Writer & Photographer
Spring has arrived. At least the weather finally says so.
Trees are budding out. Wild flowers are popping up. Trillium is nearly ready to bloom, and it’s all along the Little Miami Scenic River and its partner, the Little Miami Recreational Trail.
See you on the highway.
Brent
For 180 years the foundation of this path
has provided a conveyance.
Little Miami Railroad until 1981,
then rails turned into trails.
Today, bicycles, hikers and a horse or two
follow the same path
as Abraham Lincoln on his route to inauguration
and Confederate General John Hunt Morgan escaping prison.
Two sets of mile markers measure distance.
Little Miami River distance markers are measured from the
mouth of the Ohio River.
Bike Trail markers are measured from Xenia Station to Cincinnati.
Hikers, bikers and walkers with their pets,
enjoying the trail or kayaking on the river,
are they thinking about the history of this scenic place?
Are they thinking of all those who came before to create it?
Brent
Little Miami Conservancy: Little Miami National Wild and Scenic River
Friends of the Little Miami State Park: Trail Maps
There was a time when people feared the conversion of abandoned railroad beds into bicycle and walking paths. The fear was that crime would increase. Adjoining properties would be impacted by lower property values. How wrong were those naysayers.
Brent
Photo: Little Miami Recreational Trail, Morrow, Ohio. The LMRT is 75 miles long connecting multiple small and larger cities—all paved.
Just north of the hamlet of Oregonia, Ohio, along the Little Miami River, there is a nature preserve and a parking lot that accommodates maybe a dozen vehicles. The entrance to Little Miami Caesar Creek State Nature Area is on Corwin Road, and also sits next to Caesar Creek, fed by the Corps of Engineers reservoir project, Caesar Creek Lake.
At the other end of the parking area is a groomed path that follows the creek, winding eastward back up through the gorge to the tail water area of the dam, and another park area with access from the state park. It is a wonderful hike through hardwood forest along a pristine creek, deep enough for good sized fish. Peek over the bank at the right spot and you will see the fish swimming about in the water, waiting for food to wash down the creek into their waiting jaws.
The hike to the dam seems to take forever, even though it’s probably less than a mile. Maybe it’s the wonderment of nature and the stopping to smell the flowers that makes it seem like a farther distance and a longer hike, but I don’t mind.
Brent
The rains came frequently last year,
producing a record year of precipitation
nearly twice the annual average.
Flood warnings and watches were the norm
every time a storm rolled up the Ohio River Valley
flashing lightning and pouring rain into the watersheds.
Water ran off the fields into the streams and creeks
and eventually made its way to the tributaries and rivers
which themselves empty into the mighty Ohio.
As the rivers rise and fall, the precious banks
that define a river, come under forces that only
nature can deliver—real hydro power to cut and dig.
Earlier this winter, while crossing our local bridge over the Little Miami River,
I looked up river as I usually do and saw the most massive tree
laying on its side, stretching out nearly to the middle of the river.
The flood waters took its toll and undercut the tree from its foundation.
Where once it held the river bank in check, it is now an obstacle
for canoeists and kayakers, and shelter for the fish.
Brent