Silver Grove is a small river town on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, with a population of 1,154. Founded in 1917, Silver Grove was a company town for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the site of its massive Stevens Railroad Yard, which largely staged the delivery of coal from the mines of Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia. With the consolidation of the railroad industry in the decades after World War II, and the decline in coal use, the rail yard proved redundant and was largely abandoned in the 1980’s. In 2000, a massive drywall manufacturing facility was built on the site and remains the largest drywall plant in North America.
The question I had was why would a small, rural town devote resources to develop a hiking venue. A friend had messaged me about this preserve several years ago. I failed to act on the recommendation as it seemed, that given its small size, that other venues had more to offer. The mere ten acres of this preserve didn’t seem to hold much promise. Plus, its presence on a floodplain made a hike during wet weather less appealing. With the photographer sidelined with a knee injury, and an extended stretch of dry weather, this seemed like the perfect time to experience this nearby preserve with one of my stand-in photographers, our middle daughter Ellen.
The trail name comes from the local folklore that a trophy catfish lurks in the deeper pools of Four Mile Creek which weaves through the preserve.
We began at the Ash Street trailhead which necessitated parking on a city street, at the blue P in the center of the map below. At this time there is no trail map so I created this one on Google Maps to outline the route that we took.
The entry trail was wide and covered with a nice layer of shredded mulch.
The first thing that I noted was a series of large Pin Oaks, which was not surprising since we were on a floodplain and Pin Oaks love moist habitats. Despite their impressive size, Pin Oaks are considered relatively short lived when compared to their oak family kin, rarely living over one hundred and twenty years. Many oak species will live for two to three centuries.
When I saw the Pin Oak I immediately realized that I erred on my most recent post when I said that Shingle Oak had the smallest acorn of the Red Oak Family. That designation definitely belongs to the Pin Oak.
This nut had the exit opening of an Acorn Weevil. The female weevil has a long snout with which she will drill a small hole into a developing acorn and lay an egg inside.
The egg will hatch into a larvae that will feed upon the meat of the acorn. When the acorn falls to the ground the grub will drill a circular exit hole through the wall of the acorn, burrow into the soil where it will live for one to three years, then pupate, and emerge as an adult to complete the lifecycle. The parasitized acorn does not have enough nutritional reserve to germinate to become an oak tree. Interestingly, squirrels can detect which acorns have had a weevil larvae. If the larvae has all ready exited the nut, the squirrel will leave the damaged nut alone. If there is no exit hole the squirrel will roll an acorn in its paws and can tell that some of the nut meat has been consumed because the nut’s weight will be asymmetric. If that is noted, the squirrel will eat the nut right away, even consuming the protein rich larvae still in the nut. If the acorn inspection is normal, the squirrel will cache it for later consumption.
Also near the trailhead, in the shade of the Pin Oaks, we noted this elevated bat box that was perhaps 16 feet off the floor. Certainly the most highly engineered bat box structure that I have seen.
Bats enter from the underside and will roost in the narrow cavities that the partitions provide. Bats are a good way to control mosquito populations, especially in wetlands.
The preserve’s volunteers have done a good job establishing and maintaining the trail – it is wide and well marked.
Shortly, we were able to step down to the bank of 4 Mile Creek to enjoy our first study of the stream. August and September have been particularly dry in Northern Kentucky and the depth of the stream reflected that.
Returning to the floodplain, we headed northwest on the loop, to the left on the earlier map. We found ourselves passing through a wood that was almost entirely Silver Maple, another tree that thrives along streams and in wetlands. The city Silver Grove is in fact named for a grove of Silver Maple trees that were prominent at the time of the town’s founding.
Eventually we were delivered to the edge of a depression in the terrain that was about the size of a football field and held a shallow amount of water. Studying the landscape we noted that there was no water inflow into this area and have to assume that water settles here after seasonal floods or heavy rains.
Along the shore on the opposite bank we noted this nice collection of what I believe to be Woodland Sunflower.
After completing that loop we headed onto the loop to right in the earlier map. There we noted another common tree of floodplains and wetlands, the Box-elder. They are relatively small trees and often take on a contorted architecture as they reach for available sunlight filtering through the taller competition. They frequently arc over trails as captured below.
I mentioned last week that Box-elders are actually members of the Maple Family and, as is characteristic for its members, it has winged seeds. Also like other Maples, it has opposite branching (yellow circle below). The only tree families with opposite branching are the Maples, Ashes, Dogwoods, and Buckeyes. The mnemonic for that is MADBUCK (M for Maple, A for Ash, D for Dogwood, and Buck for Buckeye).
This trail loop returned us to the creekside and where we noted the deeper pools that I had seen mentioned on the Catfish Trails Facebook page, and perhaps the home of the rumored trophy catfish.
This loop delivered us to the other trailhead for the preserve, the Uhl Street Trailhead, which offered off-street parking.
Odds and Ends:
For the most part this was not a wildflower outing but two that we did note were:
Snakeroot and Smartweed.
Seek and Find: As we walked on the wood chips of the early part of the trail, we came upon a little forest friend.
To be honest, this is really quite unfair. We had the benefit of a little bit of movement on its part to bring it to our attention.
A small American Toad. This one was only about 1.5 inches, while adults are up to 3.5 inches in length.
As we hiked the trail we sensed a presence as we saw frequent evidence of horses – a horseshoe print here, and fresh manure there.
Late in the hike, as we stood on the bluff above the stream, we noted them quietly passing like apparitions. To our knowledge they were unaware that they were sharing the woodland.
Still later, as we turned back toward our vehicle we heard, “Say hi to our horses”. This time they saw us before we saw them. I wasn’t sure what was up but I gladly said, “Hello horses”. We then crossed through the brush of the understory to talk to the 3 horsewomen. One rider explained that horses get apprehensive when they see other large lifeforms – they don’t know who is friend or foe. She said, “When you talk, they know that you are not a bear”. A good lesson since many hiking trails double as bridal paths.
On the plain above the creek we noted two birds in the same dense Box-elder tree. The first was a Bay-breasted Warbler. I believe that it took on a yellow hue due to the sunlight that was lighting up the green leaves.
The second was a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Our Merlin bird app has noted them on several of our hikes but they always seem to be high up in the canopy and we have never seen one – till this date. Exciting. Note the bi-colored, curving bill.
Afterword: Following our hike I was interested in understanding why Silver Grove, such a small town, was so invested in this preserve. I spoke to Robert Yoder, the city’s Community and Economic Development Director, and clearly a man of vision. He stated the the preserve serves three functions: Ecological, Recreational, and Financial. Ecologically it provides wetland habitat for wildlife. Recreationally, it formalizes a greenspace that the public has used for over a hundred years. He told me that when they developed the preserve they did not really have to put in trails as they were already there. They just improved them with trailheads, parking, and signage. Financially, the residents benefit through certification by FEMA of the municipally protected wetlands that aid in flood control. Currently residents get a 5% reduction in the costs of their flood insurance through the federal National Flood Insurance Program and Yoder hopes that soon the reduction will be increased to 10%. He also introduced me to the term floodway, a word that I have never used. I learned that in official parlance a floodway is the stream channel and the land that immediately borders it, that usually will be flooded at some point during a calendar year. The term floodplain, on the other hand, is used to denote land near streams and rivers, but not necessarily directly adjacent to them, that flood much less often. Officially, land in a 100 year flood plain has a 1% risk of flooding in any given year. FEMA recognizes that municipally protected floodways lower the risk of flooding of structures on the 100 year floodplain, and therefore rewards communities that have done so.
Currently Yoder and the city are working on developing a map of the trails and recently signage has been added that denotes different sections of the trail system. The entry path through the Pin Oaks has the tree symbol, the trail near the creek is marked with a fish, and the trail set back from the stream, the bridal path, with a horseshoe.
In addition, Yoder is looking to do a land swap with a resident that will bring more floodway acreage under the city’s control and add to the preserve.
In summary, Catfish Trail was a fun, clean preserve, and is one of those small public greenspaces that could be easily overlooked and underappreciated. It is clearly embraced by the residents and especially by the horse riding community from the nearby stable. It appears to be a promising birding venue based on our experience, especially during migration season. One recommendation that I make for hiking small venues, to make the drive worthwhile, is to hike them twice, and if it is a loop trail walk in the opposite direction. I am always amazed by what I missed on my first pass.
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Photo credits to Ellen Burns, with the exception of the Acorn Weevil photo which is from the iNaturalist website.
Overview:
Location – Silver Grove, Kentucky. One trailhead is at the end of Ash Street, the other is on Uhl Road, approximately 8.5 miles from downtown Cincinnati.
Parking – street parking on Ash Street and gravel lot for 10 cars or horse trailers at the Uhl Road trailhead.
Trail Conditions – mulch on the Ash Street entry path but bare dirt elsewhere.
Print Map Link – none.
Facilities – portolet at the Uhl Street trailhead.
Benches – at both trailheads.
Picnic Tables – none noted.
Kids –kids of all ages should do well.
Dogs – allowed on a leash.
Suggested Paired Hikes – none.
Links: