Cincinnati Nature Center: Lookout Trail (Blog Hike #45)

Trail: Lookout Trail

Hike Location: Cincinnati Nature Center

Geographic Location: northwest of Batavia, OH (39.12517,-84.24584)

Length: 2.9 miles
Difficulty: 5/10 (Moderate)

Dates Hiked: 1999, August 2017

Overview: A moderate hike through field and young forest, featuring a nice overlook of the Little Miami River East Fork.

Center Information: https://www.cincynature.org/

Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=940218
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: On the east side of Cincinnati, take I-275 to exit 63B, which goes onto SR 32 east.  Take SR 32 east for 1.2 miles to Glen Este-Withamsville Road (the first traffic light) and turn left.  Follow this road north 0.4 miles to Old SR 74 and turn right.  Take Old SR 74 east for 0.25 miles and turn left onto Tealtown Rd.  The Cincinnati Nature Center is about 3 miles ahead on Tealtown Rd.on the left.  A large "Rowe Woods" sign marks the entrance.  Pay the small parking fee and proceed to the main parking lot in front of the interpretive building, where our hike will begin.  A second gravel parking area is available to the right of the main parking area, should the main area be full.

The hike: The Cincinnati Nature Center is one of a few private organizations in greater Cincinnati dedicated to preserving the natural environment.  Founded in 1967, the Center operates three sites, this nature preserve and two working farms where visitors can become farmers for a day.  For a moderate price you can purchase an annual membership to the Center and avoid the entrance fee. 

            The nature preserve (named Rowe Woods after Mr. Stanley M. Rowe, a major benefactor of the Center) features 14.5 miles of well-marked and maintained trails over a diverse 790 acres of forest, creeks, hills, meadows, and ponds.  The Lookout Trail alone will take you past each of these ecosystems.  It is a moderately difficult hike offering solitude (I passed one other person along the way) and scenery. 

Start of Edge Trail at Visitor Center

            Before you begin, be sure to stop in the Rowe Interpretive Center, which houses exhibits on the local flora and fauna, a gift shop featuring a good selection of books, and a large picture window for bird watching.  Exit the front door of the Rowe Center, turn right, and begin heading down an alternating gravel and mulch path called the Edge Trail.  Follow this trail past a relatively new bird blind and across a corner of Powell Crosley Lake to where a grassy trail exits to the left.  This is the start of the Lookout Trail.  Turning left here, the trail passes along the edge of a meadow with the tall meadow grass on your right and a dense forest on your left. 

            After angling to the right around the meadow, the trail passes a couple of grassy trails coming in from the right and reaches marker #28.  Many trail intersections at Rowe Woods are numbered to make the vast trail system more navigable.  The markers appear as blue circles on your trail map and as small 3-inch cement cylinders with green and white numbers on the trails.

Hiking through a meadow

            Turn right at marker #28, then follow the trail as it takes curves left before intersecting Tealtown Road.  Cross Tealtown Road and begin following a grassy trail along the side of a meadow.  The meadow is an abandoned farm field that has now become overgrown with grass, wild roses, daisies, black-eyed Susan, thistle, and nodding onion.  At marker #27, turn right to begin the Lookout Trail's loop, which you will navigate counterclockwise.  Soon come to the small Willow Pond, which contains an old wooden boardwalk over the water for your viewing pleasure. 

Willow Pond

            The trail next angles to the right to cross the meadow, then continues up the opposite side. A good-sized stand of wild cherry trees lies to the right of the meadow.  The next point of interest is an overlook with a bench on the right, but the view is considerably obstructed by brush growing in front of the overlook.

"Overlook"

            At marker #25, the trail leaves the meadow and enters a very young forest with many wild grape vines.  In several hundred more feet, the scenery changes again to succession forest.  There are some large cedar trees in this area, but they are being out-competed by younger maples and will die in a few more years.  The underbrush here consists heavily of honeysuckle. 

            For about the next mile, the trail stays in the succession forest and passes through a total of five drainages, crossing each one on an old wooden bridge.  The last of these drainages is fairly steep, and the climb out of it is the first major climb of the hike.  Be sure to keep to the right at marker #24.  After keeping to the right again at marker #23, walk about 50 feet and turn left to stay on the Lookout Trail. 

            A short descent will bring you to marker #22.  For a scenic view, detour to the right at this intersection on a trail that will take you to a shelter with a bench overlooking the East Fork river valley to the north.  I-275 and the city of Milford can also be seen from this point.  After a rest stop to soak in the view, retrace your steps to marker #22 and turn right to continue the Lookout Trail.

Returning on the Lookout Trail

            After crossing another drainage on a narrow bridge, the trail follows an old fencerow (giving away the land's agricultural past) for a few feet before angling to the left.  The traffic on Tealtown Rd.can be heard to the right.  The trail passes through some more meadow to close the loop.  Continue straight and then curve right to re-cross Tealtown Rd.

            Upon crossing the road, turn right again to hike the rest of the Lookout Trail.  The succession forest gives way to dense, mature hardwoods.  The trail next crosses another drainage, turns sharply left, and begins a long, moderate ascent for the second major climb of the hike.  At the top of the hill, stay left as a side trail goes right around a pond.

            Now paved with gravel, the trail passes a private residence and soon intersects a short trail that leads left into the graveled auxiliary parking lot.  Take this trail into the parking lot, passing marker #19, then take the paved trail near the automobile entrance of the auxiliary parking lot.  A short walk down this paved path will return you to the main parking lot to complete the hike.