Johnny Molloy - Best Hikes Cincinnati: The Greatest Views, Wildlife, and Forest Strolls

Shawnee Lookout Park features three rewardingbut relatively shortloop hikes. Though each one is individually worthwhile, their close proximity allows you to make a hikers triple play. First visit extensive Paleo-Indian earthworks located atop a ridge dividing the Great Miami River and Ohio River and travel to a stellar vista where you can see the confluence of the rivers and three states at onceOhio, Kentucky, and Indiana. Next, enjoy more river vistas of both the Great Miami and Ohio Rivers on the last two hikes, adding up to nearly 5 miles of walking pleasure.

Start: Shawnee Lookout Trailhead

Distance: 1.4-, 2.0-, and 1.2-mile loops

Hiking time: About 4 to 5 hours

Difficulty: Moderate

Trail surface: Mostly natural surface paths in forested woods, pea gravel in places

Best season: Year-round

Other trail users: None

Canine compatibility: Leashed dogs permitted

Land status: County park

Fees and permits: Parking fee required

Schedule: Open daily year-round sunrise to sunset

Maps: Shawnee Lookout Park; USGS Lawrenceburg, Hooven

Trail contacts: Shawnee Lookout Park, 2008 Lawrenceburg Rd., North Bend, OH 45052; (513) 941-0120; www.greatparks.org

Finding the trailhead: From exit 21 on I-275 west of downtown, take Kilby Road south for 1.0 mile to US 50. Turn right onto US 50 west and follow it 1.7 miles to Lawrenceburg Road. Turn left onto Lawrenceburg Road and follow it 0.7 mile, crossing the Great Miami River. Reach a T intersection. Turn right, still on Lawrenceburg Road, and follow it 0.5 mile to Shawnee Lookout Park, on your left. Turn into the park and climb away from the ranger station, tracing the main park road to dead-end at the trailhead after 1.9 miles. To reach the second and third trailheads, you will have to drive 1.2 miles back toward the park entrance. Trailhead GPS: N39 7.236' / W84 48.516'

The Hike

Shawnee Lookout Park, location of the following hikes, is simply one of the most scenic hiking destinations in greater Cincinnati. Your first trek, to the Shawnee Lookout on the Miami Fort Trail, takes you uphill into thousands years of Ohio Indian life. Trailside information signage helps explain the human and natural history of this strategic location. If you are ever going to read trailside interpretive information, do it here and now, even if it is not entirely correct and espouses now controversial theories as to the existence of the fort.

In summer, the ridgetop forest will be quite thick with cherry, locust, and walnut, under which grows copious small pawpaw trees, partially obscuring the earthworks and surrounding views of the Great Miami River and the Ohio River. If you come when the leaves are off the trees, you will be rewarded with not only better river views but also a better lay of the earthworks, which by any measure were done with nearly incomprehensible amounts of human labor, perhaps over many centuries.

The trail leads to the main earthworks, where you make a loop. Undulate along a ridgeline dropping toward the Great Miami River. After leaving the main earthworks, the path continues westerly toward the point of the ridge and views that await you. The first vista overlooks a large wetland of the Great Miami River. Shawnee Lookout Park protects over 250 acres of seasonally flooded riparian habitat along with nearly a thousand additional acres of wetlands below. These wetlands provide habitat for area wildlife as well as migratory waterfowl that use the Ohio River flyway. The best view of all lies at trails endShawnee Lookout. Take a seat on the bench and scan westward. The Ohio River and its wooded ramparts are easily identifiable. Kentucky rises on the south bank. Below, you can see the Great Miami River meandering to add its flow to the Ohio. An imaginary north-south line divides the Buckeye State from Indiana. It runs just below Shawnee Lookout. Anything you see west of the Great Miami River will be the Hoosier State. Given the lay of the land, it is easy to see this area as a highly defensible positionif the earthworks were indeed a fort.

Your return trip takes you by more earthworks. Imagine all the work in moving the soil by hand! At this point you are probably coming down on one side or another of the theories as to why these earthworks were established. No matter your theory, we can all agree that Shawnee Lookout is a great park and hiking destination.

After driving to the second trailhead, you will pick up the Little Turtle Trail, the first hiking trail constructed at Shawnee Lookout Park. The pea gravel path, named after a Miami Indian chief, meanders through level woods of white ash, locust, hackberry, and more. If you think you are walking in a circle, you are three-quarters right. The trail curves three-fourths of the way around a field for reasons known only to the trail builders.