Boord State Nature Preserve

Falls Run after a drought-stricken summer.

We visited Boord nature preserve on a rainy afternoon in early September. Boord is a small 127 acre preserve in Washington county. The preserve is a few miles down a gravel one lane township road (TR-69). A brown sign identifies it as “Boord State Nature Preserve” and there is a small gravel parking lot and kiosk adjacent to the road.

The trailhead is to the left of the “Boord” sign at the rear of the parking lot.

Looking across the gravel road from the parking lot.

The preserve has a 3/4 mile loop trail. A light rain had begun and we donned our ponchos and started down the trail. A mown path through some shrubbery soon yields to a white pine plantation.

Mown path through shrubbery.

Walking through the pine plantation.

The trail next enters a deciduous forest and crossed some small hills. The forest transitions to a hemlock forest. The trail skirts the edge of a sandstone ravine with a seasonal waterfall (pictured at top). A small observation deck overlooks the sandstone gorge lined with hemlock and containing a small creek.

The trail parallels the gorge going upstream for a while and then heads back to the parking lot. While we were hiking in the rain, Deb still managed to photograph a few wildflowers.