Clifton Gorge, John Bryan State Park, and Glen Helen Preserve

Saturday, October 10, 2015.

I did my usual triple hike when I'm in the area of Clifton Gorge, John Bryan State Park, and Glen Helen Nature Preserve, which is in nearby Yellow Springs.  There is a link for the page of photos to the right.

First off - the Fall Color Report.  The few hickory that I saw seemed to be at about peak.  The sugar maples were not as yellow as I hoped, but there were a lot of fallen leaves on the ground which helped the overall yellow impression.  I did see a couple dogwoods that were red, but it wasn't a pretty red so they were not deemed photo-worthy.  For comparison - the walnuts up there had lost most of there leaves.  My walnut was just starting to lose leaves the next day when I was cutting the grass.

Clifton Gorge is vastly underrated by me, but there always seems to be a lot of people there (including people with fancy-looking cameras who know enough to keep their fingers out of the way) to say that I am probably the only one who underrates it.  I guess it is because the trail is short and there aren't any opportunities to hike off the trail.  Of course I would never encourage anyone to do that, especially at a nature preserve.  Anyway, the view from the trail is worth the drive and it connects to a couple more miles of trails in John Bryan.  There are many informational signs about how the gorge was created, the guy who allegedly jumped over it, the mills that were there, and the ecology in the gorge.  The Narrows is the upper stretch of the gorge where the Little Miami River is funneled through a cut in the rock about five feet wide.  In the middle stretch the gorge widens some with many sharp turns, rapids and views of th gorge walls on each side.  Things calm down as the river pools in The Blue Hole.  Now is a good time to look at the pictures and read the sign on the photos page.  The gorge continues to widen and the rapids lessen as the trail approaches John Bryan.

The trail in John Bryan State Park is a loop on both sides of the river.  There are foot bridges at each end of the loop, although the west bridge (furthest from Clifton Gorge) was closed when I was there.

Glen Helen has a reputation as being a hippie commune.  That is because it is.  OK, that may be a slight exaggeration.  There are a lot of trails.  Even more than they show on the map.  And they are not marked so you don't know which trail is which. I'm not saying I got lost.  The preserve is surrounded by roads so it is impossible to get real lost.  However, every time I go there I end up not knowing exactly where in the preserve I am.  Saturday I wondered why the two guys sitting in lawn chairs in front of their house were allowed to build in the middle of the preserve, which is where I thought I was.

I go to Glen Helen once or twice a year, always after going to Clifton Gorge and John Bryan.  I should probably devote an entire day a couple times to really learn the trails better.  It is a great place to hike.  Big trees, miles and miles of trails, mostly flat.  I parked near the covered bridge instead of the regular parking lot because it was the Yellow Springs Street Fair and roads were closed and they appeared when I drove through in the morning to be charging for parking on every available flat surface.  That probably increased my disorientation.  That's my excuse.