Posted in Hiking, Park review, Southwestern Ohio

Chalet Nivale Preserve

Posted on by Deb Platt

Chalet Nivale Preseve is a 106-acre preserve in Adams County that is owned and managed by the non-profit organization, the Arc of Appalachia. The preserve contains two feeder streams that are part of the Scioto Brush Creek Watershed; these feeder streams are among the highest water quality streams in the state of Ohio. By protecting the woodlands around these feeder streams, their exceptional water quality goes on to enhance the water quality of Scioto Brush Creek.

Recreational hikers have three trails to choose from at the preserve. Two of these trails are located near the feeder streams, while the third passes through a meadow. I haven’t seen any report on total mileage, but we are estimating about three miles for the entire trail system. A large variety of spring wildflowers can be observed near the woodland trails. The trail system crosses the streams at various points, so some wading is required (note that the streams are relatively shallow).

Rock formation near the Early Buttercup Trail

Continue reading “Chalet Nivale Preserve” →

Posted in Birds, Current events, Park visit

An Osprey Sharing Its Catch… or Maybe Not

Posted on by Deb Platt

Earlier this week we stopped by the Hoover Mudflats Boardwalk to view the osprey nesting platforms. We had been checking the platforms on and off for a few weeks, and they had been completely bare. But to our delight when we went to the boardwalk this week, both platforms had nests.

Osprey perched on roost over nest (click on any photo to see a large version)

Continue reading “An Osprey Sharing Its Catch… or Maybe Not” →

Posted in Hiking, Northeastern Ohio, Park review

Hinckley Reservation: Whipps Ledges and Spillway Beach

Posted on by Deb Platt

Hinckley Reservation is one of sixteen parks that make up the Cleveland Metropark system. The 2,803-acre park is located in Hinckley Township, primarily in Medina County. The park contains nearly twenty miles of trail for those on foot and six miles of bridle trail. There is a 90-acre lake (Hinckley Lake) within the park and two smaller fishing ponds; there is also an 80 by 100 foot stainless steel pool near the lake. Besides hiking, the area offers opportunities to fish, boat and swim. In the winter, visitors can ice skate, or they can go sledding on the sledding hill. Hinckley Reservation is also home to the annual festival known as Buzzard’s Day which celebrates the return of the turkey vulture to the area around mid-March.

This is a huge park, and we only explored a tiny portion of it, focusing on Whipp’s Ledges. However we also stopped by the Spillway Beach and one of the park’s overlooks of the lake. In the future we hope to check out some of the other trails.

Whipp’s Ledges at Hinckley Reservation

Continue reading “Hinckley Reservation: Whipps Ledges and Spillway Beach” →

Posted in Flowers, Hiking, Northwestern Ohio, Park review

Goll Woods State Nature Preserve

Posted on by Deb Platt

Goll Woods State Nature Preserve is a 321-acre preserve in Fulton County with 5.25 miles of trail. The trail system approaches the Tiffin River in two places, and it also passes by the Goll Cemetery and the preserve office for the Northwest Preserve District. One hundrd acres of the preserve are old growth forest (sometimes referred to as “virgin woods”). Some of the trees in this region are up to 400 years old and have reached a diameter of 4 feet. Among the largest trees are bur oak, white oak, chinquapin oak, and cottonwood. This preserve is also renowned for the number and variety of spring wildflowers found there.

Passing by spring wildflowers and a bench on the Tuliptree Trail

Continue reading “Goll Woods State Nature Preserve” →

Posted in Hiking, Northeastern Ohio, Park review

Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve

Posted on by Deb Platt

Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve occupies 646 acres and contains about four miles of trail; it was Ohio’s first state nature preserve. It is located in Lake County at Mentor, Ohio which is about forty miles east of Cleveland. The preserve is just southwest of Headlands Beach State Park.

Large, open area of water viewed from the Wake Robin Boardwalk

Continue reading “Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve” →

Posted in Central Ohio, Hiking

Indianfield Bluffs Park

Posted on by Deb Platt

Indianfield Bluffs Park is a small, but scenic park in the Knox County Park District. It is 25.5 acres in size with a 1.5-mile, double loop trail. Since hikers will have to repeat sections of the trail if they walk its entire length, it ends up being a longer hike than that. The GPS trace for our hike at Indianfield Bluffs indicated that we had walked about 2.4 miles. The trail is marked with blue blazes. Pets are permitted in the park if they are kept on leashes and if the owner cleans up after them. Properly-licensed people may also go fishing here.

The park gets its name after a creek that runs through the park known as Indianfield Run. And the creek gets its name because the Native Americans who used to live here had cleared the land in this area to grow corn crops. Indianfield Run empties its water into the Kokosing State Scenic River within the park’s boundaries.

Trail near the bluff overlooking the Kokosing River

Continue reading “Indianfield Bluffs Park” →

Posted in Hiking, Park review, Southeastern Ohio

Zaleski State Forest: Moonville Tunnel

Posted on by Deb Platt
History and Lore

Moonville was a coal-mining town founded in the middle of the nineteenth century in Vinton County. Its population peaked in 1870 when about 100 people lived there, after which it declined. The last family in Moonville left in 1947. Moonville’s nearest neighbor was the town of Hope, but even Hope was many miles away. To connect the two towns a railroad was laid. During the course of its construction, it was also necessary to build bridges over creeks and to excavate Moonville Tunnel to pass through a nearby hillside.

Looking out of Moonville Tunnel

Continue reading “Zaleski State Forest: Moonville Tunnel” →

Posted in Hiking, Park review, Southeastern Ohio

Strouds Run State Park: Rockhouse Trail

Posted on by Deb Platt

Bob and I had really wanted to explore the Rockhouse Trail, so we could view Turtlehead Cave. This past September we decided to make that happen by combining this trail with several others to come up with a loop hike that was about 5 miles in length. Our hike took us through a variety of different parks and preserves in quick succession. We began in Sells Park and passed through the Dale and Jackie Riddle State Nature Preserve, as well as the City of Athens Preserve Land until we came to Strouds Run State Park where much of our hike took place.

Turtlehead Cave with Deb providing scale

Continue reading “Strouds Run State Park: Rockhouse Trail” →

Posted in Hiking

TrekOhio Highlights of 2016

Posted on by Bob Platt

It’s the end of an interesting year of exploring Ohio’s parks and preserves. So it’s time once agains for the 2016 edition of TrekOhio Highlights. When the two of us have different selections for a category, we will list both choices.

Favorite Photo

Deb: My favorite photo was from Mohican State Park in Winter. Like a lot of other people, I sometimes find it difficult to leave the cozy warmth of home in the winter time, but once I get outside, sites like this make it all worthwhile.

Base of Big Lyons Falls.

Bob: My favorite photo was taken while hiking the Morgan Sisters Trail in the Ironton Unit of Wayne National Forest. It was so cloudy during this hike, but just before we left the sun came out and lit up Kenton Lake.

Kenton Lake in Wayne National Forest

Continue reading “TrekOhio Highlights of 2016” →

Posted in Hiking, Park review, Southeastern Ohio

Zaleski State Forest: The Backpack Trail from Hope Schoolhouse

Posted on by Deb Platt

We enjoy staying at Lake Hope State Park, and we are always looking for new places to hike in the vicinity. Since the state park is adjacent to Zaleski State Forest, we sometimes take advantage of one of the backpacking trails at Zaleski. During this trip we decided to do a day hike from the trailhead that begins to the rear of Hope Schoolhouse. Our plan is to hike from point “A” on the trail map to the campsite at point “C”. The one-way distance from “A” to “C” is a little under 3 miles, so by retracing our path from “C” to “A” we enjoyed a nice day hike that was a bit less than 6 miles. We went on this particular hike on Thanksgiving weekend. Since the leaves had already dropped, we had an excellent view of the surrounding terrain.

Trailhead Kiosk; you can see a hunter on the mown path to the right of the kiosk

Our hike follows along the ridgeline on the hills that can be seen above the kiosk.
Continue reading “Zaleski State Forest: The Backpack Trail from Hope Schoolhouse” →