Posted in Central Ohio, Hiking, Park review

Char-Mar Ridge Preserve

Char-Mar Ridge is part of Delaware County’s preservation park system. It features a wooded trail that passes over gently rolling hills. The trail itself is packed earth and gravel that remains in good condition even when it’s rainy. A 0.25 mile trail connects the parking lot to a loop trail. The loop trail is 1.5 miles and is very popular with joggers who often do multiple laps. Like most of Delaware County’s parks, visitors are allowed to bring their leashed dogs along with them. “Mutt mitts” are provided at the entrance to facilitate clean-ups. I almost always encounter people walking their dogs there, and they have been doing a super job of keeping the trail clean.

Pond at Char-Mar Ridge.

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Posted in Birds

When birds watch you back

Isn’t this little guy charming?

We have bird feeders in our backyard. I like to sit in our breakfast nook reading or working on the computer. Then from time to time I’ll lift my head to see what birds are out there now. The feeders are located far enough away from our house to make it unlikely that a bird will strike our windows. But that means that I sometimes resort to using binoculars if I want to get a good look at a particular bird.

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Posted in Central Ohio, Hiking, Park review

Shallenberger Nature Preserve

Twenty one thousand years ago two-thirds of Ohio was covered with a thick layer of ice from the Wisconsin glacier. In what would later be Fairfield County, two adjacent knobs made of Blackhand sandstone successfully resisted this glacial onslaught. Instead of engulfing these knobs, the ice sheet flowed around them on its southward journey that stopped just short of the Hocking Hills. Today they’re known as Allen and Ruble knobs, and they’re the main attraction of the 88 acre Shallenberger State Nature Preserve.

Glacial ice flowed across the surrounding plain bypassing the sandstone knob you see in the distance.

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Posted in History, Nature, Northeastern Ohio, Park review

Malabar Farm

Malabar Farm State Park was once the home of Louis Bromfield (1896 – 1956). He was a novelist and screenplay writer. His very first novel (The Green Bay Tree) was a critical and commercial success. His third novel (Early Autumn) won Bromfield a Pulitzer Prize. He was good friends with movie star, Humphrey Bogart (deemed to be the greatest, male film star of all time by the American Film Institute). When Bogart and Lauren Bacall were making their wedding plans, Bromfield offered them the use of his farm.

Public domain photo of Bacall and Bogart from the trailer for the film, “Dark Passage”.

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Posted in Helpful hints

Ohio Archery Ranges

Interest in archery has soared since with the release of the movie The Hunger Games with its bow wielding heroine Katniss Everdeen. The archery competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics has also highlighted the sport. If you’d like to hone your bow and arrow skills without paying fees to use an archery range, consider making use one of the state’s many public ranges.

Photo courtesy of Jerry Feist, license: CC BY 2.0

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Posted in Plants and trees

Poison Ivy & Poison Sumac

Poison Ivy has climbed up this tree, but it’s also growing all over the ground to the right of the tree.
Poison Ivy has climbed up this tree, but it’s also growing all over the ground to the right of the tree.

If you hike in Ohio, sooner or later you’ll run into poison ivy or poison sumac. Probably sooner than later. They produce an irritating resin called urushiol that can produce a strong allergic reaction on contact in most people. The resin is found in all portions of the plant. Merely touching the plant can result in a rash and blisters within a few days.

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Posted in Central Ohio, Hiking, Park review

Blacklick Woods Metro Park

Blacklick Woods Metro Parks is located in Reynoldsburg, an eastern suburb of Columbus. This 634 acre park has hiking, jogging, and bicycle trails, an abundance of picnic tables and shelters, playgrounds, a golf course, and a nature center.

A mother raccoon teaches the kids to forage under the bird feeder. This was photographed while looking out of the window of the Nature Center.

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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.

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