Western Ohio, where I live, may appear to travelers to be a land of flat to gently rolling farm fields. But tucked away in a little corner of Greene County (east of Dayton) is a hemlock-lined hollow, graced by the swiftly-coursing waters of the Little Miami River. This gorge, with its boulders, cliffs and ancient trees, appears to be a bit of the boreal forest of Canada plunked down in the flat cornfields of the Buckeye State.

That appearance is not entirely misleading. In fact, the gorge was carved by meltwaters draining from the glacier as it retreated northward 15,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. Those waters sliced through layers of dolomite and shale that were 400 million years old and created the present landscape of vertical slopes.

The early settlers arriving in the area in the 18th Century found a forested valley and a swiftly moving river. They felled many of the trees, carved out pastures and harnessed the river with gristmills. There was even a stagecoach path, part of the road that connected Pittsburgh with Cincinnati, running along the floor of the valley.

Today the gorge is protected by three parks, John Bryan State Park, Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve and Glen Helen Nature Reserve. The pastures and mills have disappeared under the green advance of the forest, and the old coach road is now a hiking trail that winds along the north bank of the Little Miami River. A roughly parallel trail runs along the south bank. Both are fairly level trails and give the hiker an intimate view of the river rapids and the valley filled with huge sycamores and hemlocks.

There is another trail running along the north rim of the gorge. It is particularly impressive in winter when the leaves have fallen off the trees and the cliffs are coated with snow. 

Advice: stay on the marked trails. Hikers tramping over the talus slopes will kill the violets, bloodroot and trilliums that are a lovely feature of this forest. Of course every once in a while, an errant hiker slips on the wet or icy rocks and goes over a cliff. That error can kill more than wildflowers.

Visitors should go to the gorge by taking SR 343 between Yellow Springs and Clifton. There are a couple of parking lots along this road. When driving along SR 343, slow down; there are lots of deer in the woods, and they love to race across the road.

After a brisk day of hiking the trails (and burning up calories), drive over to Young’s Jersey Dairy in nearby Yellow Springs for one of their amazing ice cream cones. They offer 47 flavors, including Wooly Wonka and cow patty.