in two versions: half size and full size. The full size files are fairly large.

FULL SIZE	FULL SIZE	FULL SIZE
HALF SIZE	HALF SIZE	HALF SIZE
The section from Old Hilliard to Homestead Park	Homestead Park to just west of Hayden Run Metro Park	West of Hayden Run Metro Park to Cemetery Rd

PHOTOS

Click on the thumbnail to bring the picture up in a separate window. For faster connections, click on the Full Size button to bring up a page with full sized photos.

	The entrance to the parking area off Main St in Old Hilliard
	The eastern trailhead. Note the mile marker and the warm up area.
	The trail passes this retention pond and park.
	A typical view through the Hilliard section. These brush and tree areas are teeming with birds of all types.
	The crossing at Leppert Rd.
	Another view.
	The trail in this section passes through areas of homes. There are occasional access paths to these developments.
	The Mile 1 post. Note the access path.
	On the other, northern side, lots of soybeans.
	The Cosgray Rd crossing.
	Approaching the Homestead Park. This is a large recreation area with water and comfort facilities.
	And a railroad theme. (In the part looking toward the trail in the distance)
	Farther down, at the 2.0 mile post. Typical view in this area.
	Approaching the Hayden Run crossing.
	At Hayden Run. Here the Hilliard section ends and the Metro Parks section starts.
	On the west side, there is a small park. The entrance and sign on Hayden Run Rd.
	The trail widens and acquires a centerline stripe in the Metro Parks section.
	It also acquires an accompanying bridal path. The metro park has a bridle path access as well as a small hot-walking area for horses.
	A typical view along this section.
	Looking back toward Hayden Run. The metro park parking areas are on the left side of the picture.
	Approaching Amity Pike. Note MP 4.0 in the foreground.
	On the other side of Amity Pike. It's a two mile run from here to the current western trailhead. Crossing Amity Pike, the bridle path goes from the north side of the trail to the south side.
	Approaching the western end. Note the 6.0 mile post.
	The current end of the trail.
	Signs at the final gate.
	Cemetery Pike. Note the size of the parking area.
	Directions on how to get from here to Plain City. (And the Der Dutchman restaurant.
	A view back up the parking area to the trailhead. Again, note the size of the parking area.

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07/22/2007