Stavich Bicycle Trail
(Click to enlarge)
The trail runs from New Castle – in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania – through Lowellville, and ends at Struthers, Ohio. To get to the eastern end of the trail:
Take Rt. 422 west out of New Castle, to west 224. Turn left onto Covert Road 0.9 miles after the intersection of 422 and 224. Follow Covert Road south for 1.3 miles. Trailhead is along the road, on the right. Map
To get to the western trailhead:
Take Rt. 224 west to Poland, Ohio. Turn right onto Rt. 616 and follow it across the Mahoning River. Just after the river, turn right onto Broad Street. Trailhead is on the right in about a mile. Map
One of the lesser known trails in the region, the Stavich Bicycle Trail is much like a trip back in time. Midway through the trip, Lowellville looks like it came out of a historic movie set. This quiet (except for trains on the sometimes-adjoining tracks), sunny, rolling trail runs through farmland and tiny communities. Don't think that the trail ends when you get into Lowellville - just go straight down the street and the trail picks up again on the other end.
This trail was built on an old trolley track, which tolerated steeper and more uneven slopes than train tracks. Most of the trail is level to a gentle grade, there are a couple of fairly short hills.
Spring brings an abundance of wildflowers to the trail's edge, along with on occassional yellow dogwood. The beaver pond is ideal bird-watching territory. I don't know squat about birds, but there sure were a lot of them, including geese, some white somethings, and a lot of unusual shiny blue somethings.
- Completed Length: 10 miles
- Connecting Trails: None
- Surface: Asphalt
- Topography: level to 130 ft/mile
- Classic Lowellville
- Views of the Mahoning River
- Large beaver pond with good bird watching