Posted in Hiking, Park review, Southwestern Ohio

Davey Woods

This nature preserve features old growth forest and hilly terrain. Set in the middle of an agricultural region, it’s a peaceful area with one of the best wooded lots in the vicinity. There are two trails at the park: Conrad Trail (1.4 miles) and the Short Loop Trail (0.6 miles). The trail seemed well maintained; although, there was a portion of the trail that was quite narrow making it difficult to pass without touching the surrounding vegetation. The preserve’s official site states that you can have a summer’s walk in Davey Woods without being troubled by mosquitoes and that seems to be a truthful claim. 🙂 While I was there a jogger was taking advantage of the packed dirt trail.

A mature tree towering above the surrounding canopy.


Here’s a sample of what you can see from the trail.

View of trail
View of trail
View of trail
Really large tree
Each of the trees in this group were really large.

The official site also states that the park has a variety of spring wildflowers. I visited the site during the first week in June, so I was a bit too late to enjoy these. While I was there the most common flowers were Broad-leaf Waterleaf and Wild Garlic. There was a small patch of nodding trillium near the trail, but they were already past their prime. I also saw many instances of Solomon’s Plume, but these were already bearing fruit.

At the preserve’s entrance, there is a parking lot, but no other amenities (no picnic tables, no rest facilities). From the parking lot, follow a mown path to a kiosk. At the kiosk you can go to the left to reach the trail head for either Conrad Trail or the Short Loop Trail. Or at the kiosk you can go to the right to pick up Conrad Trail from the other end.

View from the Parking lot. Follow the mown path.
Go right or left to take Conrad Trail. Go left to take the Short Loop Trail.
If you went left from the kiosk you ended up at this bridge which crosses a ravine. It is a trailhead for either of the two trails.
After crossing the ravine I recommend going left. This takes you over the portion of the Conrad Trail which coincides with the Short Loop Trail. When you reach the next trail branch, going right will finish up the Short Loop Trail and lead back to this bridge. Otherwise continue on the Conrad Trail which will lead to the kiosk.

Across the road from the preserve’s parking lot is a farm.

The scene across the road. We’ve had beautiful clouds like this almost all summer, but very little rain.
Additional information




Location

Davey Woods is off Lonesome Road in St Paris, Ohio. It’s 7 miles west of Urbana. To get there from Urbana take U.S. Rte 36, proceed 1 mile north on Neal Rd, then 1/2 mile west on Smith Rd, and northwest on Lonesome Rd to the preserve entrance that’s marked on the map below.


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4 thoughts on “Davey Woods

  1. We were impressed by the lack of bush honeysuckle. There were scattered seedlings and some more on the ridge with the Pence graves but generally very clear. Yea!

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