Lake County's Penitentiary Glen park can easily be described as "deluxe". In addition to being endowed with natural beauty, the park has developed a number of first-rate facilities. If you enjoy hiking, as we do, you'll also appreciate its trails; they're both well-marked and well-built.
The odd name, Penitentiary Glen, has nothing to do with a prison. The centerpiece of the site is a 130-foot deep gorge. Settlers in the 1800s gave it this name due to the steep walls of the gorge. It was easy Read more ➜ Penitentiary Glen
Lake County's Penitentiary Glen park can easily be described as "deluxe". In addition to being endowed with natural beauty, the park has developed a number of first-rate facilities. If you enjoy hiking, as we do, you'll also appreciate its trails; they're both well-marked and well-built.
The odd name, Penitentiary Glen, has nothing to do with a prison. The centerpiece of the site is a 130-foot deep gorge. Settlers in the 1800s gave it this name due to the steep walls of the gorge. It was easy Read more ➜ 
Oak Openings Metro Park is a 4,000 acre metro park in Lucas county. It has over 30 miles of well-marked hiking trails over some of the state's most interesting and diverse terrain. It features many varieties of plants, and it is on the main path for seasonal bird migration. Oak openings also has sand dunes despite being miles from the nearest large body of water. How the sand dunes got there is an interesting story in itself.
The History and Habitat
Twenty one thousand years ago, 
The Ottawa National Wildlife Refugee is located next to Lake Erie between Magee Marsh and Metzger Marsh. It is a great place to go birding because it is another stop-over during the spring / fall bird migration, particularly for water birds in the spring. It's also a nesting / hunting area for local eagles.
Entrance to the refuge is off of State Route 2 in Ottawa County. The visitors center features a small exhibit area, conference rooms, maps of the refuge, restrooms, and a telescope 
Metzger Marsh is a 558 acre marsh bordered by Lake Erie, the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, and a canal used by private watercraft. It is a site ideal for fishing and bird watching. It's located between Maumee Bay State Park and Magee Marsh Wildlife Area.
We ended a vacation day in northwest Ohio with a post dinner drive out to Metzger Marsh. From the entrance on Bono Road, we passed a parking lot and a boat launch. An access road - Metzger Marsh State Road, parallels the marsh 
Because Maumee Bay State Park is the site of one of our state's lodge and conference centers, it offers a number of recreational opportunities. But as a nature lover, one of my favorite activities there was walking the 2-mile boardwalk through a wetland bordering Lake Erie. We visited in May while staying in the lodge. Our strolls along the boardwalk were relaxing and peaceful. They were also an opportunity to do some birdwatching and to see other wildlife like deer.
We began the boardwalk 
Nelson Kennedy Ledges is a most unusual state park located in Portage County in northeastern Ohio. The park is a relatively small 167 acres with 3 miles of trails. The main section of the park consists of a massive rock outcropping. The outcropping is cracked with narrow passages between tall cliffs, small streams flowing through them and huge slump blocks broken off of the cliff face. The trails go around, over, and through the openings and resemble an enormous stone maze.
The entrance 
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 
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 
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.