Tinkers Creek State Nature Preserve is a 786 acre preserve straddling the border of Portage and Summit counties. It features 2.2 miles of trails that provide scenic views of several ponds and wetlands.
From the parking area, a short trail (0.2 mile) leads by a pond and then continues on to an observation deck overlooking a wetland. This short trail is about a quarter mile long. From the observation deck we saw a tree with a large nest in the distance. The nest is an active eagle's Read more ➜ Tinkers Creek State Nature Preserve
Tinkers Creek State Nature Preserve is a 786 acre preserve straddling the border of Portage and Summit counties. It features 2.2 miles of trails that provide scenic views of several ponds and wetlands.
From the parking area, a short trail (0.2 mile) leads by a pond and then continues on to an observation deck overlooking a wetland. This short trail is about a quarter mile long. From the observation deck we saw a tree with a large nest in the distance. The nest is an active eagle's Read more ➜ 
Bob and I have hiked many trails in the nature preserves and parks of Ohio. However the state of Ohio also has designated "State Wildlife Areas" that are under the management of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. These are important areas for hunting and fishing in Ohio, but they aren't usually geared toward hiking and most of them lack trails. However some of these State Wildlife Areas do have trails, especially those that are good sites for birding.
In our last post I discussed a visit 
I am an aspiring birder; actually, I seem to be perpetually stuck at the "beginning birder" level. I enjoy and recognize the birds that frequent my backyard feeding station. And when hiking, I enjoy listening to birdsong and calls... but I rarely catch sight of those singing birds. Most of the time they seem to be perched high above me and hidden by the tree's foliage. However in Ohio there is an annual birding event called, The Biggest Week in American Birding, and this year I decided to give it 
Marblehead Lighthouse State Park is a 9 acre state park containing the oldest lighthouse in continuous operation in the United States. The lighthouse is located on the Marblehead Peninsula on the shoreline of Lake Erie.
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is part of a chain of five giant fresh water lakes formed during the end of the last Ice Age. With a surface area of 9,910 square miles (25,700 km2), it is the world's eleventh largest lake in terms of surface area and twelfth in terms of volume. 
The Lakeside daisy is Ohio's rarest, native plant species. This plant only grows in four areas. Its largest population is in Ohio's Marblehead peninsula, part of Ottawa County. This is where the Lakeside Daisy State Nature Preserve is located. Lakeside daisies are also found in Michigan's upper peninsula, and in Ontario, Canada they can be found in the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island.
Lakeside daisies are the only representatives of their genus that live east of the Mississippi. 
Two thousand years ago, the Hopewell people built a massive earthwork enclosing a 40-acre hilltop in southwest Ohio. This earthwork which resembles a fort was later dubbed Fort Hill.
Today Fort Hill is a 1,200 acre preserve owned by the Ohio Historical Society and operated by the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System. The preserve features 11 miles of hiking trails, a small museum, a parking area, picnic shelters, and rest rooms.
Fort Trail
We visited the preserve last September 
Fen habitats are America's most diverse habitat for vegetation, and many rare plants are found in fens. A fen is a type of wetland formed when water bubbles up from an underlying aquifer via an Artesian well or seep. In the case of Gallagher Fen, the water emerges from a hillside seep because two aquifers intersect nearby increasing the underground water pressure. Since the water is emerging from deep within the earth through limestone gravel dumped by glaciers during the last Ice Age, the water