Smith Cemetery State Nature Preserve is a remnant of the Darby Plains prairie. While most of Ohio's prairies were converted into farmland, its status as a 19th-century pioneer cemetery meant that the land was never cultivated. Fortunately this has allowed it to preserve the original prairie grasses and wildflowers. The is a one acre preserve is located in Madison County.
We visited three prairie remnants west of Columbus on the same day: Smith Cemetery State Nature Preserve, Bigelow Cemetery Read more ➜ Smith Cemetery State Nature Preserve
Smith Cemetery State Nature Preserve is a remnant of the Darby Plains prairie. While most of Ohio's prairies were converted into farmland, its status as a 19th-century pioneer cemetery meant that the land was never cultivated. Fortunately this has allowed it to preserve the original prairie grasses and wildflowers. The is a one acre preserve is located in Madison County.
We visited three prairie remnants west of Columbus on the same day: Smith Cemetery State Nature Preserve, Bigelow Cemetery Read more ➜ 
The Ledge Trail is located in the Virginia Kendall Unit of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The trail follows along the sandstone cliffs that make up Ritchie Ledges. The trail map at the kiosk says that the Ledges trail is a 1.8-mile loop. However, I have seen numerous other sites on the web say the trail is 2.2 miles. According to park officials it is a moderately difficult trail to hike. If the loop isn't enough of a work-out, there are connector trails leading to other, nearby trails, so you 
We recently visited Robinson Falls (aka "Corkscrew Falls") at Boch Hollow State Nature Preserve. The waterfall is located off-trail at the preserve, so we obtained a free permit from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to visit the falls. Along with the permit, they sent us a map showing the falls, where to park, directions, and preserve rules.
The ODNR-provided map directed us to a small pull-off from the road that holds a couple of cars. We located the trail-head across the 
Last summer we visited two of Ohio's smallest state nature preserves: Bigelow Cemetery and Smith Cemetery. Within these two preserves are remnants of prairie that once extended over 5% of Ohio. Because both sites were 19th century cemeteries, they were undisturbed by the plowing that converted 99% of this rich, prairie soil into Ohio farmland. Today I will discuss the half-acre Bigelow Cemetery State Nature Preserve, and I'll save the nearby Smith Cemetery State Nature Preserve for a later post. 
Hell Hollow Wilderness Area is one of the sites owned and operated by the Lake County park district (Lake Metroparks). It is 783 acres in size, with a total trail length of just 0.65 miles. However, it is nonetheless a strenuous hike due to the 262-step stairway that leads to the base of the ravine in Hell Hollow. On the return-trip that's an impressive number of steps to climb. Hell Hollow got its name because of how challenging it is to climb out of the ravine. Another Lake County park, Penitentiary 
Update: 02/12/019: Note that the following article was published in the summer of 2016 and describes our experiences when visiting Mt. Gilead State Park. The dams have been repaired and other renovations have occurred since then. A 2014 new release by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources itemizes the planned renovations. It is my understanding that all these renovations have since been completed.
Mount Gilead is a 191 acre state park in central Ohio which offers some nice hiking trails as well 
Indian Mound Reserve is a 169-acre park that's managed by the Greene County park district. We were very favorably impressed by the park's historic and natural features. Among the historic features are:
Williamson Mound: a Native American, earthen mound constructed by the Adena culture between 500 B.C. and 100 A.D.
Pollock Works: a Native American, earthen wall constructed by the Hopewell culture between 100 B.C. and 500 A.D.
A historic log cabin that's currently being renovated
A dam created 
A few weeks ago on a warm winter weekend, we visited Dundee Falls. The waterfall is located in the Beach City Wildlife Area near the town of Dundee, OH. We parked in a dirt and gravel parking area off of Dundee Wilmot Road. An unmarked path at one end of the parking lot led to a stream valley. We turned right and continued down the path a short ways till we heard the sound of falling water.
The path leads to the top of the falls. On the right side of the falls (same side as the parking area) a 
We attended the 40th Annual Malabar Farm Maple Syrup Festival on Saturday March 5th. From the parking area participants queued for a ride by horse drawn wagon to the festival which was centered around the Malabar Farm sugar shack. There were a variety of wagons available for transporting visitors, some with benches and others with hay bales for seating. The wagons were 2HP - each being drawn by two large draft horses. The horses and wagons were provided by volunteers from the Central Ohio Draft Horse 
Paine Falls Park is a 377 acre Lake County Metro Park located in Painesville, OH. We visited the park last September.
From the parking area a one tenth mile trail descends a couple of flights of stairs to a viewing area for the waterfall. The park features a restroom and a picnic shelter.
Additional information
Lake County Parks & Preserves — This is the location of Paine Falls; check out this page for links to the official site and for information