Bedford Section

Bedford Section Description:

The Bedford section begins in the Brecksville Reservation, a unit of Cleveland Metro Parks (CMP), at a simple sign near a parking area marked Buckeye Trail. This point marks the beginning of both the Bedford and Akron Sections and the end of the Medina Section. Although changes to the trail continue, this junction marks the point at which the Buckeye Trail (BT) was formally completed in 1981 as a hiking trail in a loop that can be said to link the four corners of Ohio.

The Bedford Section goes generally northeast from Brecksville Reservation to Headlands Beach State Park on Lake Erie, the BT's most northern extension, where the trail meets the Burton Section. Along the way, the trail follows the Towpath Trail in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and then trails through Bedford Reservation (CMP) and South Chagrin Reservation (CMP). Although more road walking is encountered from here on, significant intervals on footpath are found within North Chagrin Reservation (CMP), Chapin Forest Reservation, a unit of Lake Metroparks (LMP), with its view of Cleveland off in the distance, Penitentiary Glen Reservation (LMP), Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve (City of Mentor) along bluffs above Lake Erie and Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve where you may see nesting eagles.