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September 2025
Trail Mail
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Little Miami State Park:
Our First Park Volunteer
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By Janet Slater
He was there with his camera when it first started to take shape. Weeds grew through the abandoned ties and rails of the old Little
Miami Railroad bed, with weathered telegraph poles and leaning railroad signal lights still visible here and there, when the first heavy equipment moved in. Ohio had recently been allocated $1 million of the $5 million national Rails to Trails initiative,
and a lot of work from dedicated trail enthusiasts had succeeded in raising the matching $1 million in-state funds to begin work on the first rail-to-trail conversion in the state of Ohio (read that story
here).
His photos document the clearing and paving of the first section of trail from Loveland to Morrow, and continue to later sections of
the project all the way from Avoca Park to Greene County. But Steve Jones did a lot more than just take pictures—a whole lot more. He crafted and posted wooden signs to mark the various creeks that cross the trail. He dragged an upended railroad mile-marker
post he found out of the woods to erect it near the trail. When he saw a Railroad Crossing crossbuck sign about to be hauled off for scrap, Steve was able to acquire and rehab it. You can see it today near the new Loveland trail bridge.
Steve Jones became the first official Little Miami State Park volunteer when he donated his van to the Ohio Parks Department. They
put their seal on its doors—and gave the keys back to Steve to run a roving visitor’s center. He distributed park brochures and surveys, sold T-shirts, and served as an ambassador for park visitors as he traveled to different points along the trail. He once
filled the van with about 100 empty plastic fertilizer cartons (probably dumped there by area farmers) that he pulled from a ditch beside the trail and hauled to the Caesar Creek park office for disposal.
When Steve attended a volunteer appreciation event for state park volunteers, Steve found he was a bit of an oddity. Almost all the
volunteers served at state campgrounds, and he was the only one from the new trail-corridor park no one had heard of. So Steve spread the news about our beloved trail. But sometimes people didn’t understand what he did for our park. Once when he was stopped
at the rest center at Nisbet Park in Loveland, a man approached him complaining that the restroom needed cleaning. Steve had to explain that Nisbet Park is maintained by the city of Loveland. Another time a park employee accused Steve of using his volunteer
status in the park to make money. The only money Steve ever received from his work on the trail was reimbursement for gas for the van. Steve says of his days volunteering, “I had a lot of fun but not much support.”
Always interested in the railroad history of our park, Steve in 1997 documented over 100 remaining railroad items along the full length
of the park (some of it not yet paved). Many of these items are gone now, but if you’re observant you can still find a few mile marker posts, telegraph poles, and perhaps a post marked “W” where the train was required to blow a warning whistle. There are signal
posts, too—one in the center of Morrow, and two restored in the last few years by volunteers.
Steve has recently provided FLMSP with his photos taken of the development of the trail, which will help us document trail history.
You can view some of them here.
Thank you, Steve, for your dedication to our park and your work in supporting it!
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Steve's State Park van set up in Corwin.
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Steve installing one of his hand-made creek signs.
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Safe Trails:
An Ode to Better Behavior
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Fill in the blanks. If only ____________ (dog walkers, bicyclists, runners, children, e-bikes, horseback riders, roller skaters, etc.) were not allowed on the Little Miami Scenic Trail,
the trail would be so much more ___________ (safe, clean, uncongested, peaceful, enjoyable, etc.). Now ask yourself, would limiting the types of use really make the trail any better?
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That the Little Miami Scenic Trail is multi-use certainly comes with its challenges. For example, speed differentials between the fastest and slowest users create the potential for collisions.
For another example, users blaring loud music disrupt others engaged in quiet activities like training dogs or bird watching.
Arguably, the root cause of any issues we experience with other trail users is less about the type of activities in which they and we are engaged and more a result of others’ behavior.
While intentional discourtesy can and does occur, most often the offending behavior is due to inattention or lack of knowledge of how to be courteous and safe around others.
As role models, we can demonstrate and reinforce positive behaviors by:
- Slowing down around others.
- Announcing our presence and communicating our intentions, calling out “on your left” when passing.
- Patiently awaiting the opportunity safely to pass others or cross roads.
- Thanking others who act courteously.
I am grateful that the activities I enjoy—running, hiking, bicycling, and roller skiing—along with so many others, are permitted on the trail. The key to overcoming multi-use issues is
not banning activities but encouraging better behavior. Individually and collectively, we can contribute to better behavior to improve the trail experience for ourselves and others.
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Intersection Safety Rules
- Bicycles must always follow the rules of the road.
- Bicycles must obey STOP signs and other signage.
- The ladder striping creates a pedestrian right of way, requiring vehicles to stop if a
pedestrian is in the designated area.
Confusion occurs when a bicyclist approaches the ladder striping while riding. The bicyclist does not have the right-of-way over oncoming vehicles. The cyclist is required to
stop before entering the safety zone.
Vehicles that stop to allow a cyclist to enter the zone may be ticketed for improperly stopping. This happened frequently at the prior Cartridge Factory crossing on Grandin Road.
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It Takes a Village to Extend the Trail
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by Dan Mills
At the request of Bruce Cortright (volunteer supreme), I am reflecting on my involvement with the Friends of the Little Miami Scenic Trail (sic FLMSP)
over the last 30+ years.
We moved to Terrace Park in 1968 and would bike ride around the streets of our small Village for exercise. In the 1980’s, a bike trail was constructed by Ohio Department of National Resources
(ODNR) on the former railroad tracks that Penn Central Railroad deeded to the State of Ohio, to offset tax debt owed to The State.
In the 1980’s, the Village of Terrace Park voted overwhelmingly to
NOT permit the bike trail to come into the Village, for fear that the trail would bring crime into the Village – a sentiment
now called NIMBY, “not in my back yard!”
So, my bike riding family would enter the woods where the railroad tracks used to be and navigate through trees and shrubs to the Milford Trailhead, where the Little Miami State Park
trail began.
Over the next 20 years, more people did what we did – ride the Trail north to Loveland. During our socializing outside of Terrace Park, I frequently was accused by non-Terrace Park friends
of being part of the community that “BLOCKED THE TRAIL!”
In 2000, I retired from business and was looking for things to do. I settled on trying to get the Trail through Terrace Park. Fortunately, a new, young council had been voted in and
shared the thought that many fellow residents felt that we should allow the extension of the Trail. ONDR was still interested in expanding the Trail to meet the trail in Newtown, being constructed by Great Parks of Hamilton County (GPHC).
After numerous meetings with ODNR, GPHC and a few selected Terrace Park council representatives, it was decided to have a Village open house to introduce the idea of building the Trail. The
presentation was professionally done, and residents were impressed with how the Trail would be hidden below grade, have very few entrances and exits into the Village and have fences to inhibit trail users view of the Village.
Because of the positive consensus of Village residents to build the Trail, the Terrace Park Council decided to not wait for the vote and passed a resolution allowing ODNR to begin construction
of the Trail extension in the near future.
I started the project in April of 2000 and celebrated the completion and opening of the joint trail (GPHC & ODNR) at Avoca Park with Governor Taft in 2006.
During the construction phase, I became a board member of the Ohio to Erie Trail (OTET) – a pieced-together 326-mile trail from Cincinnati to Cleveland, that had about 150 miles completed
in various sections. Today, it has about 300 miles completed – 5 of the miles left to be built are in Cincinnati (Lunken airport to International Friendship Park). Those 5 miles are scheduled to be completed in 2026.
Around 2008, a very enthusiastic Englishman, named Simeon Copple, and Steve Murphy began the task of starting a non-profit - the Friends of the Little Miami State Park (FLMSP). The immediate
objective was to raise funds needed to pave over the 15 bridges of ODNR’s Little Miami Scenic Trail that were rotting out and had injured Trail users. The State had not funded ANY maintenance money in the budget for the Trail. FLMSP succeeded in accomplishing
that task and today, they work closely with ODNR with supplemental funding and volunteering with maintenance tasks along the 50-mile Trail.
The Trail is a wonderful State asset, and I encourage readers of this article to join the FLMSP.
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Ohio State Parks announced the Division of Parks and Watercraft officially received the 2025
National
Recreation and Park Association Gold Medal award. Read more about it
here.
Congratulations to our Partners, the ODNR team at Caesar Creek State Park.
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These are some events occurring on the Trail or nearby that may impact trail users.
Sept. 27 World's Largest Pet Walk, Nisbet Park, Loveland
Oct. 4
Bikes & Beers Cincinnati
This event offers 3 routes, starting at Cartridge Brewing and going north on the LMST to Oregonia, with off trail routes also.
Oct. 10-12
Devil's
Staircase Hill Climb, Oregonia
This is a motorbike event, climbing a hill visible from the Trail. Camping and other activities occur on both sides of the Trail with the actual racing done on Saturday and Sunday.
Note: We still have not received a confirmed date for repaving of the Morrow-South Lebanon section. We will post the dates as soon as they are received.
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