Wonderful winter hike

Wednesday
With the promise of another gorgeous sunny, though cold, day, we decided to try out another new hike, at Indian Mound Reserve, which I discovered through Cincinnati Hikes Facebook page. It’s not far from Clifton Gorge and John Bryan State Park, which we have visited many times. This is a little closer, and is based not around the Little Miami River, as the other two, but Massie Creek, which is a tributary of the Little Miami. We got up there (just over an hours drive) soon after midday. We were quite surprised to see how much more snow they had up there. We were the only car in the car park when we arrived, and saw few people on the trail. The focal point in the park is the waterfall, known as Cedar Cliffs Falls, but there are several other points of interest, including Williamson Mound, centre left, a Native American, earthen mound constructed by the Adena culture between 500 B.C. and 100 A.D., either as a lookout mound or a burial mound, a historic log cabin, and striking cliffs and slump blocks. It was a simply gorgeous hike, the water in the stream glistening, and the fresh snow sparkling under the bright sun and blue sky. we did a total of 5.3 miles, but we found trudging though the snow quite tiring, and made it seem longer than that, so I think we’ll be glad of an early night!
Step count: 13,308