Author: Rob Taylor

I’ve been taking some of my friends on a walk that starts in Clifton, runs through Camp Washington, and then returns to Clifton.
This is something people don’t even think to do – and that makes sense. You couldn’t even make this walk a few years ago, but FOUR RECENT CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS made walking from Clifton to Camp Washington and back a breeze, allowing you to snake through in way you never would have imagined before all the construction.
The walk (or run, or bike ride) begins in the Gaslight District, dumps you off on Central Parkway, and then sends you into Camp Washington. This is a good walk because, along with getting some exercise, you get a nonstop change of scenery.
Our journey begins at the corner of Clifton Avenue and Dixmyth – right by Good Samaritan Hospital. That “multi-use path” is new, and it’s a good way to start your walk.

Dixmyth takes you to Martin Luther King, at which point you take a right – and again you find yourself on a new walkway.

Turn right at Martin Luther King

While walking down Martin Luther King, you have the option of crossing the Hopple Street Viaduct – which you can do, but it is’t safe – or veering right and exploring a new path that involves two U-turns, and Voila!, you’re on Central Parkway.

If you take a right on Central Parkway and then walk until you reach the first light, you’ll be at Monmouth. If you take a left at Monmouth, you can walk over that bridge, which now has sidewalks on both sides due to construction that has taken place within the last few years.

Once you’re in Camp Washington, there’s lots to see and do. There’s Valley Park to your left, and Camp Washington Urban Farm.

If you stay on Monmouth, you’ll run into the Sign Museum, which is very colorful, even from the outside. Those are the current hours the you see on the sign.

Monmouth ends at Spring Grove Avenue, which, if you turn left, runs you past the Rhinegeist warehouse and some old factories, some defunct, some not. I don’t always walk all the way to Spring Grove, though. Often I turn left at Colerain, where there’s more industrial scenery that includes old factories that are still operating as well as some buildings where the windows have been bricked up. I often stop to grab a coffee at Mom ‘n ’em at 3128 Colerain Avenue and continue until I get to the intersection of Colerain Avenue and Hopple Street.

I don’t recommend crossing the Hopple Street viaduct to return to Clifton – it’s a bit dicey, whereas the Monmouth bridge and the intersection crossing Central Parkway are both safe. Once you’re back on Central Parkway, if you turn left and you’ll quickly find yourself at Clifton Hills Avenue, which takes you back to Ludlow Avenue.

It’s a nice, quick, picturesque walk where the scenery keeps changing – there’s plenty of natural beauty,  you’ll see old warehouses and factories, houses, stores, a motel that may or may not be on life support, a school that’s undergoing renovation, etc., etc. It sounds like a longer walk than it is, and  you fly through the first part because you’re going downhill. The only time you walk uphill is after you turn right on Clifton Hills Avenue to get back to Clifton – but by then you’ll be looking forward to visiting Ludlow Avenue to do some shopping.