I had originally identified this venue as a cardio walk for a friend and I, but thought that with the onset of cooler temperatures and fall color, that it might be a unique Footpaths outing.
The Shawnee Lookout Golf Course closed in the fall of 2019 after a 40 year tenure as one of the courses managed by the Hamilton County Park System. Stagnant or declining patronage and an anticipated need for significant capital investment were listed as the factors leading to the decision to close the course. I had never played here, but friends who had criticized the design of the course, with its very hilly terrain and the general lack of a flat lie that made play frustrating. In my mind, a rolling terrain is ideal for golf, especially for players that enjoy walking when they play. I suspect that Shawnee fell victim to competition from several new courses that were built in western Hamilton County in the 1990’s and early 2000’s that offered a more enjoyable experience, especially for those who choose to not use golf carts. The defunct course has been returned to nature and the asphalt cart paths guide walkers as they witness natures reclamation of the former links.
After studying the trail map we opted to hike Loop B and C, thinking that the pond might offer some wildlife viewing. These cart paths were from the front nine of the old course, as noted in the second image below.
As we started out I didn’t really know what to expect except significant terrain change based on descriptions of the golf course. But I should have known better. Hamilton County Golf Courses are known for their facility management being wildlife and ecology centric, so identifying three different species of hickory trees within the first hundred yards of our walk should not have been a surprise. So you will have to excuse me while I go full “tree nerd” on you.
The first was a massive Shellbark Hickory.
Hickories have compound leaves, with each leaf having 5 to 17 leaflets, and counting the number of leaflets is the initial step to identifying the hickories to a specific species. The way to tell hickories from other trees that have compound leaves, like ashes and walnuts, is that the leaflets toward the end of the leaf are always larger than those closer to the leaf steam. Shellbark Hickories have 7 leaflets. I have circled a single leaf and numbered the leaflets in the photo below.
Shellbarks in some locales are called King Nut Hickories because they have the largest of the hickory nuts. They have outstanding taste similar to their cousin the Pecan, which is also a hickory. Their thick husk, as seen in the photo below, and strong nutshell make them less attractive commercially than the thin shelled Pecan.
They have a “shaggy” bark like Shagbark Hickory but can be differentiated by the 7 leaflet leaf when compared to Shagbark’s 5 leaflet leaf.
The Bitternut Hickory, which was nearby, also has seven leaflets on each leaf and a medium sized nut.
As the name implies the meat of the nut is not pleasant tasting.
The identifying characteristic for the Bitternut is its sulfur yellow terminal bud at the end of twigs.
The final hickory that we saw in the wood was Pignut Hickory which has a compound leaf of 5 leaflets.
It was named Pignut because settlers found the meat of the nut too bitter for consumption but would feed them to their pigs.
Since we are celebrating the diversity of trees found here I will have a short segment on identifying oaks. Below is a Red Oak with the typical oak leaf and the classic finding of “clustered terminal buds” (circled). They will be found on every oaks species no matter where in the world you find them.
The clustered terminal buds help me identify oak species with less typical leaves, such as this Shingle Oak, which does not have a very oak-like leaf.
It also worked on Chestnut Oak, again with leaves that do not have the typical shape of oaks.
Also seen along the cart paths were several Bur Oaks which we have discussed in previous essays. Of the oaks, It has the largest leaves in my experience. For reference, here we captured it against the 8.5 x 11 page of my tree key book. Tree keys are used to scientifically identify trees by looking at detailed anatomic features. You can read the text on the page to get an idea how the key works. The “keying” process is much more accurate than looking at a photographic field guide.
One characteristic of Hamilton County Parks golf courses is that they frequently have islands of woods and grasslands between holes. This serves two purposes; it provides buffer areas for wildlife and prevents errant shots from hitting players on adjacent holes. Wildlife viewing adds to my enjoyment of golfing.
As an avid golfer, part of the fun of this hike was trying to identify elements of the property’s past life, even though I never played this course,
Sometimes it was straight forward, such as this granite tee marker for the twelfth hole, now amongst the weeds. It was the only such marker that we noted, but it offered a sense of place. Interestingly, it was not located at the twelfth tee as noted in the diagram seen previously, but rather was near the practice putting green.
Other features were less easily identified.
This large flat area was certainly a green.
This and other rock terraces were used to level the terrain on some holes.
And occasionally you could identify a sand trap that in five short years has been reclaimed by nature.
Perhaps the last holdover from the days of the golf course were the Blue Bird boxes. Hamilton County courses place them 150 yards from the green to give golfers an idea how far they need to hit a shot. The ones we noted all seemed to be that distance from a former green. In addition to Blue Birds, Chickadees, Tree Swallows, Titmice, House Wrens, and Carolina Wrens will utilize the nesting boxes. On one visit I witnessed many Tree Swallows doing their aerial acrobatics over the former fairways.
While doing research for this article I found this photo which shows stacks from the Miami Fort Power Station on the Ohio River in the distance and electric towers carrying the energy away.
So I went back for another visit to see if I could find the spot of the photo – success! It was from the 18th tee. The manicured fairways have given way to a meadow of forbs and grasses.
As with all our walks we stumbled onto many interesting findings. Our first was this insect called a Leaf Hopper. The term is used for a broad group of insects that feed on plant juices and have back legs that allow them to jump for locomotion. Generally they do not have specific common names. The mottled coloration and the placement of its eyes fascinated us.
We are getting to the end of the flowering season but there are still a few fall stalwarts out there to enjoy. First was Frost Aster. It is a white to light blue cousin of the pink New England Aster.
These Bumble Bees were getting nectar from the end of season Yellow Wingstem.
A solitary Field Thistle looked in peak form.
The photographer enjoyed seeing this Buckeye butterfly near this Pawpaw seed. She was less thrilled when I pointed out that the butterfly was probably eating salts or other micro-nutrients left behind in the fecal matter that the Pawpaw seed was part of. The entomology term for this is “puddling”.
If you look closely at the photo below you will notice two stages of the Large Milkweed Bug on a milkweed seed pod. The adult which has the black stripe across its back, and a more juvenile form called an instar that has the black dots. They are commonly seen on milkweed pods this time of year and will eat the seeds when the pod opens.
We had a “ooh aah” moment when we rounded a turn on the path and came upon a collection of Black Walnut trees. Both their leaves and fruit were a blaze of greenish yellow.
Another piece of fall color, this on a more intimate scale, were these rose hips. They will be a fall and winter food source for wildlife, especially birds. They are a good source of Vitamin C. Rose hips are the seed containing fruit that develops after a rose flower is pollinated.
My field notes from the hike reflect a great diversity of trees as I listed 21 species of trees without really making that my priority. Perhaps the most artistic tree image was this one of an American Elm with its characteristic arching branches, silhouetted against the sun. It was encouraging to see an abundance of large elms on the campus given the loss of so many specimens due to Dutch Elm Disease.
As we complete this article I would like to return to the issue of the golf course itself. I was surprised to learn that it was designed by Jack Kidwell (1918-2001), a reknowned and prolific golf course designer who designed or renovated over 100 courses in Ohio, including several in our region that I consider to be outstanding: Beckett Ridge Golf Club, The Vineyard, Walden Ponds, and Hueston Woods. Simply put he was a common man, designing courses for the common man, working to keep golf affordable. Before I found out who the designer was, as I bad mouthed the layout, the photographer counseled me that “probably he had constraints placed on him by the county that made this course less than ideal”. I suspect that she was correct. The county had the park land, but much of it could not be utilized for a golf course as it harbored earthworks and burial mounds of indigenous peoples, which appropriately prohibited development. He had to work with the acreage offered, despite its terrain, and a project budget that probably was limited. So now I will put on my golf schedule, rounds at some of the other courses that he designed, so that I can pay homage to, and appreciate, this man of the Greatest Generation, who put his career on hold to serve as an infantry officer in the Pacific Theater during WWII. For Shawnee Lookout Golf Course, I will give him a mulligan.
In summary, the Cart Path Trail at Shawnee Lookout is worth a visit. In fact, I have been back twice since the photographer and I hiked it – once for the cardio walk with my friend, and once to recreate the photo that I found on the internet. During these visits I met others who walk it regularly as part of their fitness program, and on my most recent visit I met two women who use it to train for strenuous hikes in national parks – for that it has no peer in our region. But for most people it will be the wildlife and plant communities that make it worthwhile. It is a great place to hawk watch. I would encourage the Great Parks of Hamilton County to add some benches, especially at the tops of the steepest grades, to give folks an opportunity to catch their breath, and to slow down and observe, because that is when you will see something special.
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Photo credits to Peggy Juengling Burns and Patrick Burns (the current photo of the view from the 18th tee).
Overview:
Location – In North Bend, Ohio about 21 miles west of downtown Cincinnati.
Parking – Paved lot for 60 cars or so.
Facilities – Indoor restroom at the park’s archeological museum but hours are not clear.
Trail Conditions – Older asphalt. The B and C loops were 2.3 miles long. The A loop is another 2 miles.
Benches – none noted. There are a couple of picnic tables at the museum/trailhead which is the old golf course clubhouse.
Kids – Kids 10 and over due the severity of the grade change.
Dogs – Are welcomed while on a leash.
Paired Hikes – Shawnee Lookout Park has several additional trails – Blue Jacket at 1.3 miles, Little Turtle at 2.0 miles, and the Miami Fort Trail is 1.4 miles.
Links:
Sometimes, pace-of-play requirements on a golf course get in the way of a full enjoyment of nature while golfing. From time to time, however, contemplation of nature offsets the exasperation of the game.
I agree. If we are using carts I refuse to drive as it interferes with nature watching.