The all-purpose Maple Highlands Trail stretches a total of 21.1 miles through beautiful hardwood forests, unique wetlands, and tranquil pastoral scenery common to Geauga County. The trail also features two award-winning covered bridges. Western Reserve Land Conservancy helped Geauga Park District conserve 196 acres of inaccessible wetlands and wet forest habitat adjacent to the park’s Maple Highland Trail.

The Maple Highlands Trail is a 20.3-mile long linear park that utilizes sections of the abandoned Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad corridor. The trail currently extends from Colburn Road on the Lake County line southeast to Swine Creek Reservation in Middlefield, with a brief break in the City of Chardon, which plans to provide a connection in good time.

The Maple Highlands Trail – North
The first section of this trail was completed in the summer of 2003. It travels parallel to Route 44 and extends south 4.2 miles from Colburn Road to the Chardon city limits near the Ohio State Highway Patrol. A segment of the trail branches east, where a 20-car parking lot is located at 9280 Ravenna Road, Chardon Township; more than half the cost of that lot, which has two handicap-accessible parking spaces, was paid for by the Ohio Department of Transportation. The second section, linking the previous end to Fifth Street in Chardon, was completed in the fall of 2014.

The Maple Highlands Trail – Mountain Run Station
12601 Chardon Windsor Road, Hambden Township
This section was completed in 2007. It travels travel east and south from South Street in Chardon to Headwaters Park, traversing 8.2 miles through woodlands, along wetlands and farm fields. There is parking, Chardon Rotary Shelter, a picnic area, and restrooms available at Mountain Run Station.

The Maple Highlands Trail – South
This roughly 7-mile section was completed in the fall of 2014. It travels from Headwaters Park in Claridon Township to Reeves Road in Parkman Township. Geauga Park District and officials from the Village of Middlefield worked cooperatively to provide this leg of the trail, which accommodates bicyclers, rollerbladers, pedestrians, and Amish buggy traffic.