Expedition Team: Rosie Miller, Dave Miller, Nick Kelly, Jacque Kelly & a very young Junior Kelly Expedition Date: May 2017, July & August 2020
We parked at Carillon Park along the Great Miami Valley Recreational Trail. We immediately were able to get a photo of Orville, one of two eagles nesting in a tree at the park. We biked north into Dayton and enjoyed the Metropark Giant Fountain Display in the middle of the Great Miami River. We biked northeast on a spur we had never been on and ended up at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. On the way back we passed a shuddered old 1920’s mansion. We saw several blue herons and cranes along the riverbank. It was a beautiful day for a 14 mile bike ride.
Nick & Jacque joined us a month later for the same route but we bicycled several more miles farther past WPAFB this time. It was a scenic ride as we ascended several switchbacks up to the top of Huffman Dam. We continued on another mile through a tunnel and up the steep hill to the Wright Brothers Memorial at Huffman Prairie Interpretive Center. Nearby in the park were five native American mounds (Photo#7). From the hill were great views back down at the dam, of Huffman Prairie and of Wright Patt AFB.