Clifton Gorge is especially spectacular and is reached from South Jackson Street in the tiny village of Clifton (4 miles east of Yellow Springs via SR 343). A narrow canyon of the Little Miami River is framed by 110-foot, vertical limestone cliffs. This crevice, surrounded by towering 300-year-old trees, seems especially surprising in this otherwise only slightly-rolling agricultural landscape; its microclimates shelter rare plants and wildflowers.

Trails lead along the rim and down to the bottom where they wander among huge boulders. Rushing waterfalls display the concentrated power of the river here, harnessed in the early 1800s by several industrial operations. Clifton Gorge was once named by National Geographic as one of the nation’s 50 most beautiful places.

Still standing above the gorge is historic Clifton Mill, among America’s oldest and largest surviving water-powered grist mills, and home to the Millrace Restaurant.

Lebanon to Pollock

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