The Bike Trail...

The beautiful Little Miami Bike trail is one of the most pleasant places to spend a day anywhere and draws bikers, walkers, fisherman, birdwatchers and more by the thousands every year. Following close alongside the beautiful Little Miami river it offers a chance to see nature at it's finest. Stretching 78 mi from Springfield to Newtown there are countless places to get away from it all while still being in reach of the charming ice cream shops and restaurants that grace the many small towns the trail passes thru. For the first 9 miles to Xenia, the Little Miami Scenic Trail is operated by the Clark County Park District and the National Trail Parks and Recreation District. Due to budget concerns parts of this northernmost section have sometimes been closed. From the trailhead in Springfield, the Little Miami trail runs south to Yellow Springs. Yellow Springs is home to Antioch College and the must see Glen Helen Nature preserve. The "Glen" is home to the large yellow colored spring that gives the town it's name and visitors can view lovely wildflowers, huge old trees, cliffs with waterfalls and rock overhangs as well as an historic covered bridge. Nearby is Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve and John Bryan State Park, two of the most scenic parks in the United States. Located along the Little Miami Scenic River, Clifton Gorge is famous for its waterfalls and rapids that flow through a narrow gorge. Clifton Gorge itself is such an amazing place and seems so unlikely that in many places you can walk right up to the cliffs of the gorge before realizing they are even there. It seems that at the end of the last ice age the headwaters of the Little Miami flowed gently thru glacial drift below the retreating glaciers until they encountered the solid rock of the gorge. The water then cut deeper and deeper into the resistant Silurian dolomite bedrock until at the upper reaches of the gorge the cliff walls are barely 25 to 40 feet apart and it must be 75 to a 100 feet down to the water. Due to the fact its reasonably flat right up until you step off into space it's almost impossible to convey in a photograph the scale of the gorge. All the photos I've seen do no better than my poor attempts, trust me this is one place that is a hundred times more impressive in person. In this stretch the normally knee to waist deep upper Little Miami rages along between the cliff walls at an average depth of 34 feet. The river here drops at a powerful rate of 35 feet per mile. A small sign marks the spot of Darnell's leap. In January 1778, Daniel Boone and his party of 28 were captured by the Shawnees. Cornelius Darnell was able to escape and with Shawnee in hot pursuit Darnell leapt across the twenty five foot gap between the cliffs to freedom. Of course he could not make the entire leap but branches hung out over the 80 foot drop and Darnell went crashing across into them before finally getting a firm grip on one as he fell and climbing up the cliff to safety! It makes me uneasy here to lean out over the safe rail of the overlook, I cannot begin to imagine the courage it took to even attempt the leap.

Just downstream, in John Bryan State Park, the rock is slightly softer and the gorge opens to a quarter mile or so but still retains impressive cliffs. John Bryan purchased, in 1896, 335 acres along the Clifton gorge area and called these acres "Riverside Farm." The Cincinnati-Pittsburgh stagecoach road served the area and settlers began establishing water-powered industries such as a textile mill, grist mills and sawmills in the gorge. After the turn of the century water power was no longer as economical as electricity and the industries in the rugged gorge closed. At the top of the gorge in Clifton the only surviving mill still is in operation and is famous for its Christmas light displays, one of the best in the state.
Close to John Bryan State Park, the North Country Trail and Buckeye Trail enter From the west and Dayton. For the next 15 miles to Spring Valley, the Little Miami trail is managed by Greene County. At Xenia Station, it meets the Creekside Trail, as well as the Prairie Grass Trail, on which the Ohio to Erie Trail continues north to Columbus.

Little Miami State Park (nothing changes but the name) begins at Hedges Road in Spring Valley and follows U.S. 42 into Warren County. It passes through Corwin (near Waynesville), Caesar Creek State Park, and Oregonia, where the Buckeye Trail rejoins. Corwin and Waynesville are home to many fine places to take a break from the trail and enjoy the dozens of antique and specialty shops that dot the towns as well as enjoy a good meal in one of the fine restaurants. South of Waynesville the trail enters another wooded gorge and passes close by the lovely Corwin M. Nixon covered bridge, possibly the prettiest covered bridge you will ever see. At Fort Ancient, the trail runs under the awesome twin Jeremiah Morrow Bridges and Interstate 71. The bridges are 239 feet above the river, and are the tallest bridges in Ohio. The bridges are an amazing 2300 feet long spanning the Little Miami in a huge wooded gorge. The trail then passes through the towns of Morrow and South Lebanon to the Middletown Junction, where the Lebanon Countryside Trail begins and runs 7 miles to Lebanon.
The Little Miami trail continues south, past Kings Mills on the opposite bank. At this location the historic Peters Cartridge Company factory overlooks the bike trail. The site of several tragic accidents, the facility is reputed to be among Ohio's most haunted places! The trail passes under U.S. 22/State Route 3 at Fosters, across the river and under one of the prettiest bridges in the country. It continues entering Clermont County and beautiful Loveland, where it is known as the Loveland Bike Trail.
The trail crosses to the western, Hamilton County side of the Little Miami River, as it meets State Route 126 (Glendale–Milford Road). The trail passes by Camp Dennison and its former southern stopping point in Milford. A 2006 extension carries the Little Miami State Park along Wooster Pike to Terrace Park. From here, the Loveland section of the Buckeye Trail splits off, going to Eden Park in Cincinnati. A short Hamilton County Park District extension brings the Little Miami trail back across the river to the Little Miami Golf Center in Newtown. Hamilton County Park District intends to extend the Little Miami Scenic Trail to Clear Creek. From there, it will follow the Little Miami River to its mouth past Lunken Field in California. At the Ohio River, the trail will meet the Ohio River Trail and continue west to Cincinnati.
The Little Miami bike trail follows the right-of-way of the old Little Miami Railroad, maintained by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources as Little Miami State Park. The long, thin state park passes though four counties, with a right-of-way somewhere 50 miles long and roughly 65 feet wide for a total of about 700 plus acres. Along the rest of it's length the corridor averages around 10 feet in width.