On Friday (06/29/2012) violent thunderstorms with high winds swept through Ohio leaving hundreds of thousands of people without electric power. Many will not have power restored for a week. The storm damage was due to a phenomenon that meteorologists call a 'derecho'. A derecho is a sustained, straight-line, strong wind accompanying severe thunderstorms. Wind speeds of 82 MPH were measured at Don Scott Field in NW Columbus (that's hurricane force).
Early Sunday morning, we drove to Read more ➜ Windstorm Update
On Friday (06/29/2012) violent thunderstorms with high winds swept through Ohio leaving hundreds of thousands of people without electric power. Many will not have power restored for a week. The storm damage was due to a phenomenon that meteorologists call a 'derecho'. A derecho is a sustained, straight-line, strong wind accompanying severe thunderstorms. Wind speeds of 82 MPH were measured at Don Scott Field in NW Columbus (that's hurricane force).
Early Sunday morning, we drove to Read more ➜ 
It had been a good hike so far. During the past several miles, we had enjoyed seeing rocky outcroppings, mature trees, and carpets of ferns. As we climbed a steep hill toward the top of the ridgeline, the trail widened and grew brighter. Distant buzzards soared effortlessly in the bright, blue sky. We found ourselves standing on a rocky cliff. A few hundred feet below, forest stretched out to the horizon. It sounds a bit like the Hocking Hills, doesn't it? But it wasn't. It was Christmas Rocks.
Christmas 
The Earl H Barnhart "Buzzards Roost" Nature Preserve is a large (1330 acres) preserve run by Ross County Park district. We visited in the early afternoon on a hot sunny day in late May. The preserve is on a plateau that ends in a cliff overlooking the Paint Creek valley.
There's so little information about this nature preserve online that we are including more than the usual number of photos to give prospective hikers a better idea of what it's like.
There are two trails at 
Scioto Trail State Park is located in the forested hills of Ross County in southern Ohio. Most of the trails are near the Caldwell Lake. The day we were there, there was a fishing tournament in progress at the lake.
Just north of the lake is a campground and a small camp store. The staff were very friendly and told us the main attraction of the area was peace and quiet. She warned us that the trails were a bit overgrown and that she'd been trying (thus far unsuccessfully) to recruit 
Years ago I went canoeing on the Little Miami River; the river serenely wound its way between the wooded river banks. But at Clifton Gorge, the Little Miami River is something altogether different; it plunges over falls and rapids between narrow cliffs of dolomite and shale. The river and surrounding cliffs are the main attractions of Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve, a 268 acre preserve located adjacent to John Bryan State Park. The Little Miami River flows through both, with the nature preserve 
We only sampled a small part of the offerings at Caesar Creek State Park, but we liked what we saw! Caesar Creek caters to a diverse variety of interests. Whether you want to hike, camp, swim, fish, mountain bike, ride on a bridle trail, go boating, or even hunt fossils, Caesar Creek has it all.
The park is located just off I-71 between Columbus and Cleveland in Warren County. We visited the park after hiking at nearby Caesar Creek Gorge Nature Preserve.
The main feature of the 
The Hocking Hills is one of the most scenic areas in the state of Ohio. It is also a hiker's paradise with trails varying in difficulty from relatively easy ones (appropriate for young children) to more challenging trails that cover steep terrain or follow gorge rims.
State Park Trails
Old Man's Cave
The most popular place in the Hocking Hills is Old Man's Cave. By starting at the upper falls, you can follow a 1/2 mile loop crossing the creek downstream and see the various waterfalls, 
Caesar Creek Gorge State Nature Preserve is located in Oregonia, Ohio just west of Caesar Creek State Park and Caesar Creek Wilderness Area. The nature preserve is downstream from the dam located within the state park. We decided to hike the 2.25-mile trail at Caesar Creek Gorge State Nature Preserve because the preserve's official site stated that the cliff walls making up the gorge rise some 180 feet (54.9 m) above Caesar Creek. The cliffs were formed when huge volumes of torrential, meltwater 
The TrekOhio Guide is designed to help you find interesting, natural sites in Ohio. We wanted to create a place online where you could learn about sites that were in the same geographical region regardless of whether the park, nature preserve or trail was managed by the federal government, the state government, a county government, or a non-governmental agency. In addition we wanted the information to be accessible via your cellphone or other mobile device, so it would be easy to adjust your 
Wahkeena Nature Preserve is a hidden gem located in the SE corner of Fairfield County. The preserve lies just beyond the farthest point of glacial advance at the peak of the ice age. The word, "Wahkeena" is an Indian word meaning, "most beautiful." Given the variety of flowering shrubs and plants (including eight varieties of native orchids), this seems a very fitting name. You will see a brown sign for Wahkeena on US 33 as you head into the Hocking Hills. Wahkeena is well worth a detour.
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