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September 2026
Trail Mail
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Help Keep the Little Miami Trail
Safe and Beautiful
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by: Becky Retzer, President, Friends of the Little Miami State Park
Summer is usually one of the busiest and most joyful seasons on the Little Miami State Park trail. Families ride together, walkers enjoy the shade, runners log their miles, and neighbors find a peaceful place
to connect with nature. But this summer, donations to Friends of the Little Miami State Park are down.
Friends of the Little Miami State Park is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization dedicated to maintaining and improving the 50-mile paved trail, working closely with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources,
to preserve the park’s natural river setting while supporting a safe, enjoyable experience for all trail users.
Every gift helps with the practical, visible work that keeps the trail welcoming: clearing brush and debris, supporting weekly work teams, helping maintain kiosks and trailheads, addressing safety concerns,
and strengthening future improvement projects. Because the organization is powered by volunteers, donor dollars go directly toward the
needs of the park and trail community.
If the Little Miami trail has given you a favorite ride, a quiet walk, a family memory, or simply a safer way to enjoy the outdoors, please consider making a donation today. A gift of any size—$25, $50, $100,
or whatever is meaningful to you—will help close the summer gap and keep this treasured corridor strong for the months ahead.
You can make a donation through our
website
here or
by check made out to
Friends of the Little Miami State Park,
mailed to
Friends of the Little Miami State Park
9378 Mason Montgomery Rd Ste 395
Mason OH 45040-8827.
Thank you for being part of the community that cares for this remarkable trail.
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Derecho Storm Tests
FLMSP Volunteer Response
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by: Bill Brown, Treasurer, Friends of the Little Miami State Park
The powerful thunderstorm raging through Greater Cincinnati on Aug. 11 was classified as a "derecho" (Pronounced day-RAY-cho) by the National Weather Service. It was the first one in over a decade in the
area. A derecho is a widespread and usually fast-moving windstorm. They can produce damaging straight-line winds over areas hundreds of miles long and more than 100 miles across.
The high winds and heavy rain combined to wreak havoc on the Little Miami State Scenic Trail. By the next morning, the Trail Hotline lit up with calls reporting downed trees all along the trail. Rather than
responding to individual reports, FLMSP volunteer crews and Little Miami State Park personnel answered the call starting at different points on the trail and working toward each other. Crews armed with chain saws and a brush chipper worked north from Newtown
and south from Loveland. Other crews began north of Loveland and opened the trail to the north.
Work began at 8:00 am in the morning and volunteers finally cleared all trail blockages by 3:00 pm. Debris remained on the side of the trail for cleanup at a later time, but the trail was open!
Here are some of the numbers:
- At least 20 fallen trees were cleared from the trail.
- More than 15 volunteers responded to the call for help.
- Over 20 miles of trail were cleared of fallen trees and branches.
- FLMSP utilized dozens of pieces of equipment including chain saws, pole saws, a brush chipper and blowers. Equipment which was incidentally made available by the generous donations
of FLMSP donors.
The successful response to the storm was a great example of the synergy between donors, who make the resources available, and the volunteers, who used the equipment to maintain the trail!
One final note. When approaching a volunteer work crew clearing the trail, please follow these requests:
1.
SAFETY!
SLOW DOWN or STOP. Don't assume the volunteers see you riding or walking through. Wait till they acknowledge that you can go through.
2.
HELP OUT! If capable, help drag branches off the trail if possible. The volunteers will do the sawcutting, but much of the trail can be cleared of the small stuff by helpful
trail users.
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by Erick Wikum
During a recent run on the Little Miami Scenic Trail, I came upon a group of individuals just north of the Peters Cartridge Factory and could sense that something was amiss. Two bicyclists had collided; one
lay flat on the trail while the other was standing but sported a gash on his forehead.
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Three passersby were assessing the situation. One asked if anyone had dialed 911 and encouraged the standing rider to call, which he did. Another offered a piece of material to apply to the head gash. Yet
another advised the prone rider to remain motionless in case the rider had experienced a spinal injury. A husband and wife arrived to the scene and the husband broke into a run to fetch a first aid kit in their car at the trailhead parking lot. He enlisted
two bicycle riders to speed the first aid kit to the incident location.
Hamilton Township Fire and EMS responded and attended to the bicyclists. By the time I returned a half hour later, the scene was clear and emergency responders were departing. Working together, strangers
offered vital aid to fellow trail users in need.
Were you in their shoes, would you be ready to help? Keep your phone charged, carry basic first aid supplies, and know to dial 911 in an emergency. In short, be prepared.
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FLMSP North Team Helps Keep the Trail Safe and Smooth
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by: Dick Feldmann, Vice President, Friends of the Little Miami State Park
The FLMSP North Trail Maintenance Team has been busy repairing the multi-use trail pavement in the northern half of Little Miami State Park. These efforts have involved multiple phases of work to repair the
trail surface and take action to slow the degradation of the pavement. The primary focus has been on bumps and cracks in the pavement.
Our initial effort took advantage of the FLMSP bump grinder, which we used to grind down and remove bumps in the pavement caused by tree roots growing under and across the trail. Our primary focus was the
very bumpy area between Corwin and Oregonia, but the work also included other areas as far north as the Hedges Road park boundary and Wilmington Road south of Oregonia. The result was a smoother ride.
Our second effort focused on “vertical” cracks in the pavement between Hedges Road and the Village of Spring Valley. These cracks run in the same direction as the trail and are caused by movement of the trail
due to excess rain and water around it. These were considered high priority because they can catch and grab a bike tire, throwing a bicyclist from their bike. The renovation effort involved cleaning out the cracks with a pick and wire brush, then filling each
crack with cold patch to bring the fill even with the trail surface. The resulting patch is still a bit bumpy, but no longer unsafe.
Our current effort is taking advantage of the organization’s excavator with the hook attachment. With this tool, the team has been digging down next to the trail to cut the roots where we previously ground
the pavement. Our experience is that when the root is cut from the tree, the detached portion of the root dies, loses its water, and shrinks, allowing the pavement bump to recede back into the ground.
With luck, our focus next spring will be to revisit the pavement repairs and fill and seal the pavement in these locations. Our hope is that we can extend the life of the pavement and delay the next repaving
project.
The FLMSP North Trail Maintenance Team was organized in the summer of 2025 and helps ODNR staff maintain the Little Miami Scenic Bike Trail from Hedges Road south of Xenia to the City of Morrow. For more
information or to volunteer, please contact Dick Feldmann at VicePr...@FLMSP.org.
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ODNR corrects trail slippage
under I-71 bridge
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By:
Dick Feldmann, Vice President, Friends of the Little Miami State Park
One of the issues of maintaining a multi-use trail is that nature has a habit of undoing what man has built, in our case causing damage to the trail and the environment around the trail. Water flow is often
a
cause for shifting stream banks and undercutting of the trail itself. There are several examples on the Little Miami Scenic Trail where the Little Miami River has shifted in its banks and the trail had to
be
moved away from the river.
The latest example of water flow causing trail damage started a couple
years ago under the I-71 Jeremiah Morrow bridge in Warren County. A stream that runs along the east side of the trail and approximately 15 feet below the trail surface started undercutting the bank causing
the fence, berm and then the trail surface to fall into the stream.
This past June, Ohio Department of Natural Resources completed repair of the stream bank and the trail is back open with new bank, fence, and trail surface. ODNR engineering
brought in an engineered concrete wall system that looks like a traditional stone wall but extends back into the hillside 8’. This reestablishes the bank and resists any future washout by the stream below. The bank above the wall was then reestablished, the
fence replaced and the trail repaved. The trail is open and safe again.
On behalf of the trail users, the Friends of the Little Miami State Park thank ODNR Division of Engineering and Division of Parks & Watercraft for a well-designed fix to the washout under the I-71 bridge.
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LMST to remain open during sewer project at Monkey Bar
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by: Dick Feldmann, Vice President, Friends of Little Miami State Park
The Warren County Old 3C Highway sewer project is impacting the Little Miami Scenic Trail at the Foster (Monkey Bar) trail access. Warren
County and the contractor intend to keep the trail open during the construction and have placed a steel plate over the ditch that has been cut under the trail immediately south of the roadway. However, we recommend approaching this ditch and road slowly and
with care to deal with the uneven surfaces. There will also be random short term closures during construction.
This project is for two sanitary pump station upgrades which are located on each side of the Little Miami River and the Little Miami Scenic
Trail. A new sewer line is being run between the two pump stations, to include under the trail and on the side of the Old 3C Highway bridge across the Little Miami River.
With the closure of the road bridge, access to Fosters Landing Park, the Monkey Bar and trail parking will only be available from the east
(Fosters-Maineville Road) side. The road closure portion of the project is expected to take 13 weeks from the August 17 start, weather permitting.
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Loveland Installs Traffic Signal
at Trail Crossing
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from: Stephanie Watson, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, City of Loveland
The City of Loveland has installed traffic signals at the trail crossing at West Loveland Avenue. The new traffic signal at the trail crossing will be fully
active on Monday, September 21. Once activated, bicyclists and pedestrians will follow the
Walk and Hand
(don't walk) signals when crossing West Loveland Avenue.
The pedestrian and bicycle signals will be coordinated with the nearby traffic lights at State Route 48 and Karl Brown Way. This coordination is designed to improve safety at the crossing
while also maintaining the flow of vehicle traffic through the downtown corridor.
The new signals will be actively enforced to help ensure bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists follow the signals and that the crossing remains safe for everyone. Loveland Police Department
officers will also be present during the implementation period to help trail users and motorists understand the new traffic pattern.
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More of Your Funds at Work
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