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| Oregonia, OH |
It's time to head north out
of Cincinnati. As you know, I take a few liberties as to when I stop and start
a section on the Buckeye Trail for I like to launch each new section in a town.
So today we begin the Caesar Creek section in Oregonia. The true length of this
section of the Buckeye Trail is 56.7 miles of which 53.8 miles are off road.
That off road walking is great for those hiking the Buckeye Trail and it opens
the door wide for those of us driving the route to explore Ohio.
The Caesar Creek section is
an interesting mixture of woods and lakes (Caesar Creek), tourist
driven towns, forgotten towns, country road driving, a
hippie town and a town that seems to limp along,
all within a stone's throw (at least when viewed from a map) from Dayton,
Ohio. This section is yet another reminder that you
don't have to go too far off the main route to feel miles
and sometimes years removed from the present, bustling life
most of us are used to.
Oregonia
At first glance there is not much to see in this town which
is at most a few blocks in size. It is not a place one would say is
in decline, for it was never grand to begin with. It was
a humble outpost on the Little Miami River
and continues today to be a quiet outpost, now
on the Little Miami Bike Trail. The
first settlement was established around 1802 and
centered around a mill. The town was called Freeport
around 1820, but its post office was called Oregon.
To avoid confusion between Freeport and another Ohio town
of the same name, Freeport became Oregonia. The river,
which was the driving force behind
the village, was replaced by the railroad in 1845 and today, the
bike trail. There is an amiable place, The Little
River Cafe, to enjoy a cold beer
and tasty pizzas while watching the bicyclists,
canoeists,
walkers and motorcyclists pass through town. One does
not go to Oregonia
to be entertained. You go to get out of the car and walk the trail. You go to
chat with others who enjoy being outside and you go to savor lunch on the patio.
If you are in the mood to just get to the next
point of interest, head north out of town and then east on Oregonia
Road to Clarksville Road (north) to enter Caesar Creek State Park. If you want
to hold true to the Buckeye Trail and enjoy a more relaxed drive that
follows the bike trail and river, keep heading north on Corwin
to a right onto Elbon Road. Elbon is a steep, twisty road
with interesting stone walls (not that it is safe to get out and
take a closer look). Take a left onto Gard Road, right onto O'Neall Road and a
left on Oregonia Road. Caesar Creek State Park is due north of you. I
prefer to follow the route of the Buckeye Trail as much as possible and head
left (north) on Clarksville Road. The park offers 3,741-acres for hiking, swimming, boating, fossil hunting and camping. This is not the place to explore with a
tight schedule. When I am in the area I take in two pastimes- hiking and
fossil hunting.
What’s in
a name?
I found a website that delves deep into the naming of Caesar
Creek. The author shares four possible legends to answer the question, how did Caesar Creek get its name? In all accounts there is an escaped slave,
Caesar, involvement with native Americans- sometimes with Caesar warning the Indians
of the advancing army and threats of a battle- and two possible different armies;
Gen. Logan's or Gen. George
Rogers Clark. They are tales, all quite hard to prove or disprove in the amount
of time allotted for such a project such as this, Blue Blazing Ohio. But one
thing in clear, the Caesar
Creek area was named for a slave who had in his life, some rather remarkable
adventures.
Fossil Hunting
When
you enter the park heading north on Clarksville Road you will pass through one
of the most interesting geographical sites yet on this journey. On a hot day
the wind swept flats look scorched and vacant. Not often on this journey will I tell
you that you have to do this or that so when I say, get out and walk out in to the open flat ground there is a reason; I
don’t want you to miss this experience. ... Do you feel small, on the great open expanse of
exposed rock and clay and a wide open sky above? If that does make you feel a bit
tiny consider this; you are treading across an ancient sea floor thick with
fossils 450 to 500 million years old. Take a moment to appreciate the
significance of this spot; standing there with camera and iPhone in hand, next
to your car, maybe feeling old at age 40 or 55 and look about; what remains tells
the story of life that crawled, swam and moved about an ancient sea that
covered this land 500 million years ago.
Now I feel tiny.
The park area sits across the crest of the
Cincinnati Arch, a convex tilting of bedrock layers caused by an ancient
upheaval. Younger rocks are found east and west of the crest where some of the
oldest rocks in Ohio are exposed. Don't be surprised to see many visitors bent over, carefully examining the ground. The Cincinnati area draws in paleontologists, fossil collectors an rock enthusiasts from across the country and beyond in the hopes of unearthing some of the best fossils in the world.
The park also attracts hiking enthusiasts. There are to w trails designated for hiking only- the Visitor Center Trail - 7.2 Miles - Moderate-Difficult and the Spillway Trail - 4.3 Miles - Moderate-Difficult.
Coming up next - hiking, wildflowers and a pioneer village....
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