A walk in the rain...

2011 wildflowers

Little Miami Railroad

Possibly the one thing man has done to most effect the river has been to build the railroad. Indeed several of the small towns up and down the river owe their very existence to the railroad. And with the railroads decline and eventual closing so has the fortunes of these small towns declined.
Incorperated in 1836, the railroad was conceived as the best way to get goods from the capitol and central Ohio to Cincinnati and the Ohio River. This was considered so important to the states future that the railroads first president was govenor Jerimiah Morrow and he served without pay. In 1837 there was a great economic crisis
and the fledgling railroad was unable to buy steel rails and the first bit of track laid actually used wooden rails for a year. The track reached Milford in 1841 and Loveland a year later. Tracks were laid to Xenia in 1845 and Springfield in 1846, a full decade after the company was formed. There the railroad met the track of the Columbus & Xenia railroad and central and northern Ohio were finally linked to the Ohio River. Afterward for decades the Little Miami River Railroad was one of the most profitable railroads in the world. Over time though as the country spread westward, north/south rail lines began to lose their importance to east/west lines and the LMMR declined. In 1870 the LMMR was merged into the Pennsylvania Railroad. The LMMR was operated by the Pennsy till that railroad too eventually declined and went bankrupt and merged into Conrail. With the merger the line was idled except for a few miles closest to Cincinnati which are still in use today. For years the track was unused untill it was converted into the wonderfull Little Miami Bike Trail which follows the railbed the length of the mainstem of the river. My greatgrandfather, several uncles and my great uncle as well as my father all at one time or another worked for the railroad. Even in their day though the railroad had allready passed its glory days and stations at South Lebanon and Kings Mills had already been closed. My Father said he remembers the mail sack being hung on a pole in South Lebanon and was snagged by the trains as they passed without stopping.
Miles and miles of riverbank have been profoundly affected by the railroad as thousands of tons of rock and rubble were dumped along the riverbank by the railroad to controll erosion. Probably the best places to see this are just north of South Lebanon at the "Big Rocks" and at Fosters. My grandfather had a extensive collection of old glass and ceramic insulators that had been left on telegraph poles alongside the abandoned track. Several of these old poles can still be seen poking out of the bushes all along the bike trail. Other neat old reminders of the railroads glory days are the wonderfull old stations kept up bu towns like Yellow Springs or Loveland as well as old markers or signal & water towers at such places as Fort Ancient and Roxanna.
The Little Miami was marketed by the railroad as a sportmans paradise and excursions were offered to fishermen from Cincinnati to towns like Loveland and South Lebanon. Even now the old railbed offers access to thousands of fishermen, hikers, bikers, and birdwatchers every year who use the bike trail to see the wonders of the river.

Evening along the river...

Wild foods...

Today I set out to gather some wild foods for supper. Ramps or wild leeks are next to a good venison steak my favorite wild food. Every spring I head out with a lunch and water bottle stuck in a backpack determined to return with the pack filled with ramps. Most people eat only the onion like bulb but I gather the tops as well. Dehydrated, they make the most wonderful spice of them all. I never grill anything without sprinkling a pinch of dried ramps on first. And baked potatoes are never better than when slathered with butter and a pinch of ramps.
The bulbs can also be dehydrated and later added to soups and chilli. But the way I like the bulbs best is fresh and fried with potatoes. The strong garlic flavor is something you either love or hate. Ramps can be found in rich damp hollows of the bigger woods along the river in spring but as summer starts like many woodland plants the tops dry up and die back.





I dug the ramps in a cool hollow above the Little Miami filled with lovely wildflowers. I jumped three does walking in that milled around up on the ridge the entire time I was there. I would think they had left then would stand after digging some ramps or looking at a wildflower only to have them snort again. I dont think they ever did move off of the same hillside. After thirty years of being around deer, I can never tell just what they are going to do in any situation.






Rue Anemone




Toadshade Trillium




mayapple







waterleaf







After collecting enough ramps for supper, I went to an old farm left to ruin to look for some morels. In a low swampy hollow there is the remains of an old spring house. Just the old foundation mostly crumbling down and the old pipe drove into the bank to gather spring water. Here in the grass I found some pretty yellow morels poking up here and there. Hard to find in the grass, I found one squished under my pack when I went to leave.




















Later, at dads, we took a walk thru his woods and found another mess of darker morels on a bank scattered here and there. Not a bad haul for one day poking around in the spring woods.

Black Buzzard Nest

Some snapshots of a black buzzard nest found by Bill Lindauer in a huge hollow tree on a ridge above the Little Miami. I set up a couple motion sensitive cameras and should get some better pictures soon.



A few days later, while mushroom hunting around an abandoned old homesite, I flushed
a buzzard out from the broken down remains of an old shed. Sure enough, tucked up under the old tin roof were two eggs. Hopefully I'll get some photos of some baby chicks soon...

sunset and bass...

Now that fishing season seems started in earnest it seemed like a good time to make the long walk back to The Pond Whose Name Cannot Be Spoken. Sitting a mile back from the road, it usually provides me with some of my best trips of the year and this evening was no exception. Twenty plus bass in three hours with no company but some ducks, a deer, and a sunset. It doesn't get much better than this...

My Little Miami River Map

Feel free to use (for your own personal use only)