Two Fabulous Fall Hikes

I'm afraid I am falling a little behind in posting my hikes. I just love this season so much, I'd rather be out walking than typing. Therefore, I'll be combining two hikes in this post.

Last weekend I went to an old favorite, Miami Whitewater Forest, one of the Hamilton County Parks in SW Ohio.

I spent quite a few hours there last summer volunteering to help clean up beaver dams... or rather clear them out of the culverts that connected the series of lakes in the park. It was a ridiculously hard job! My hands were covered in blisters and as fast as we cleared them out during the day, the beavers would be back at night building them up. I was told that it was in a beaver's nature to stop water from flowing. They don't live in the dams, they build "lodges" in other areas of the lake. They just build the dams because they want their water to be still. Anytime the water starts to move, they get busy! So why not just let the dams stay in place and let the beavers have their still pond? Well, still water means stagnant, buggy water. Plus, when it rained, if the culverts were blocked, the trails flooded. Opps, got side tracked, this is not a post about beaver dams, it's about fall hiking and the beautiful areas in this Tri-state region.

I just love it when the trail is so leaf covered you have to wonder if you're actually still on it. The trails at Miami Whitewater Forest are impeccably maintained. They have an army of volunteers that go out there every day to trim branches and pick up liter.

I thought the fungi covering this fallen tree trunk was amazing. The type of fungus pictured here is Violet Polypore... I think. I looked at a field guide printed from the USDA on Common Microfungi in Eastern Forests, and the picture they had in the book looked like this, so that's what I'm going with. Here's what I learned:

The Violet Polypore develops fruit bodies in thin, leathery layers of various colors with violet on the fruit body margin that breaks into teeth with age. It is often covered with green algal growth. You will find it covering dead trees. It grows from spring to fall and is inedible. It is one of the most common decay fungi in the US. So, there you have it. Just because it's common, covered in algae, and grows on dead trees, does not mean it cannot be breathtakingly beautiful.

The next Fabulous Fall hike I went on was to the Devou Mountain Bike Trails in Covington, KY. These trail were designed for mountain bikes but they welcome hikers and trail runners as well. They are single track, 16 inch wide trails that climb 400 feet in and around the hills on the south side of Devou Park. The trails are very new and still growing. Chad Irey, a local resident and outdoor enthusiast, petitioned the city to authorize the development of the trail system and, after three and a half year, got it! The trails are 100% volunteer built/donation funded. Ground breaking was in 2010 and they already have over ten miles of trails. They are supported by the Cincinnati Off Road Alliance and the Kentucky Mountain Bike Association and are said to be built to international mountain biking standards. Pretty cool thing to have in my back yard!

Ahhh... soon winter will be here and the beautiful reds, yellows, and browns will be covered with white snow!!!

Urban Hike from Newport to Mt Adams

I thought these flowers looked like cartoon mushrooms from afar; you know, the kind you would see a frog sitting on top of while flashing you the peace sign :)

Here are a few pictures taken on a wonderful urban hike from Newport, Ky to Mt Adams, OH that a friend and I did this past Saturday. Normally we enjoy nature outings and hiking actually trails, but because of recent rains and fear of slippery leaves and mud, we stuck to a paved "hike". None the less, we got in a wonderful workout due to the elevation change. The next picture was taken from the front steps of Holy Cross Catholic in Mt Adams, looking south over the Ohio River. We started our walk on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River in Newport, crossed the Purple People Bridge and, following pedestrian walkways, overpasses, and staircases, made our way to to the church (can you see in the pic where I labeled the bridge?). It was a mighty fine way to burn a few calories on a sunny Saturday morning.

 Cool rooftop patio, if you don't mind the church folks looking down in you, that is!

Holy Cross Catholic. I just love peeking into churches. The Catholic ones always have such beautiful stained glass windows and wonderfully ornate wooden structures. Might be cool to visit when they have a service.

Look, I snapped another bee picture!

Shawnee Lookout and Ironweed

I went on a nice hike this past weekend to one of my favorite parks in Cincinnati, Shawnee Lookout. The leaves are just beginning to turn to their beautiful fall colors and the late summer wildflowers are still in bloom. Pictured here is the Blue Jacket trail. As you can see, even in a crowded city such as Cincinnati, you can still get away from it all and surround yourself with nature.

I've been reading lately about the healing effects of nature. Here is an excerpt from an article I read on the subject:

Forests, and other natural, green settings, can reduce stress, improve moods, reduce anger and aggressiveness, and increase overall happiness. Forest visits may also strengthen our immune system by increasing the activity and number of natural killer cells that destroy cancer cells. 

Many studies show that after stressful or concentration-demanding situations, people recover faster and better in natural environments than in urban settings. Blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and the level of "stress hormones" all decrease faster in natural settings. 

I always knew that I felt better after a hike, I felt happier somehow, more relaxed and content with myself and my life. Now there is scientific proof that I am not just some crazy nature-loving tree-hugger. A simple walk in the park is the magical cure-all. Check it out for yourself. Go for a walk! It's fun! Or just get outside and sit under a tree. Listen to the birds sing and eximine the leaves around you. I'm sure that you will feel better and whatever was troubling you before, won't seem as bad after.

I also learned of a native wildflower that grows abundantly in this region of the US, the Ironweed. Wildflower or weed? In truth, this is a wildflower and it should be present in everyone's yard. It is an excellent nectar plant and is visited by many species of butterflies and bees. I even captured a bee in my picture! I've read that this flower does well planted next to Milkweed in a butterfly garden. Unfortunately, many people consider this a weed and mow it down in their vain attempts to maintain a yard full of grass. I wish everyone would dedicate at least a portion of their yard for the native wildflowers. Think of all the time and money you would be saving by not trying to grow only grass and think of all of the critters that will benefit from the weeds that don't get mowed. Here's another excerpt for you, this one from the USDA Forest Service: 

Wildflowers support entire ecosystems for pollinators, birds, and small animals on a micro scale. Butterflies and other insects, small birds, and animals depend on seeds, nectar, and pollen for their food supply and life support system. In addition, some pollinators are not very mobile or have very small home ranges or depend on just one species of plant and die once their habitat has been destroyed.

So, that is my message for this fine Friday... go for a walk and stop mowing down wildflowers!

ASO Birding Class and The Oxbow

I've enrolled in a birding class hosted by the Audubon Society of Ohio (ASO) and I'm learning tons of stuff about bird identification. I now realize how much more I need to learn. It's not enough to peer through the binoculars at the pretty little birds; I now want to know what kind they are, where they live, what they eat and who eats them, if they are migrating or year-round residents, if they are breeding, what is the future of their habitats, and if their numbers are growing or in decline due to climate change. So much more to learn!

The class is held on three consecutive Sundays. We gather in a class room for lectures taught by Jay Stenger and Jack Stenger (father and son team) lasting about three hours, then caravan to a local birding "hot spot" to practice field observations. Our first field trip was to the Oxbow. I've been out there before and every visit amazing me. Here is some information from the Oxbow, Inc. website:

In the central Ohio Valley, the most important remaining wetland is a 2500-acre spread of level river bottom farmland on the shore of the Ohio River, know as the Oxbow. The Oxbow is a broad floodplain where the Great Miami River empties into the Ohio. This area where three states - Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky - come together, is near Lawrenceburg, Indiana, seventeen miles downstream from Cincinnati. It is named for a small horseshoe, or oxbow-shaped lake, formed when flood waters cut a new course for the Great Miami River, isolating a meander in the old stream bed. There is not a building on it. Almost every year it is flooded with shallow waters that deposit nutrients from upstream. This annual enrichment, plus a water table close the surface, makes the Oxbow area a highly productive land for farming.

This traditional agricultural use is vitally important to migrating birds. In the spring and fall thousands of ducks, geese, and shorebirds funnel into this rich feeding and nesting area. Grain dropped by corn pickers and combines provides much of the food for visiting waterfowl. The Oxbow is a heavily-used staging area where migrating birds refuel and rebuild their energies. The area is essential to their success on long flights between distant northern breeding grounds and southern wintering areas. Without the Oxbow these migrants might reach their northern nesting areas without the reserve strength essential to raising new broods of healthy young birds.

This is why the Oxbow is the most important wetland area in the mid-section of the Ohio Valley, drawing the tri-state area's largest concentrations of ducks and herons. Birders have listed 287 species of birds on this area, among them ducks, geese, shorebirds, raptors, and songbirds.

This is a picture I took at one of the ponds that make up The Oxbow. Among the birds I saw were Great Egrets (seen in this picture), Great Blue Herons, Double-crested Cormorants, an Osprey, some tree swallows, lots of Killdeer, and of course, the always present, soaring high above, Turkey Vultures. 

England-Idlewild Park

The England-Idlewild park in Burlington, KY is a beautiful place for walk. I can't believe I have lived in Northern KY for four years and am just now discovering this treasure. Maybe because the main attraction for the park is miles of single-track mountain bike trails. I don't have a mountain bike, and I prefer not to get run over by them while hiking, so I never ventured out there. However, while looking on line for new places to hike, I stumbled across an advertisement for multi-use trails at the England-Idlewild park. Turns out they welcome hikers out there so I thought I would give it a try. If there were too many bikers, I wouldn't return.

The weather was beautiful on the day I went, sunny, breezy and cool. It felt like autumn! I was captivated by the fields of flowers along the paved trail. A walk around this park was an tremendous spirit booster for me.

To sum it up, the park was awesome and I will definitely return. 

They have a 2-mile paved trail (pictured here) and a 6+-mile dirt trail. I say 6+ because you could get turn around back there and do circles for hours and hours; the trails cross and weave and the forest is thick enough to not see and zigzagging course. The forest is such that you cannot see or hear civilization either. You really feel like you are in the wilderness. There were lots of elevation changes and creek crossings as well. I can see how portions of these trails could be technically challenging for a bike. They had the trials marked for intermediate, advanced, technical, etc. 

The day I was out there is was not crowded either, which is strange since the weather was so nice and it was a Sunday. Not sure where all of the people were but I only encountered a few bikers and they were very nice about going around me or slowing so I could step onto the trail's edge to let them pass.

I can't say enough about the beauty of the wild flowers.