Walking Cincinnati: Scenic Hikes Through the Parks & Neighborhoods of Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky

As a hiking and reading guru, I have read and reviewed several of this author's works, some of them not so favorably. I opened the pages of this book somewhat skeptically, but I was pleasantly surprised with what I found.Since Cincinnati is not a mecca for hikers, this is the only guide devoted solely to Cincinnati hiking available on the market. Actually, only half of this guide is devoted to "hiking" in the traditional sense. This guide describes 59 "hiking" areas ranging from Fairfield in the north to Boone County Cliffs in the south. I put "hiking" in quotes because about half of the "hikes" describe are actually walks along neighborhood streets rather than nature hikes, the traditional sense of the term "hiking." Henceforth in this review the word "hike" and its derivatives will refer to any of the 59 destinations described in this book.Hikes range in distance from 0.5 to 5 miles, with the average at only about 2 miles. Each hike contains a hand-drawn map, directions to the starting point, and several paragraphs describing the hike and points of interest along the route. Normally such maps are frowned upon because they lack detail, but they are acceptable in this case given the short trail distances and the fact that half of these hikes are along neighborhood streets. This book features a lot of the smaller urban preserves that are described in no other guide that I am aware of. Also, many of Cincinnati's neighborhoods are featured in a hike, so someone new to town would find this guide useful in getting acquainted with the city. I am a life-long resident of Hamilton (a suburb of Cincinnati), and I found this book very rewarding as it gave me new-found insights into the city's neighborhoods and history.In summary, anyone who wants to get to know Cincinnati better will find this book of interest. Many thanks to the Folzenlogen's for writing this guide. Highly recommended.

I went on Hike# 49 (Boone County Cliffs State Nature Preserve) and if I hadn't been a local resident I would have NEVER found the place. The book's directions were to look for the turn off 6 miles east of Burlington; it should have said WEST of Burlington. Also, the sign at the small road you are supposed to look for that says "Kentucky Nature Conservancy 1.9 miles" actually is an "adopt-a-highway" sign that indicates that the KY Nature Conservancy has adopted the next 1.9 miles of road, meaning they are responsible for picking up trash along the road. I drove past this sign several times before I realized it was the sign I was supposed to be looking for. Ok, other than that, it was a great hike in a beautiful forest. I'm glad the authors wrote this book, they just need to update it with better directions.