Date: 07/27/2019 – Distance: 4.9 mi – Elapsed Time: 2.75 hr – Ascent: 367 ft – Descent: 443 ft – Difficulty: Medium
Today I hiked about 5 miles total in John Bryan State Park. I parked at a location called the Lower Shelter. To get here from Columbus, I took Interstate 70 west toward Springfield about 40 miles past Interstate 270 on the west side. At exit 54 south of Springfield, take State Route 72 south. This is the last stop for fuel, trail snacks, or drinks. Follow SR 72 for about 6.7 miles to Clifton and turn right on OH 343/Market Street. Just outside of Clifton is the entrance to Clifton State Nature Preserve. There are many great trailheads here which also lead to the area where I was going, however I continued on 343 about 2.4 miles to OH 370/Bryan Park Road and turned left/south. A little over a half mile is the entrance to John Bryan State Park. Turn left into the park. Continue past the Camp Office on the right and past the road to the campground on the right and turn right (straight) on the next road. This road goes down into the canyon around a couple tight corners and arrives at the parking area for the Lower Shelter.
I was planning on hiking the Pittsburgh-Cincinnati Stagecoach Trail and the South Gorge trail. There is a connector trailhead to the left of the shelter picnic house. You may also want to hit the restroom and fill your water bottle(potable water right of restrooms) before hitting the trails. Begin descending the stairs into the woods. At the bottom of the stairs, you will come to a fork in the trail at a bend in the Little Miami River. There is a bronze plaque on a big rock here.
The trail to the right is called the Furnace Trail which also leads to the Ridge Trail. Both of these follow the Little Miami south and west to the Grinnell Mill Historic District. I went left and continued on the Pittsburg-Cincinnati Stagecoach connector. About 0.12 miles past the plaque you will come to the intersector for the Pittsburg-Cincinnati Stagecoach Trail. Left leads you back up to the curvy road you came down to get to the Lower Shelter area, while the right/straight fork takes you further into the gorge. About another tenth of a mile and you come to the South Gorge Bridge. I wanted to cross here to the South Gorge Trail, however the bridge is closed due to disrepair and a sign says they are going to rebuild it in 2020.
I continued along the Pittsburg-Cincinnati Stagecoach Trail which follows the north bank of the Little Miami River another 1.19 miles where it comes to the eastern foot bridge, which is still open. This bridge also crosses over to the South Gorge Trail. I crossed this bridge and hiked west again along the south bank along the South Gorge Trail about a half mile before turning back toward the bridge. This side of the river has a steeper bank and the trail is narrower with more large slump rocks. Upon close inspection of these rocks you notice the geology of this area is made up limestone rather than the Blackhand Sandstone you find in the southeastern half of the state of Ohio.
There was a really scenic water cascade over a rock wall on the south edge of the trail shortly after crossing the east footbridge which I thought was very picturesque. This photo doesn’t do it justice but the water was coming down the rock face and cascading down the steps on the other side of the wooden walkway.
When I got back across the bridge to the north side of the river, I stopped to decide where to go next. There is an intersection here with trails leading in all four directions. Standing on the north side of the bridge, to the right is the John L Rich Trail which goes to Clifton. Straight is the same trail which leads up the canyon where it ends at the North Rim Trail. The John L Rich trail leads through a very scenic part of the gorge and eventually stops at Clifton. This section of the park is actually part of the Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve which abuts up to John Bryan State Park. I only hiked about a quarter mile of this trail before turning back. Next time, I will start at the Clifton side of the trail and come back this way.
When I got back to the eastern bridge again, I decided to take the John L Rich connector up the slope to the North Rim Trail. This is a rather steep climb over some rough stones with a major switchback. It’s only about a tenth of a mile, but it can seem like further due to the precarious footwork needed and the climb. Watch your step or you may twist an ankle. At the top of the climb, I contemplated taking the North Rim Trail back toward my car. There is a parking area to the right which would be a long walk along park roads back to the car and is the opposite direction I wanted to go. I was unsure where the left branch led to and wasn’t sure how far away from my car it would dump me out at, so I opted to go back down the cliff and take the Pittsburg-Cincinnati Trail back. Later I learned that the end of the North Rim Trail would have dumped me out only a short walk down that curvy park road to the Lower Shelter where I was parked. Next time I guess…
Going along the Pittsburg-Cincinnati Trail is a beautiful hike. There are many great views of the river, some rather imposing slump rocks, and many types of wildflowers. This trail is pretty easy going and wide and would be suitable for the less avid hiker. This park also has a campground, many picnic areas, and numerous other trails which I will explore when I come back next time. It’s also worth mentioning that Glen Helen Nature Preserve lies to the west and abuts up to John Bryan State Park. There are also many trails there as well.
There was one last hike I took when I got back to my car. There was a geocache I wanted to find southwest of the Lower Shelter area. It was only about a quarter mile hike along the Ridge Trail. Logged find #38…
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