The Little Miami Scenic Trail is the fourth longest paved trail in the United States, running through five southwestern counties in the state of Ohio. The multi-use rail trail sees heavy recreational use by hikers and bicyclists, as well as the occasional horseback rider. Over 700,000 people made use of the trail in 2014. Most of the trail runs along the banks of the Little Miami River, in a dedicated, car-free corridor known as Little Miami State Park. This unusually linear state park passes through four counties, with a right-of-way running about long and averaging in width for a total of about . Elsewhere, the corridor ranges from in width. The Little Miami Scenic Trail is signposted as State Bike Route 1 south of Xenia and State Bike Route 3 throughout. It is the backbone of a nearly continuous network of paved multi-use trails, centered on the Miami Valley area, that stretches and connects the Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus metropolitan areas. The Little Miami trail is an incrementally growing section of the Buckeye Trail and North Country National Scenic Trail, while the trail south of Xenia also forms the southern leg of the Ohio to Erie Trail and part of U.S. Bicycle Route 21. History The largely wooded corridor was created along the right-of-way of the old Little Miami Railroad. The original railway bed is still visible beside the trail in various places along the trail route. Together with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the local governments of Xenia and Yellow Springs purchased land along the abandoned railroad from 1973 to 1983. In 1979, the land became an Ohio State Park. In 1979, ODNR studied developing the corridor as a scenic railroad up to long from Loveland to Corwin, as well as a bike trail and bridle trail. However, ODNR prioritized the trails, allowing the bankrupt Penn Central Transportation Company to salvage the rails and ties, which made building new tracks cost-prohibitive. The trail was strongly supported by residents and officials in Loveland, where a park was being developed around the Loveland Bike Trail, but was opposed by residents of Terrace Park, who were concerned about crime. The first of the trail from Morrow to Loveland was paved in late 1983 and officially opened the following year. Two years later, the Ohio Department of Transportation received a grant from the Federal Highway Administration to complete the trail. By December