If you didn’t know better, you’d think Columbus, Ohio was an ordinary, nondescript Midwestern City. Flat, featureless, basically a slightly bigger Indianapolis with more road construction. That would be wrong. Columbus is actually a vibrant metropolis, with ample diversity, a lively nightlife, plenty of sports, and a variety of other recreation and cultural outlets. It also has a spectacular array of parks within a short drive of the Ohio State campus and downtown, with the Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks (metroparks.net) leading the way.
During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, going to an outdoor park is one of the only safe things to do, and it’s among the most fun things to do whether there’s a pandemic or not.
More Than 20 Metro Parks
Following is a rundown of the Metro Parks that surround Columbus, nearly all of them just outside the I-270 Outerbelt. (For space reasons, we’re not listing them all, though this is the great majority of them.)
• Battelle Darby Creek. Located in Galloway, Ohio, southwest of Columbus (1775 Darby Creek Dr., Galloway OH). This park boasts more than 7,000 acres of forest, prairies and wetlands. Its centerpiece is the 13-mile stretch of the Big and Little Darby creeks, both state and national Scenic Rivers. Aside from the areas that straddle the creeks, the park features more than 1,600 acres of restored prairies and wetlands. And a special attraction, bison that have been reintroduced roam in two large enclosed pastures. The park also has a nature center, two picnic shelters and a lodge that holds 72 people (when there’s no pandemic afoot). Several trails of varying difficulty and distance also wind through the park.
• Blacklick Woods. Located in Reynoldsburg, an eastern suburb of Columbus, this Metro Park (6975 & 7309 E. Livingston Avenue, Reynoldsburg) comprises 643 acres of woods, fields, seasonal wetlands/ponds, a small prairie and a golf course. It boasts one of the last quality beech-maple forests in Central Ohio, along with what promotional material calls a “buttonbush swamp.” Multiple trails wind through a swamp forest with oaks, elm, red maple, bitternut hickory, shagbark and dogwood. The Blacklick Woods Golf Course is set on a 235-acre section of the park, which Audubon International has certified as a Cooperative Sanctuary (for comprehensive environmental management and protection of wildlife habitats).
• Blendon Woods. This Metro Park (4265 E. Dublin-Granville Road, Westerville) contains “spectacular stream-cut ravines with exposed ripple rock sandstone and open fields surrounded by beech-maple and oak-hickory forests,” according to the www.metroparks.net website. In this park, with its 653 acres, one can view a wide variety of songbirds, waterfowl and other wildlife, including a flock of wild turkeys that’s usually roaming around hunting for food. The 118-acre Walden Waterfowl Refuge with the 11-acre Thoreau Lake as its central feature, provides a sanctuary for hundreds of birds, ducks and other wildlife. They can be viewed from two elevated observation shelters with spotting scopes.
• Chestnut Ridge. Located in Carroll, southeast of Columbus (8445 Winchester Road NW, Carroll), this park reputedly is perched on the first ridge in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains (though that designation depends on your vantabe point). The ridge rises to about 1,116 feet. “Black oak, shagbark hickory and northern red oak trees grow on the upper slopes of the ridge and enhance the woodland beauty of the 486-acre park. Sugar maples and American beech are plentiful on the lower slopes,” according to metroparks.net.
• Clear Creek. Located near Rockbridge, just southeast of Lancaster, this Metro Park (23233 Clear Creek Road, Rockbridge) boasts 5,300 acres of woodland interspersed with sandstone cliffs, ravines and creeks. More than 2,200 species of plants and animals call this park their home, which is also the site of Ohio’s largest nature preserve. During the pandemic, Clear Creek served as a popular outdoor meeting spot for southeast Ohio families reconnecting with family members living in the Columbus metro area, with a gentle trail set alongside pristine Clear Creek. Trails also wind up into the hills in the park.
• Glacier Ridge. Located northwest of Columbus (9801 Hyland Croy Road, Plain City), this 1,037-acre park was named for the remnants of glaciers that retreated north between 12,000 and 17,000 years ago. Park goers can walk a boardwalk through the Honda Wetlands Area or view the area from atop a 25-food observation tower.
• Highbanks. Located north of the I-270 Outerbelt, this park (9466 U.S. Rt. 23 N., Lewis Center) got its name from the impressive 100-foot shale bluff that overlooks the Olentangy Scenic River. Streams that flow into the river have cut deep ravines through the eastern part of the 1,160-acre park. The park has numerous trails of varying lengths, shelters (both reservable and non-reservable) and a nature center.
• Inniswood Metro Gardens. This park attraction in northwest Columbus (940 S. Hempstead Road, Westerville) has 121 acres of streams and woodlands graced with wildflowers and wildlife, providing a gorgeous backdrop to artistically landscaped areas. The Gardens feature more than 2,000 acres of plants, special collections and themed gardens,
• Pickerington Ponds. Located southwest of Columbus, this Metro Park (7680 Wright Road, Canal Winchester) is a local hotspot for bird-watching, boasting in excess of 260 species of birds. It has seasonal ponds and ample wetland vegetation, and is an attraction for migrating waterfowl, land birds and shore birds. A variety of other wildlife can be spotted in and around the woods and fields of this 1,608-acre park.
• Prairie Oaks. This 2,123-acre Metro Park, located west of Columbus (3225 Plain City-Georgesville Road, West Jefferson), is graced by almost 500 acres of “lush flowering prairies and grasslands that were restored using seeds native to the Darby Plains,” according to metroparks.net. “The spectacular scenery of the Big Darby State and National Scenic River… provides a beautiful backdrop for outdoor adventure along with several deep lakes.”
• Rocky Fork. Another Metro Park located in Westerville, Rocky Fork (7180 Walnut St.), Rocky Fork sports more than 1,000 acres of fields and woods, with a horse trail, a dog park and off-the-leash dog trail, a paved path and various nature trails. As one might guess, Rocky Fork runs through the park, which is managed through a civil partnership of local communities.
• Scioto Audubon: This park, located on the Scioto River just south of downtown (400 W. Whittier St.), is described by metroparks.net as a “green oasis where wildlife and birds thrive and flourish,” despite being a former “industrial landscape” and a “blighted brownscape.” The 120-acre park is the result of a partnership comprising Metro Parks, the city of Columbus and Ohio Audubon.
• Scioto Grove. Located in Grove City, due south of Columbus, this park (5172 Jackson Pike, Grove City) offers five backpacking trailheads and seven miles of trail through woods and beside the Scioto River.
• Sharon Woods. This park, another located in Westerville in east Columbus (6911 Cleveland Ave.), offers woods and pastures, with an 11-acre lake, a lodge, several shelters and six different hiking trails of varying lengths. Within the park is the Edward Thomas Nature Preserve, graced by numerous seasonal pools and seasonal habitat for a variety of amphibians and other wildlife.
• Slate Run. This 1,705-acre Metro Park is located southeast of Columbus in Canal Winchester (1375 Ohio Rt. 674). It boasts a range of habitats, including open grasslands, wetlands and meadows, as well as forests with a variety of trees. Sandhill cranes can be viewed in the park, as well as northern bobwhite quail. On site is the Slate Run Living Historical Farm, which recaptures what farmlife was like here in the 1880s.
• Three Creeks. This Metro Park (3860 Bixby Road, Groveport) is named for the joining of Alum, Blacklick and Big Walnut creeks at its location straddling the Outerbelt just southeast of Columbus. It’s a birdwatchers’ paradise, with more than 100 species of birds sighted at one time or another, along with deer, beaver, mink and coyotes. The 1,100-acre park is a joint project of Metro parks and the Columbus Parks & Rec Department.
• Walnut Woods. Another Metro Park located in Groveport, Walnut Woods (6723 Lithopolis Road) boasts 1,170 acres of woods and fields, with Walnut Creek forming its northern border. Within the park, the Tall Pines Area has towering stands of pine and sweetgum, while the Buckeye Area features long rows of old nursery trees. Restored wetlands and vernal pools also can be found.