Late Autumn Visit to John Bryan State Park

There's something particularly warming about spending time in nature at this time of the year. Pretty much all the leaves have fallen, leaving the soft crunch of dead leaves on the paths;
the honeysuckle which seems to survive any time of the year is still showing green leaves and a few faded flowers occasionally can still be seen.

I had to get away from my daily grind for one day at this time and this day seemed perfect. The only problem is that it was perfect for many others too.
It was an extremely bright, cool day and I thought I would have some sense of quiet, but the park is still filled with many weekenders taking large groups of children for a stroll through this park. Some of the trail is very easy, making it a good opportunity for a sort of "get away" with the kids. I just wanted wanted to walk and take the occasional photo, but it seemed in some ways like city traffic. I passed one group of probably 20 young people with a couple of adults.

Which is why I also like to go in January when it is too cold for any but the hearty. I'm looking forward to that time when the river waters are shallow and often frozen.

John Bryan affords large cliff rocks with some challenges if you walk all the way from one end into the Clifton Gorge area where the Little Miami River narrows tremendously and the paths are very rocky and with lots of ups and downs.

Despite the leave-less trees, on a day like this, the colors though very muted are still a delight when looking across the small river.

Fort Hill - in the Arc of Appalchia

Today I spent a day hiking in the Arc of Appalachia, in Southern Ohio where the foothils of the Appalachians begin.
This is an area that has been preserved by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Ohio Historical Society among others to maintain the native temperate forest of Ohio in a state prior to the migration of the white man into the region. The area offers hiking trails in highly protected areas, one of which is Fort Hill.

Fort Hill is a 1200 acre park and includes the Earthworks constructed 2000 years ago by what is now believed to be members of the Hopewell culture. While it is now believed not to have been a Fort at all, but rather a ceremonial gathering space, there are still remnants of a wall along the rim of the ridge. On one side, the ridge falls off substantially downward, but on the other side is a large ditch remnant as it rises again on the inside to the flatter area even though it is all now covered with forestation. Fort Hill preserves one of the largest and oldest examples of native forest to be found in southern Ohio.

Hopewell is a European name that was given to these people and there is no archeological evidence of what they called themselves. It is believed now that some American Indian tribes, formerly of the area including the Shawnee are ancestors of these people.

There are in effect 3 trails one could take through this area. One is called the Deer Trail, which is not always open during hunting season. It is the longest at 6.5 miles. The second one is the Gorge Trail which is 4.2 miles and follows the rockscapes of Bakers Fork.
The last is the Fort Trail, which is 2.2 miles. This was the trail I primarily followed. One note is that the trails are not well marked. It had been my intention to follow the Gorge Trail, but apparently I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up on the Fort Trail. This and the Gorge Trail begins from the parking area with an immediate 400 foot climb gradually but sometimes at angles of 45 degrees up the side of the hill. There are a few switchbacks, but much of it is nearly straight up.

One near the top, you begin to follow a slightly up and down trail that is for the most part primitive enough that I lost my way in terms of which trail I was on. I headed off on what I thought was the Gorge Trail and it came to an abrupt end, so I had to back track to the other trail I saw. This apparently was the Fort Trail. As I indicated, things are not well marked.

One problem that made this hike decision as to which trail was that I drove 90 minutes to get to the location. Knowing I had 90 minutes to drive back, my time on the trail was limited since I could not spend as much time as I hoped. I want to get back to this area sometime in the future. The location is about 70 miles east of Cincinnati and about 80 miles from the Eastern edge of Dayton. Most of the drive is on smaller state and township roads, so the driving is a little slower going.

As this was late August, there was little in the way of floribunda and the area was quite dry. A little bug spray kept the little critters who like to land and bite at bay.
Things were moderate enough that the humidity levels were low making the hiking a little easier than some of the more recent trips I have been on. I didn't meet anyone else on the trail, so for the most part, it is a solitary trip unless you are with a group of your own. As usual I felt as if I had the place to myself. I did hear a few distant voices but down the ridge, so I suspect they might have been people in the creek area, which I didn't see at all.

If you don't mind the drive, it is a pleasant area and I suspect a delight in the Spring. If you are lucky enough to live in the area, the Serpent Mounds, another ancient Earthwork is nearby.

Twin Valley Metropark

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
-- Carl Bobert, 1886

This week I visited the Twin Valley Metropark which is the southern section of the Twin Creek Metropark district. The northern section is Germantown Metropark, which I have written about previously.

Twin Valley is just off Eby Road south of the village of Germantown in the extreme southwestern portion of Montgomery County, Ohio. On this sparkling but hot day with new growth in full force, the hiking proved a humid and somewhat exhausting experience.

This park has a little of everything for naturalist, hiker and backpacker. Twin Creek is considered a backpacker's park as it has not only overnight camping areas, but well over 40 miles of hiking trails. For hikers it runs the gamut of young successional woods, mature old growth forest, grassland prairies and wetlands.

The portion of the trail I hiked this day roughly 5 miles tasted a little of all of these land characteristics. From where I parked, the trail begins at the peak of a hill offering a wide view of the valley below.
It descends almost immediately first through grassy plains on the hillside then to the start of the forested area as I approach Twin Creek, one of Ohio's cleanest. The trail I chose first followed the creek. This is bottomland hiking and though it was a hot dry day, portions of the trail were still muddy. There is a portion of this trail that allows horseback riding and unfortunately, it tended to create clogs and pockets of dirt making walking that portion of the trail a little more difficult to navigate. I almost wish they would keep the horseback riding confined to its own trails.

For the most part the pathway is dirtpacked though narrow. It covers a vast amount of both flatland, winding narrow ridge climbing about 100 feet in a short distance, up and down the ridgeways, sometimes along precarious passageways with steep slopes back toward the bottomland where on wetter days, one would have to be extremely careful (a hiking stick comes in handy in these areas). Portions of the trail are difficult climbing though the trails are set up in such a way that one could select a more moderate leg if you wanted to enjoy the area without much difficult hiking.

When in the bottomlands along the flood plain, the trail breaks into grassy plains that have the trail moderately mowed so you can continue to follow it. There are the requisite posts alerting you to the trail, which soon moves back into the forested hills as you begin the trek upward toward the ridge peaks.

This time of the year affords a number of flora though with the shading of the trees, some of the flowering is limited. Still, there are wonderful odors of nature as one moves past the various plant growth. While in the prairie areas, there were numerous butterfly swirling about occasionally landing long enough to pose for a photograph. While in the bottomlands where things are much more humid and wet, I came across a number of toads.
The only downside of hiking at this time of the day - just before noon - in the humid areas of the forested pathway, I was plagued at times by flies and gnats, some rather aggressive. This seemed mostly when I was on the portion of the trail where horses are allowed to move. I am sure flies cannot distinguish from one large mammal to another!

One of the nice things about this park are hidden gems you can encounter. I did pass a historical area where the Hopewell Indians over 2000 years ago had built up walls to fortify one of their encampments. While the area is indicated on the map, it is not marked along the trail. I found, what I think were remnants of the wall, now a small area rising upwards along the ridge. It would have been nice to mark the trail with indications of what one might look for to better help imagine the area as it might have been when the Hopewell Indians walked the area. There is new evidence that the Hopewells were the ancestors of the Shawnee Indian tribes who lived in this area in the 17th and 18th centuries.

While walking up out of the bottomlands, I came across - hidden among the wooded area
- the Dogwood Pond, a cool clear fishing spot. While not a fisherman, it provided a perfect spot for relaxing for a while as it is partially shaded. There were a couple of people fishing, but it is remote enough that one has to do a little hiking to get to it. That seems to keep most fisherman out of the area.

Twin Valley Trails is fast becoming one of my favorite close-by places to hike. It affords enough difficulty, pleasant surprises, multiple examples of nature, and a
little history. There are other places with more of any one of those, but none with so complete a mix of all. The trails are designed that you can take a small walk, or an extended hike. It is a hiking area in which you have to be careful as you move along the trail, or one where it is a pleasant walk in the woods along a clear creek. The park is well maintained and the trails are kept up for the most part by a full time staff.

For more photos of this hike go to here.

Shawnee Lookout

On a recent fantastic Spring Saturday, I drove down to the extreme southwest area of Ohio where Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky meet. I stayed on the Ohio side and visited the Hamilton County Parks area known as Shawnee Lookout.

There are three hiking trails, none of which are difficult and in fact except for a few up and down ridge hills, are pretty much clear and in places have gravel to make this a family-oriented walking experience.
What is amazing about the park and what attracted me were some of the views you can get of where the Great Miami River meets the mighty Ohio. There is a lot of history in this area. It was the hunting grounds of the Shawnee Indians in the 18th century before it was invaded by the European settlers. Before that it was the living and burial areas of the early Hopewell cultures. There are a number of burial mounds that are somewhat obscured by overgrowth. The longest single trail is about 2 miles.

The history of the area is most fascinating. The area has been the site of a number of digs by the University of Cincinnati archeology department. The Lookout area was the largest continuously occupied hilltop settlement established by any Native American group. According to the digs, the Hopewell who occupied the area over 2000 years ago are seen to be a direct
link to the Shawnee who inhabited the area in the 18th century. One of the trails in the lookout take you to the ancient Miami Fort, thought to have been built by the Adena Hopewell possibly as a ceremonial site rather than a military one. As you walk around the lands of the fort, you can see remnants of the ancient walls. The location sits atop a hill over the area where the Great Miami and Ohio Rivers meet.

Just down the hillside on land that is now where the Duke Energy power plant exists was the location of Fort Finney. This Fort's importance was the location of a meeting between the Shawnee and the new American government in 1786. A treaty was reluctantly agreed to by the Shawnee over their homelands after they indicated they were going to war against the Americans over the land which had been promised previously was Shawnee territory. However, under threat of superior military power, the Shawnee were forced to agree to be subverted within the American land. The tribe found it had no authority over its own lands.

The vistas from the various trails are spectacular. Off one trail, you can see the floodplain formed by the Great Miami where it meets the Ohio.
The area is home to over 80 species of fish, 500 species of moths and butterflies as well as multiple birds.

The three trails are all easily accomplished within a day. The park also has other features for families including the log cabin of Micajah Duncan built out of split Oak logs for his home in Elizabethtown, Ohio nearby. The cabin was moved here for preservation.

The Shawnee Lookout Park is worth a look especially if you want to walk the trails among history.

A Return to Glen Helen

On the cusp of Spring, I decided to return to Glen Helen Nature Preserve at the end of March. Glen Helen is part of Antioch College which is currently closed, but hopes to re-open in 2012. However, the nature preserve remains open though they are hoping to raise the funds to make much needed repairs and clean up of the preserve. Still though it is a fascinating place to spend a glorious but chilly day the Saturday I visited.

Glen Helen is near Yellow Springs, Ohio which itself, like the preserve has a fascinating history. Named after a nearby natural spring from which water with a heavy iron content bursts forth giving the rock upon which it bubbles up a decidedly yellow cast. The spring was first visited by Native American Indians who lived and traveled in the area. Among some of the more famous Indians who passed through the area included the Shawnee Tecumseh, Blue Jacket, Blackfish and Little Turtle. The yellow spring was just a few miles from Chalahgawtha or Old Chillicothe, the principle village of one of the five divisions of the Shawnee tribe in the 18th century. This was where famous pioneers such as Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton were held prisoner by the Shawnee.

One of the first Yellow Springs residents was Lewis Davis, whose Inn served as a central point for mostly wealthy patrons from Cincinnati to venture to the town to take in the spring's waters, said to have curative powers. By 1826, one Elisha Mills bought surrounding land, including the Glen and began advertising "his auspicious “water cure” spa, just a day’s ride north by coach from Cincinnati." It was Mills who brought the railroad to the town - the tract of land is now part of the Little Miami Scenic Bike way.

The Glen land was purchased in the early 20th century by Hugh Birch, who had grown up playing around the area's wooded and limestone outcroppings. When his only surviving daughter, Helen died in 1925, Birch donated the land to Antioch College four years later in her honor as a place for study and enjoyment. The land was renamed Glen Helen and was to become a nature preserve.

My attraction to Glen Helen is the moderate hiking it affords where two creeks meet, steep but climbable ridges, gorge areas and the wonderful Cascades carved from one of the creeks provide enjoyment. Now as a nature preserve the trails are maintained, but full of lush greenery in the summer time. When I visited on the recent Saturday, the deadness from winter still was holding the Glen in its grip, but there were hopeful signs of things to come including the few snow trillium I found just beginning to burst on the scene. Buds on the trees and some greening areas were certainly in abundance.

Right now the Glen is in some financial trouble. As Antioch tries to sort out its financial difficulties, the leaders of the Glen are trying to raise some funds to among other things, remove the increasingly invasive honeysuckle and clear up many downed trees from past years' storms.

But despite its problems, the Glen is still a fascinating place to spend some time communing with nature.

Can Spring Be Around the Corner?

Now that our snow has begun to disappear and temperatures have been in the sixties for several days, it seems only a matter of time before nature begins is renewal cycle. Last week I visited a place I hadn't been to in months. In fact it had been long enough that I had to re-check my maps on where exactly it was located.

The site is the Caesar Creek Nature Preserve. Within a short distance from me is the Caesar Creek area, where in the late Spring and Summer, large quantities of people come to enjoy their foray into the natural world. It is a huge boating area. But this is not the Caesar Creek area I usually travel to. The Nature Reserve area is south of the main vacation spot and has two elements that make it more ideal for hikers who want to commune with nature. First of all, it is connected to the Little Miami River bike path and the parking lot is a place for bikers to leave their cars as they ride the bikeway (a very nice area to bike, by the way). Secondly, this Nature Preserve does not allow bikes or pets in the wooded area, so it isn't as popular for the casual walker who wants to spend some time walking their pets.

When I went there last week, it was still cold (a good time to hike) and as I said the snow was receding, but unfortunately, it was warm enough that some of the icy pathways were turning to mud, making for a messier hike. But it was another quiet peaceful time having the preserve to myself practically. I met one soulmate on the path who also liked coming for the isolation and sense of private ownership.

As with many of the parks and preserve that straddle the wonderfully scenic Little Miami River, it was an opportunity to hear the sounds of nature as it begins to adapt to the coming rumble of nature springing into life. The trees had small buds that were forming as they prepared to burst into small leaves. The ground was soaked with wet much needed to the renewal process. I intend to spend some frequent visits to the area as it transforms itself into a fresh smelling area with wildflowers and other flora.

A Winter Visit

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the
landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.
Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show."
- Andrew Wyeth

There is something wonderful about winter, when nature is in solitude, the beauty in its decay. Nature gives off the vibrations of things to come as winter withdraws and we are teased with the coming of Spring.

I enjoy going into the woods on a snowy day when sounds are muted and the birds can be viewed through the leafless trees and their songs clearly echoing throughout. I have been cooped up for a number of weeks due to the unusual volume of snow our area received over this past month of February. It was the second largest recorded snowfall over the month with over 21.4 inches mostly without much melting in-between. Today I awoke to a fresh 2 more inches on top of the already packed snow, so the woods had a fresh cover of the white stuff.

While I love hiking through woods when Spring is in full bloom, it is hiking in winter that adds the tension of things to come. I traveled nearby to Sugarcreek Metro Parks, a normally easy hiking area. It is also very popular for moderate hiking enthusiasts as well as - mostly in the Spring - runners who are looking for more than the hard streets. Today started out with only a few souls visiting the park, but by the time I left, a hiking group had moved in and things became much busier. This particular park offers at least a 3.5 mile trail which follows a small creek but also at times runs up against an isolated housing area. Still for a quick visit to nature, it is a pleasant place to go.

Today the trail was rutted and tromped down by previous hikers making it just a bit more difficult and easy to turn an ankle if one is not careful. But all things considered, it offers the starkness that only nature in winter time can present. One pleasant surprise was when I came upon a Pileated Woodpecker drilling for insects beneath the bark of the trees. I took some great video of the bird in action. Pileated woodpeckers are the largest species of woodpecker in North America and have a distinct red top to its grey coat which moves to a black and white striping of its head. The bird kindly worked from my angle of vision so that I could capture it at work.

My time out today helped give way to the cabin fever I have felt over the last month as I count the days before nature begins to break forth with early blooms and the overcast days become more sunny as the earth moves into position where the angle of the sun gradually begins to warm the ground and natural life begins anew.