We visited the 1,900 acre Englewood Metropark in the Dayton area during the summer to hike and view three small waterfalls. Englewood is located just northwest of Dayton near Dayton Airport. It is part of Montgomery County’s Five Rivers MetroParks. The park is named for the Englewood dam on the Stillwater River which flows through the park. The lake created by the dam is known as the Englewood Recreation Reservoirm.
Englewood offers a variety of recreational activities including fishing, bird-watching, bicycling, canoeing, disc golf, bridle trails, and fossil collecting. There are numerous picnic shelters and play areas for children. During our visit we hiked a portion of thepark’s 8.4 miles of trails.
We drove around stopping at a few areas of the park to take photographs. Then we parked near a picnic shelter off Patty Road. For our hike, we followed the yellow trail and a part of the green trail in order to pass by three, small waterfalls.
We started at the trail head across the street from the Patty Road picnic area. The trails are well marked with color coded posts. We proceeded through forest on the yellow trail and then switched to the green trail towards our first waterfall destination. Along the way we encountered a box turtle happily munching vegetation along the trail.
Martindale Falls was the largest of the three waterfalls. We heard the falls before turning a bend and seeing it. After taking some time to view the falls, we backtracked and headed towards Patty Falls via the green trail. Along the way, we passed through a pumpkin ash and swamp forest. The wetland contains black ash, swamp white oak, and the rare (in Ohio) pumpkin ash. For the convenience of hikers, the trail has a lengthy boardwalk through the swamp forest.
Eventually we came to a forest valley. We crossed a bridge over a stream and descended stairs adjacent to a rock outcropping to reach a viewing area for our second waterfall – Patty Falls.
We then continued on to the our final destination. Continuing on the green trail we once again crossed Patty Road. After a while we reached a bridge over the final and smallest of the three waterfalls – Oak Falls. Then back to the picnic area and our car.
Englewood offers many additional miles of trail, and the trails appear to be wide and well-maintained. Like many parks there were benches along the way, but unlike most parks, Englewood has installed a number of bench-style swings, sort of like porch swings. For additional recreation opportunities, you can also check out Aullwood Garden MetroPark which is adjacent to Englewood.
Below are a few of the summertime flowers we saw in the park.
Additional information
- TrekOhio: Montgomery County Parks & Preserves — This is the county where Englewood Metro Park is located; check out this page for links to the official website and for more information about nearby parks and preserves.
- TrekOhio: Miamisburg Mound
- TrekOhio: Waterfalls!!!
Location
- National Road Entrance
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- Address: 4361 National Rd, Vandalia, Ohio 45377
- GPS Coordinates: 39.87557,-84.2843045
- Google Maps: View on map or get directions
- Pattys Road Entrance (trailhead for our hike)
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- Address: 930 Pattys Rd, Vandalia, OH 45377; note that Patty’s Road is one way; enter via National Road
- GPS Coordinates: 39.883832, -84.281610
- Google Maps: View on map or get directions
More on Waterfalls
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