The 7 best bike rides from Upper Arlington, ranked
Paved riverside bike path along the Scioto north of Upper Arlington on a summer morning
Seven rides you can start from a driveway in Tremont or Ridgeview, ranked by how much good riding you get per mile of traffic you have to survive first.
How I ranked these, and what riding out of Upper Arlington is really like
Upper Arlington sits on a shelf between the Scioto and the Olentangy, about five miles northwest of downtown Columbus, and that geography decides everything. The residential grid — Cambridge Boulevard, Andover, Barrington, the curving lanes off Northwest Boulevard — is genuinely pleasant, shaded and slow. The arterials are not: Henderson, Lane Avenue, Fishinger, Reed and Tremont carry commuter traffic at 35 to 45 mph with narrow or no shoulders. So I ranked these seven rides by quality of riding per mile of unpleasant approach, then by surface, then by whether you can realistically roll out of a driveway rather than loading the car.
Practical notes that apply to all of them: the season runs roughly March to November, with July and August afternoons hitting the upper 80s and humid, so leave before 10 a.m. The riverside trails flood and close after heavy rain, and debris lingers for days afterwards — check Columbus Recreation and Parks or the relevant Metro Parks page before committing. Bike rental is thin outside the downtown and campus CoGo bike-share stations, so most visitors either bring a bike or borrow one. Ohio law treats bicycles as vehicles; lights after dark are not optional.
1. Riverside Drive north to the O’Shaughnessy Dam — about 22 miles round trip
This is the ride locals actually do, and it is the best thing about cycling here. From the Fishinger Road end of Upper Arlington you drop onto Riverside Drive and head north with Griggs Reservoir on your left, then O’Shaughnessy above the Dublin line. The road rolls gently, the shoulder is wide for long stretches, and the water is in view for most of it. Turn at the O’Shaughnessy Dam, walk out on the deck for the drop over the spillway, and ride home with the wind usually behind you. Round trip from central Upper Arlington runs 20 to 24 miles.
The honest catch is traffic. Riverside is a commuter route and a favourite of drivers who enjoy the curves; between 7 and 9 a.m. and again from 4 to 6.30 p.m. it is no fun at all. Go on a Sunday morning and it changes character completely — you will see club groups in twos and threes the whole way. There is no water or food between Dublin's edge and home, so carry two bottles in summer. This is the ride I would book if you only have one morning and reasonable road confidence.
2. The Olentangy Trail from Antrim Park to the Scioto Mile — 15 miles round trip
Antrim Park sits about a mile east of Upper Arlington off Olentangy River Road, with a free lot and an 11-acre lake ringed by a gravel loop. From there the paved Olentangy Trail runs south past the Ohio State campus, under the highway bridges, through the Arena District and out onto the Scioto Mile downtown, roughly seven and a half miles each way. It is car-free almost the entire distance, flat, and it delivers the single best sequence of Columbus views: the stadium's flank, the boathouses, then the skyline over the Scioto Greenways.
It is also the busiest recreational corridor in the county on a warm Saturday, shared with runners, dog walkers and e-scooters near campus, so it is a cruising ride rather than a training ride. Two structural annoyances: the underpasses collect standing water after storms, and the campus section gets clogged on Ohio State football Saturdays in autumn, when you should avoid the whole area on any wheels. Ride it on a weekday morning, buy coffee downtown, come back north. Best beginner-friendly long ride in the region.
3. Griggs Reservoir Park and back — 8 to 10 miles at a family pace
Griggs Reservoir Park stretches for several miles along Riverside Drive on the Scioto's edge, with picnic shelters, boat ramps and small parking pull-offs. As a ride it is short and simple: drop down from Fishinger or Zollinger, potter north along the park road and paths, stop at the water, turn around. Total distance from most Upper Arlington addresses lands between eight and ten miles with almost no climbing beyond the one short ramp back up onto the plateau. This is the ride for a nine-year-old on a first proper outing, or for anyone jetlagged and just wanting air.
The catch is that the park's internal paths are fragmentary rather than one continuous trail, so you will share the park road with slow-moving cars looking for a shelter or a fishing spot. Weekend afternoons in June bring picnic traffic; mornings are near-empty. Bring a lock if you want to walk down to the water. If your group has mixed abilities, this beats forcing everyone onto Riverside proper, and you can extend it northward as far as confidence allows and simply turn back when someone complains.
4. The Camp Chase Trail to Battelle Darby Creek — 35 to 40 miles round trip
This is the serious one. The Camp Chase Trail is the western leg of the Ohio to Erie Trail, running out through Columbus's west side and Hilliard's southern edge towards Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park and the Big Darby. Getting there from Upper Arlington means riding south and west across some unlovely industrial blocks, which is why it ranks fourth rather than first. Once you are on it, you have miles of paved, car-free rail-trail through farmland and floodplain woods, and a genuine destination: 7,000 acres of prairie, creek and a resident bison herd.
Budget three to four hours plus stops, carry food, and note that services along the middle section are sparse. Many riders shortcut the ugly part by driving to a trailhead on the west side and starting there, which is a sensible compromise and cuts the round trip to a manageable 20 miles. If you are training for anything, this is the ride with the honest mileage. Skip it after prolonged rain, when the Darby floodplain sections can hold water and the surface collects silt.
5. Dublin's path network, and 6. the Scioto Trail south
Fifth: Dublin, about 20 to 25 minutes north by car or an hour by bike up Riverside. Dublin has spent decades building shared-use paths, and the network linking the Indian Run falls, the Kiwanis Riverway Park riverbank and the open grassland of Glacier Ridge Metro Park is the smoothest riding in central Ohio. You can string together 15 to 25 miles with barely a road crossing, then eat at Bridge Park. The catch: it is suburban scenery, pleasant rather than dramatic, and the underpasses can be confusing without a map. Excellent with children who have outgrown Griggs.
Sixth: the Scioto Trail south of downtown. Pick it up at the Scioto Mile and continue past Scioto Audubon Metro Park — a reclaimed scrapyard with a climbing wall and a boardwalk over the wetlands — towards Berliner Park. It is flat, quiet on weekdays and mostly used by commuters, and it gives you the skyline from behind, which most visitors never see. Honest catch: sections feel industrial and isolated, so ride it in daylight and with company. Combine it with the Olentangy Trail for a 25-mile figure-of-eight through the whole river system.
7. The Alum Creek Trail, what to skip, and the ride I would actually book
Seventh: the Alum Creek Trail on the east side, roughly 20 paved miles running north from the Three Creeks area up through Westerville. It is a fine trail, but you have to drive 30 minutes across the metro to reach it, and nothing about it beats what you already have on the Scioto and Olentangy. Do it only if you are staying east or want new scenery on a long trip. What to skip outright: Henderson Road, Lane Avenue east of Kenny at rush hour, and Kenny Road itself, all of which are hostile to bikes despite looking direct on a map.
If you have one morning, ride Riverside Drive north to the O’Shaughnessy Dam on a Sunday before nine. If you have children or nobody wants traffic, drive the bikes to Antrim Park and ride the Olentangy Trail towards downtown, turning back at whatever point patience runs out. If you have a full day and legs, take the Camp Chase Trail to the bison at Battelle Darby. All three are free apart from your own coffee stop, which is the quiet advantage of a metro where the best rides run along publicly owned water.
Before you book
What people ask before booking Upper Arlington.
Not easily. Rental supply concentrates downtown and near the Ohio State campus, where the CoGo bike-share docks sit; Upper Arlington itself has no rental counter. Visitors usually borrow, bring a bike, or start their ride from a downtown dock. Check the bike-share operator's live station map before planning around it.
It is ridden daily by experienced cyclists and has a wide shoulder for much of the stretch north of Fishinger, but it carries fast commuter traffic. Ride it early on weekend mornings, use a rear light in daylight, and avoid it entirely between 4 and 6.30 p.m. on weekdays.
The paved trails stay open year-round but are not comprehensively cleared of snow and ice, and riverside sections close after flooding. December to February riding is possible on dry days above freezing; verify closures with Columbus Recreation and Parks or Metro Parks before you drive to a trailhead.
Griggs Reservoir Park for a first outing at eight to ten miles, or Dublin's path network if you want 15 car-free miles with playgrounds and food at the end. Both have free parking and flat surfaces; neither requires riding on an arterial road to reach the good part.
