Hiking the Parks & Preserves of Ohio
We’d been looking forward to a Saturday hike, but the weather forecast called for rain. What to do? Go hiking underground! We visited Ohio Caverns, a commercial cavern open year round offering guided underground tours. Just the thing for a rainy day.
Ohio has some scenic wonders – the gorge valley at Old Man’s Cave, rapids and waterfalls at Clifton Gorge, the Glacial Grooves at Kelley’s Island. But how did it all come about? In this article I intend to cover half a billion years of geological history in 10 minutes or less and explain how Ohio became Ohio.
First of all, Ohio has no mountains. But next door in West Virginia is an ancient chain of mountains called the Appalachians that extends from Georgia to Maine. Half a billion years ago, this chain of mountains rivaled today’s Himalaya range. In southeast Ohio, you’ll find hills that comprise part of the foothills of this range. During the time period from 480 to 252 million years ago (known as the Ordovician Period and the Permian Periods) most of Ohio was the sea bottom of vast inland sea. Silt from rivers was deposited on the seabed as were the calcium rich shells and bones of sea creatures. Layers of plant matter from sea plants were also deposited. Beyond that, nothing much happened during this 200+ million year period. Aside from the huge meteor impact in southwest Ohio.
Geologists classify rocks into three broad types: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed from cooling magma, often from volcanoes. The only igneous rocks that we have in Ohio were created in Canada, then carried here by glaciers during the Ice Age. These igneious rocks that were dropped here during the ice age are called glacial erratics.
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 to enter Penitentiary Glen, but extremely difficult to leave.
You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.
— “Hotel California” by the Eagles (1977)
In the New World there are seven species of birds that belong to the vulture family. Three of these species are present in the United States: the Turkey Vulture, the Black Vulture, and the California Condor. Two of these three are present in Ohio: the Turkey Vulture and the Black Vulture.
When you think of a locale for cactus, Ohio doesn’t generally spring to mind. Texas perhaps, certainly Arizona, but not Ohio. Yet there is a species of cactus that not only grows in Ohio, but is native to the state.
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 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.
There are lots of reasons to like dragonflies. A great reason to like them is that they are voracious eaters of mosquitoes. Another is that they are one of the most skillful fliers in the animal kingdom: with their two pairs of parallel wings, they can hover or fly in any direction, even backwards or side-to-side. Dragonflies are also one of the fastest flying insects; they reach speeds up to 34 mph (a famous entomologist, Robert John Tillyard, claims to have observed one dragonfly flying at 60 mph). Their speed and agility makes them awesome aerial predators. A dragonfly captures its prey by forming a basket underneath its body with its six, hairy legs. It uses this basket to scoop mosquitoes and other insects out of the air and then the dragonfly eats its prey while flying.
Below are the blossoms of Rhododendron Maximum (also known as Great Rhododendron, Rosebay Rhododendron, American Rhododendron, Big Rhododendron, Bigleaf Laurel, Deertongue Laurel, Great Laurel, White Laurel, Rose Tree, or Rose bay). It is a shrub that is native to a few counties in southeast Ohio. In particular, it is found at two adjacent nature preserves: Rhododendron Cove and Wahkeena. We visited both to see it in bloom.
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.
