Biking Ohio's Little Miami Scenic Trail

The Little Miami Scenic Trail runs 73 miles from Newton (near Cincinnati) to Springfield, traversing five counties and a dozen towns. It is the longest of Ohio's Miami Valley's 330 miles of paved bike trails. The trail is also part of the 240 completed miles of the Ohio to Erie Trail which will eventually connect the Ohio  River to Lake Erie, a distance of 320 miles.

Hurricane Harvey's torrential rains prevented me from biking the southern section out of Cincinnati yesterday, but today I biked 22 miles of the northern section. I began in Xenia at their "Bike Trail Hub" where four trails can be accessed. This replica of the old Xenia Station has a large parking area and washrooms. The original station had been built in 1880.

This caboose is predominantly placed near the main roads to help you find this trailhead parking area.

Much of the trail north of Xenia parallels US 68 and runs within eyesight of the road and I saw it as I drove to Xenia, , so I decided to bike south from town, not north. I think it was a good decision.

After leaving town heading south, the trail immediately becomes scenic with dense tree cover on both sides which provides good shade from the sun and protection from any wind. The trail is paved and in excellent condition. Volunteers do a lot of work maintaining the trail-- clipping encroaching foliage, cleaning debris off the trail, etc.

The namesake river is near the trail for the most southernmost section out of Cincinnati, heading west from the trail around Spring Valley. Glady Run Stream flows alongside for some of the next section which I biked today, and a big restoration effort has been undertaken and finished to bring it back to ecological health. The dense foliage, however, only allows occasional viewing.

Occasional agricultural fields are seen, as are occasional buildings. I'm not what sure has the attention of these goats, but something is intriguing them...

The small town of Spring Valley is along the trail...

...and a bit south of the town is this scenic lake in the Spring Valley Wildlife Area...

All in all, this is a lovely ride through a scenic area with few road crossings and fewer interruptions and distractions by civilization. I hope to be able to ride the southern section next time I'm passing through the area.