I was surprised and dismayed at the news over at Amish America. A rail-to-trail multi-use path has been constructed in Holmes County, Ohio. I didn’t think it would happen. But it does seem that some Amish people are using it, so maybe it isn’t the total waste I feared it would be.

In September 2003 I did a bike ride to Holmes County. When I got to our campground near Millersburg, a family stopped me as I was walking my bike to the campground my wife had picked for us. The man and woman were genuine tourers, and had done more riding than I had the previous year. But the man said he was on some sort of governor’s commission for creating trails like this. My wife had talked to him, too. He wanted bike paths for Amish buggies and bicycles so they wouldn’t have to mix with the traffic. It looks like that’s what they now have.

I thought this was a bad idea. In general I do not favor these trails for bicycles, and I couldn’t see how they would possibly be useful for the Amish people. Trails like this are often good for recreational riding, where one wants to socialize while riding, or for family outings with children who don’t have sufficient control of their bicycles to be on the road.

But when I’m touring, I want to go to the places where the roads take me. I want to see the houses, towns, and business places along the way — the places where people are. Converted railbeds are often safe, but boring. And they don’t go to the historical places I want to go to, which are usually where there are people’s homes, too. I want to be able to stop at gas stations to get water or fuel (e.g. a Subway BLT sandwich). Those things are not usually located along multi-use trails.

There are places where trails are a good thing, e.g. some urban areas have networks of trails to help one get through areas that really are difficult to ride through. But in general I’d much rather that the money be spent to improve the roads — resurface the roads so cars can be controlled better, and provide shoulders for bicycles and buggies to ride. Those are a win-win-win for cars AND buggies AND bicycles.

I also fear that where there are trails, bicycles will not be allowed on the roads. Basically, bicycles and buggies will be shoved off into a ghetto and not be allowed to use the roads for transportation. Such things have already happened in some places. Bicycles need to be out on the roads, asserting their rights to the roads, and helping drivers learn how to share the roads with them.

Well, Amish America says that the new trail is actually used by Amish people, so that means it does go some places people want to go. In fact, it looks like this trail connects to one that I used that day on my way to Millersburg. Yes, I said I don’t care for these trails, but sometimes I do take them. If they go where I need to go, I can often make good time on them. But they don’t make for all the wonderful memories that I get from riding on the road. I don’t have a single photo from my ride along the trail from Howard, Ohio. After the trail ended and I got out on the roads, I got my camera out and took the following photos.

They are in black-and-white not because I was trying to be artsy. The day before I had been using my camera to copy documents at the Kenyon College archives, and I didn’t realize until later that I had left it in B&W mode.

This photo may be just outside of Holmes County, perhaps not too far from where the trail ended.

I took some gravel roads cross-country. Some of the hills were fairly steep. It was this day that I got to thinking that 1) maybe I should go back to wearing a helmet, after all. Some of those downhills were fast. And 2) I should put lower gears on my bike if I’m going to be touring in hills like this.

I came out somewhere north of Millersburg. The Treaty Line would be the line of the Greenville Treaty of 1795. But I’m not sure I was quite that far north.

And here’ s where I’ve written about a short bike trail near Homer, Michigan, which was a complete waste. No redeeming social value to this one. The money should have been spent upgrading the roads, instead.