Shawnee Lookout

I completed the Little Turtle and Blue Jacket trails today while wearing my 7 month old son on my back. The trails were shaded, which I appreciate since my son doesn’t have a hair on his head and hates hats. I scope out trails before leading hikes with our Hike It Baby Cincinnati chapter and these trails would both be friendly for toddlers. Parents love that! Plus, there’s a playground at the Little Turtle trailhead that includes swings so even my little guy could enjoy.

OMG Like I had no idea there were ancient earthworks so close! Am I an idiot? Probably. My brother showed me this place when we lived on the west side of the city. I loved it. My dog Yetta loved it. It’s so cool. I just love to walk around the old things and try to imagine what it felt like to be alive a long time ago. The same as now? I don’t think so! That’s why I like to imagine it. It’s like our own little Fort Ancient, right in our town, more or less. I think you should go here.

Absolutely perfect place to do some leisurely walking or to work up a sweat! There are three trails to choose from and all of them offer well maintained paths.

Absolutely beautiful park, from the overlook trail to the historical buildings. Always clean and quiet. I have golfed there multiple times and while challenging, I prefer this course over others because of the upkeep. Highly recommend the golf!

While out of the way, Shawnee Lookout is another great parking in the Hamilton County system of parks. Parking is either $ 3 per car or $ 10 for the year with a parking pass. A beautiful park. Some great trails. I’m not sure if it is only a driving range or a full fledged golf course. They have a playground for kids not far from a school house and home built in the 1800’s. There is only one road through the park. This makes it a little harder to get lost in the park.
I took my kids specifically for 1800’s Weekend. On this particular weekend, volunteers reenact/​teach visitors about life in the 1800’s. I was surprised how much I learned from the event. There were lots of hands on activities for children or children at heart. I overheard one of the volunteers telling a visitor that they do tours on the historic buildings two Sundays a month. Contact the park for details.
This park was a little hard to find. I typed the address into the GPS and it said that we had arrived at our destination 3 miles before we got there. When I typed the name of the park into the GPS it took me to where I wanted to go.

Shawnee Lookout definitely lives up to it’s name. The overlooks on these trails are absolutely breathtaking. This park is situated between the Ohio River and the Great Miami River, and one particular overlook gives an unreal view of the two rivers coming together. There are playgrounds, picnic areas, volleyball courts, a golf course, archeological museum, and shop all within the park. If you stop at the museum and visitor’s center on your way in, there is a great booklet with maps of all of the Hamilton County Parks that is very handy!
There are three trails here, which are: (ranked in order of difficulty and excitement level based on a very scientific method*)
#1 — The Miami Fort Trail has the aforementioned view of the rivers coming together. Just make sure you continue on the trail with the sign «leaving fort» which leads to the overlook (unlike us who had to backtrack a half a mile when we realized our mistake). It’s beyond worth it. Because it’s an amazing view. Like, an unreal view.
#2 — The Little Turtle Trail has some great views of the Ohio River, which looks especially lazy and laconic here. It’s beautiful, and the trail itself winds through a really pretty wooded area, including some hills.
#3 — The Blue Jacket Trail takes you through an easier, shorter path, parts of which the trees have grown over with a really fun «archlike» effect over the path. The view of the power lines you walk past are not quite as scenic, but there are some overlooks of the Great Miami on this one.
(*Not actually scientific at all… kind of not based on anything more than my perception.)

My fiancé and I are trying to get more into outdoorsy activities. Since neither of us grew up in camping/​hiking families, we’re starting slow with some short hikes before we move up to longer hikes and eventually camping. I recently purchased the guidebook «60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Cincinnati,» and Shawnee Lookout was one of the listings.
Shawnee Lookout was surprisingly quiet the day we visited. I’m not sure if this is usual, or if it’s simply because it still looks a bit gray and dreary outside. We walked the Little Turtle trail. Although the sign and guidebook claims it can take up to 2 hours, we hiked at a pretty comfortable pace, and hung out for several minutes at each Ohio River lookout, and completed it within an hour and 15 minutes. Along the way we saw lots of turkey vultures, barges on the Ohio, and squirrels scampering up and down trees. It was a really peaceful afternoon, and I highly recommend it to anyone who would like a short walk in the woods.
Bathrooms are available at the golf shop station.

Shawnee is a thrilling and challenging course. The course is run by Great Parks of Hamilton County and they so a wonderful job of keeping it together. The grounds keepers there really know there stuff, the greens are always smooths and divots are kept to a minimal. The course has shelters with grills and a magnificent view of the Great Miami River Valley. With that being said it is also part of the valley so the course is very hilly and plenty of dog legs. I would not recommend walking this course unless you are playing only 9 holes.

Having just moved to the area, I was looking for an excellent park to take my yellow lab for some exercise and I have found it in Shawnee Lookout. Great park with great views.

Shawnee Lookout is one of the best parks in the tri-​state. It has over 1500 acres and our family has been going to it since we were single digits. Some of the highlights of the park include the golf course which is full of hills and perfect for sled riding, the spring house school and log cabin and of course the trails that lead to breathtaking views of the Great Miami River.
Another added bonus– driving back from Shawnee Lookout heading towards Cleves Carriage house farm is on the right and it’s really neat to stop and see what they have that day and check out the working farm.

Not a big park but the keep it 100% clean. Never super packed.

I have to give up for the folks at Hamilton County Park District. They do an amazing job with the upkeep of all parks I’ve visited around Cincinnati, and Shawnee Outlook is no exception.
The park features an 18-​hole golf course, pro-​shop, snack shop, multiple playgrounds, reservable picnic shelters, picnic tables with grills, boat launching dock for kayaks and canoes, and pioneer cabin and school house. There are number of Native American cultural artifacts such as a burial mound and little-​understood Whatchamacalit (Parks District’s nickname for a deep, limestone lined pit that’s purpose is unknown).
I went for a hike along the Little Turtle Trail, a two-​mile trek with two Ohio River outlooks. Paved with a thin-​layer of gravel, the wide trail was navigable with a stroller, though I did not journey through the entire course.
Within yards of entering the trail, I felt transported in time, before clear-​cutting was the norm and everywhere in the Ohio River Valley looked like Shawnee Outlook. Walking through the woods, I felt very grateful to live in a region with the foresight to preserve this beautiful place.