Headlands Beach State Park contains the largest natural sand beach in the state of Ohio. The beach located on Lake Erie in Lake County has a mile of beautiful sandy beach. The park is very popular with swimmers and sun bathers in the summer.
The park is located between two state nature preserves. Southwest of the park is Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve and to the east is Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve. From the beach you can see a breakwater extending north of Headlands Dunes Read more ➜ Headlands Beach State Park – Ohio’s Largest Beach
Headlands Beach State Park contains the largest natural sand beach in the state of Ohio. The beach located on Lake Erie in Lake County has a mile of beautiful sandy beach. The park is very popular with swimmers and sun bathers in the summer.
The park is located between two state nature preserves. Southwest of the park is Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve and to the east is Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve. From the beach you can see a breakwater extending north of Headlands Dunes Read more ➜ 
We visited Boch Hollow Nature Preserve again last week. The weather was just about perfect. Here's a few pictures from our hike.
This opossum was slowly wondering up a dry stream bed when he decided to stop and pose for a picture.
Additional information
TrekOhio: Hocking County Parks & Preserves — This is the county where Boch Hollow is located; check out this page for links to the official site and for information 
We've been going to Tar Hollow for many years. Its a great place for camping. The camp sites are usually not crowded (don't tell anybody), the area is very scenic, and there are many miles of hiking trails.
Tar Hollow State Park is a 604 acre park in Ross County. It is surrounded by the 16,354 acre Tar Hollow State Forest located in Ross, Hocking, and Vinton Counties. Traversing the park and state forest is the 21 mile red-blazed Logan Backpack Trail. Built and maintained by the Boy 
Once again, a mated pair of osprey is nesting on one of the platforms at the northern end of Hoover reservoir. We observed one osprey on the perch above the nesting platform. The second osprey was in the nest doing something with the eggs or perhaps newly hatched youngsters. Periodically we would see its head or tail stick up above the nest as it moved around. But because the sides of the nests are so tall, most of the time we couldn't see it.
Photographing the osprey was a challenge 
The same day we visited Clifton Gorge, we drove 40 minutes south to Spring Valley Wildlife Area. It was a gorgeous sunny, but cool day. A perfect day for a walk around the lake and marsh at Spring Valley.
Spring Valley is an 842 acre state wildlife area on the border of Greene and Warren counties. It features an archery range, as well as shotgun, rifle and pistol ranges. It also includes a 150 acre lake and marsh with a 2.5 mile trail around it, and an extensive boardwalk leading 
Looking for a local Ohio hike longer than a day-hike but shorter than hiking the Appalachian Trail? There are several sites where you can go backpacking in Ohio, ranging from overnight trips to trips of several days.
Northeast Ohio
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
This is the only national park in Ohio. The Cuyahoga Valley National Park features a 19-mile hiking trail along a former Erie Canal towpath. Camping facilities are available for backpackers along the trail. The park service 
Test your Hocking Hills IQ. How many locations in the Hocking Hills can you identify? All images in this quiz are of places located in Hocking County. View the image and see if you can identify the location. Then click the 'Show Answer' button to see if you are correct. I've also provided a link to further information if you'd like to visit the location.
The Quiz
1) One of the most visited sites in the Hocking Hills, this location was occupied in the 18th century by a hermit named Richard 
Liberty Park is a 1,908 acre park in Summit County. It features three trails totaling 3.3 miles, several sports fields, a half-acre dog park, and rest rooms. Summit Metro Parks plans to add a nature center in the future.
We'd planned a nice early spring hike in Summit County for the last Sunday in March, but Mother Nature had other plans. We'd driven to Summit County the prior day encountering rain most of the way. Overnight the rain changed to hail and then snow. We awoke to a cold, 
The Ohio outdoors is relatively tame, but there are still hazards that pose a danger to hikers and others who enjoy the outdoors. This is a continuation of my prior article; Hazards of the Ohio Outdoors: Part 1. I'll discuss additional hazards and how to avoid them.
Weather
Weather can pose a hazard to hikers. The most severe weather you're likely to find in Ohio is a tornado. Fortunately, tornadoes effect a relatively small area, so your chances of encountering one during a hike 
The Ohio outdoors is relatively tame compared to other parts of the country. We have no mountains, no swamps with large carnivorous reptiles, no blistering hot deserts, and no oceans. Still there are dangers facing the unwary and people do get killed and injured in the Ohio outdoors. The purpose of this article is to discuss some of those dangers as well as ways to mitigate them.
Dangerous Cliffs
Ohio does not have mountains, but we do have sandstone and dolomite cliffs. A fall