What does a site along the Little Miami State Park trail have in common with the Pyramids of Giza? It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site! Fort Ancient, just a half mile east of the trail in Oregonia, forms a part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, recently designated as Ohio’s only World Heritage Site. Characterized by mounds and walls of earth, the eight locations represent the work of Native American civilizations that lived in central and southwest Ohio 2,000 years ago. The Fort Ancient site also features a Museum and Visitor Center and replicas of Native American dwellings. Learn more here.

Ghost on the Trail?

It’s a foggy night on the Little Miami trail, and you’ve just crossed the bridge across the river at Miamiville, heading north. Something’s moving ahead—a human shape, fuzzy in the swirling mist. A light swings at his side. And then he’s gone. . .

On the morning of July 14, 1863, a passenger train transporting 115 new Union Army recruits to Camp Dennison, heads south toward Miamiville. Suddenly shots blast through the countryside, and the train picks up speed, entering a section of track called the Dangerous Curve. No one on the train sees what is around the bend: Two thousand Confederate Morgan’s Raiders, crouching in a cornfield, watching to see the results of their early morning handiwork. . . Read More

by Rick Forrester

Cyclists, rollerbladers, skiers, and even walkers are well aware of the problem that tree roots cause on the trail. Growing under the asphalt, the roots push the asphalt upward and create ridges and cracks that have been the downfall of trail users. 

To remediate these problems, the Friends of the Little Miami State Park owns a “SPS8 Gas Powered Multi-Use Surface Preparator.” It is also called a scarifier, or simply a bump grinder.  It uses an-8 inch-wide drum composed of a set of cutter wheels that rapidly rotate to plane the surface of the asphalt. The depth of cut is adjustable, with 10 different settings to provide precise control for removing everything from surface graffiti to multi-inch bumps. 

Once the bump is removed, we evaluate whether or not additional work is needed to repair the asphalt. This could be simply doing nothing at all (if the underlying surface is still solid), or filling a crack with asphalt and tar. For larger problems, we may have to resort to trenching all the way across the section of asphalt to cut or remove the problem root, and then filling the trench with gravel and cold patch asphalt. We then apply liquid tar to provide a new smooth, user-friendly surface.  

Please let us know if there are problem root bump areas on the trail (be sure to note the closest mile marker and send a photo if possible) and we will add it to the list!

by Erick Wikum

With the days growing shorter, walking your dog early or late in the day, in darkness or semi-darkness, poses safety risks for both you and your dog. A prior Safe Trails article explains how products including headlamps, reflective clothing, and LED reflecting bands can allow humans to see and be seen in the dark, but what about our four-legged friends?

Fortunately, inexpensive but effective solutions for dogs are readily available. Equipping your dog with an LED collar and/or leash will ensure that not even the Wicked Witch of the West will “get you my pretty, and your little dog too!”

(Note that pets on the Little Miami Scenic Trail--which is only 10 feet wide--must always be on a leash no longer than 6 feet and under control. Please remove all pet waste.)

by Rick Forrester and Janet Slater

We are so enamored with the “bike” trail, we sometimes forget about the Park areas that aren’t manmade. If you meander off the asphalt/berm and head down into one of the stream crossings, you will find a variety of historical adventures awaiting you in the rocks.

Southwest Ohio’s surface rocks are the oldest in the state. Most of the rock you see in Warren County is from the Ordovician (440-500 million years ago) period of the Paleozoic Era. Older Cambrian rock (mostly sandstone) lies deep below it, but no “modern” rock strata for the Mesozoic Era (65-225 million years ago) or Cenozoic era (2-65 million years ago) are present as they have all been abraded and weathered away. Our Ordovician strata are mostly limestone and shale, rocks that form on the earth’s crust. But this bedrock was far from here when it was formed, because what is now Ohio was about 20 degrees south of the equator at that time. . . More story and pictures

Trail Updates

The pedestrian bridge on the trail over O’Bannon Creek in Loveland remains closed through May 2024. This bridge, just north of Nisbet Park, will be replaced by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources with an improved bridge. There is no designated detour, but the trail will remain open both south and north of the closing.

The trail remains closed at Peters Cartridge Factory (Grandin Rd.) as construction continues on a new road bridge, trail underpass, and trail parking lot. Many cyclists are walking their bikes around the closing on weekends when construction is not active. More information available here.