Trail Conditions

Want to know if sections of the Great Miami River Bike Trail are under water? Here’s the place to find out.

You can visit the interactive Trail Conditions map on the Great Miami Riverway website for  trail conditions on the Great Miami River Recreation Trail.

Or, see the list below to see whether the trail is dry for your next ride on MCD-maintained trail sections in downtown Dayton, West Carrollton, Miamisburg and Franklin.

1. Scroll down to the city where you plan to visit the trail.
2. Find the observed value (number in the upper left corner on the line graph except West Carrollton where you’ll need to look for the gage height).
3. Compare that number to the table just below the graph to see if any areas you want to visit are under water.

For example, if the observed value in Franklin is 7 feet, you know the trail is clear. But if it’s 8 feet, the trail is about 6 inches under water just below Crains Run Nature Park.

Notice that for most areas you can also estimate if the trail will go under water in the next couple of days by looking at the purple dotted line. If the trail is dry but was recently under water, it may take our maintenance staff a few days to clear away mud and debris.

Why is the trail under water sometimes?
Low-lying parts of the Great Miami River Recreation Trail can become submerged by rising river levels following heavy rains. Trail is built on or along MCD levees that keep the Great Miami River from flooding riverfront cities from Piqua to Hamilton. MCD maintains about 30 miles of the more than 70 miles of trail along the Great Miami River.

Without this long stretch of contiguous flood protection land, the trail—and the numerous public river access points—likely wouldn’t exist.

Great Miami River at West Carrollton

Great Miami River at Miamisburg

Great Miami River at Franklin