Hiking the Parks & Preserves of Ohio
When we visited Holden Arboretum this past spring, we primarily visited the formal gardens. So in August we decided to go back and check out one of the nature trails. It turns out there are 19 miles (30.6 km) of hiking trails at Holden Arboretum.
Continue reading “Hiking A Nature Trail at Holden Arboretum”
I don’t know about you, but I used to think that all conifers were evergreen. Not true! The Bald Cypress is a conifer that loses its needle-like foliage every winter becoming, well, bald. But if you catch sight of one in the autumn, it’s a glorious, coppery-red.
The weekend before last Bob and I paid a visit to Great Seal State Park in Ross County, Ohio. This 1862-acre park features 5 miles of nature trail plus an additional 17 miles of multi-use trails that may be used for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. The central feature of the park is a line of hills that are depicted on the Great Seal of Ohio.
Sunday we visited Char-Mar Ridge Preserve in Delaware County to enjoy the cool autumn weather and the last of the fall color. So without further ado, here are our pictures of Char-Mar Ridge.
It was cool and sunny on Saturday morning so we decided to take a look at fall foliage at Rock Stalls. Rock Stalls is a privately owned nature sanctuary run by Camp Akita. It is open to the public, and we last visited the site in February. It is a box canyon crisscrossed by small streams. There are also several, seasonal waterfalls along the rim.
Continue reading “Autumn Visit to Rock Stalls Natural Sanctuary”
I became aware that there was a white hummingbird in central Ohio due to a post by Jim McCormac on his blog, Ohio Birds and Biodiversity. The bird is hanging around the herb garden of Inniswood Metro Gardens in Westerville, Ohio where there are still some flowers in bloom. After being spotted, someone put up a hummingbird feeder for it. I drove over there today to see if it was still there, and was I in for a treat!
Continue reading “White (Leucistic) Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Inniswood Gardens”
One of my favorite places to enjoy the fall colors in central Ohio is Christmas Rocks State Nature Preserve in Fairfield County. My friend, Connie, and I went hiking there Tuesday. The best view is at the cliff on the Jacob’s Ladder Trail. Here’s what it was like.
Continue reading “Autumn Visit to Christmas Rocks State Nature Preserve”
Sunday was a cool and sunny autumn day. Bob and I decided it would be a great day to check out the fall color at Scioto Trail State Park. There are two sites at Scioto Lake where you can get a view of the surrounding forests from up high. One is the park’s fire tower and the other is a place known as the Vista. In both cases there is parking right at the site, so you don’t have to do any hiking to take advantage of the view. But of course if you decide to go to the fire tower there is a long climb up the stairs. The enclosed structure at the top is closed to the public, so the idea is to climb to the topmost landing on the stairs.
We’ve visited Burr Oak several times over the years. On our first trip to Burr Oak we had scheduled a week of camping. In our family, this became known as the “Rain Drenched Burr Oak Camping Trip”. On the plus side, I learned to cook meals over a camp stove in the rain. (Hint: use flint and steel to ignite the burner. Works better than rain-soaked matches).
This past weekend we went back to our favorite spots for fall foliage in northeast Ohio: Mohican State Park and Malabar Farm. At Mohican we stopped at Pleasant Hill Dam. We photographed the foliage in the Clear Fork Gorge on one side of the dam and along Pleasant Hill Lake on the other. Lots of people were taking advantage of the wonderful weather to sight-see, hike, or boat on the lake. We then drove over to Mohican Lodge for lunch and a short walk from the lodge over to the lake.
