Canopy Walk is your gateway to the sky

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VIRGINIA GORDON
Communications Coordinator

A section of the Canopy Walk, including one of the three rope bridges, for the more adventurous among us. The rope bridges can be bypassed as you take the entire boardwalk loop. Photo Liz Christian

You’ve never seen anything like this at a Metro Park before. Imagine yourself walking through the tree tops, high above the earth, eyeball to eyeball with the canopy-dwelling birds, absorbing the woodland scents, while every step you take unleashes an eye-catching new vista on the surrounding forest, and you might get a first impression of the stunning experience that awaits you on your next visit to Blacklick Woods Metro Park.

The incredible Canopy Walk opened officially on Friday May 17, 2024. Hundreds of people braved the rain and attended our Grand Opening, to become the first visitors to explore the sky-piercing boardwalk, and enjoy canapés on the canopy, plus other refreshments.

If you don’t like the steps, there’s no need to take them. The elevator carries you 40 feet up to the Canopy Walk and is ideal to give wheelchair users access to the fabulous new facility. Photo Liz Christian

The wide boardwalk penetrates the sky thanks to more than 140 50-foot telephone poles, perfectly aligned to support the structure as it winds through the trees on a loop of one-eighth of a mile. The boardwalk stands 40 feet above the forest floor and the buttonbush swamp below, and it takes 72 steps on a zigzag staircase to get up there. But no worries, if that sounds too challenging for you. Mindful of accessibility, the Canopy Walk can also be reached in comfort and ease via an elevator tower. It makes the Canopy Walk freely available to wheelchair users or anyone who would find such steep step-climbing a trial. Atop the elevator tower, accessible only via another 27 steps, stands an observation platform, 55 feet in the air, providing still higher visual perspectives on the surrounding forest and park land.

The cargo net is a great place to play or simply lie back and relax. Photo Liz Christian

The Canopy Walk includes a giant cargo net that can be used for play, or simply to relax in, hammock-style. Lie back and read a book, check your phone messages, or simply chill out and experience a sense of weightlessness in the tree tops. The cargo net can host up to five people at a time. Kids will love the other play features on the Canopy Walk. As well as the easy to navigate boardwalk, the Canopy Walk includes three rope bridges, providing a little adventure for anyone so-inclined, and also includes a fireman’s pole and a treehouse for young or old to play in.

The treehouse is there to provide shade and also fun for young and old. Photo Liz Christian

The 660-foot boardwalk reaches high into the canopy of trees, which include maples, red oaks, pin oaks, beech, swamp white oaks and shagbark hickory. To keep the birds interested, Metro Parks is installing four special feeders along the Canopy Walk. A pulley system with pivoting extension arms and telescoping hooks will allow us to keep the feeders filled with thistle, sunflower seeds and suet. We expect the feeders will attract large numbers of woodpeckers, warblers, nuthatch, phoebe, tufted titmouse and vireos, amongst many other species of birds.

Here are some birds you might hope to see around the Canopy Walk. Blue-headed vireo (Mike Horn), Blackburnian warbler (Bruce Miller), phoebe (Gil Sears), red-bellied woodpecker (Terry Peck).

Metro Parks contracted with R.W. Setterlin to build the Canopy Walk. Based in Columbus and founded in 1935, Setterlin also served as the single-prime contractor for the building of the nature center at Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park. This multi-million dollar project arose from brainstorming sessions by park planners several years ago and has finally come to fruition. Following today’s opening, the fabulous Canopy Walk will be open to the public every day from 9am to 7 pm during the months April to September, and 9am to 5pm from October through March, except for scheduled closures for necessary maintenance and cleaning, on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month, when the Canopy Walk will open at noon. Come and experience the wonder of the Canopy Walk for yourself, now and often. It will never feel old!

A section of the Canopy Walk boardwalk seen from above at the observation platform. Photo Liz Christian

 

See our video: Tim Talks: Blacklick Woods Canopy Walk

48 thoughts on “Canopy Walk is your gateway to the sky”

    3. Blacklick Woods Metro Park is located at 6975 East Livingston Avenue, Reynoldsburg Ohio. It is one of 20 parks featured on the website on which you read this blog post. The Blacklick Woods park page (https://www.metroparks.net/parks-and-trails/blacklick-woods/) includes extensive details about the park, and includes a link to the park map, which shows the location of the Canopy Walk within the park.

  4. Is using a walker possible on the canopy walk? Is the beginning and ending of the walk where the elevator is located?

    1. Yes, you can use a walker on the canopy walk. From the elevator to the canopy walk is flat, with no steps intervening.

  7. I have a service dog. I will bring her. Is that an issue? I saw no animals but you might want to put Service animals are ok?

    1. Addresses for all the parks are on the separate parks’ own web page on this website. For Blacklick Woods, the address is:
      6975 East Livingston Ave., Reynoldsburg OH

    1. Hello Benny – we are actually installing a bike rack close to the canopy walk today (June 6, 2024).

    1. The hours of operation are given in the article, in the last paragraph. Those hours are 9am to 7pm, April to August, and 7am to 5pm, September to March. EDITED NOTE: since this answer was provided, and because the Canopy Walk is so heavily used, we have scheduled necessary maintenance and cleaning of the feature on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month, when the Canopy Walk will open at noon.

  11. How crowded does this get on a Sunday? I would guess the excitement has brought in many families.

    1. The first couple of weeks were exceptionally busy, as people came out to try the new feature. The Canopy Walk is very popular and visitor numbers are still high, but there is no overcrowding. It isn’t possible to predict how many people will come out on any given day.

    1. There are accessible parking spaces in the adjacent parking lot, very close to the Canopy Walk.

    1. The Canopy Walk is open every day from 9am to 7 pm during the months April to August, and 9am to 5pm from September through March, except for scheduled closures for necessary maintenance and cleaning, on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month, when the Canopy Walk will open at noon.

  15. Is the elevator working for the Canopy Walk ? I’ve been told it hasn’t been working the last few days

    1. The elevator is currently working, but we have had issues with it recently. The company will be out on June 19 to work on the elevator to prevent these issues in the future. When it is closed, we post the information on the Blacklick Woods Metro Park social media pages.

    1. Hi Karen – the wide boardwalk of the Canopy Walk makes it ideal for strollers, and you can use the elevator to get up there. We have lots of moms and strollers on the Canopy Walk.

  17. When is the Canopy Walked closed for maintenance? It was closed Tuesday, 6/25 — is it closed every Tuesday? Monthly?
    What a wonderful place you’ve created.
    Thank you, Marilyn

    1. Hello Marilyn – sorry if you weren’t able to use the canopy walk today. As indicated in the last paragraph of the blog on which you raise your question, the canopy walk is closed from 9am to noon on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month. This is for necessary cleaning and maintenance. It is also posted on our website and social media.

    1. It’s free to enter the park and free to use the canopy walk. As well as the canopy walk there is also a nature center and lots of interesting trails through the woods and meadows. Please enjoy your visit.

  20. Are you planning on making it bigger? Longer and further into the forest? My daughter (14) and I visited on Independence Day and enjoyed it, but it was much shorter than we thought.
    Thank you, Heather

    1. The Canopy Walk is an extraordinary feature, and is already greatly beloved by visitors. There are no plans to change it.

  21. Visited for the first time today—what awesome amenities for the community, great job to all involved.

    I have a question as it relates to building code (I am a contractor in Columbus.) I noticed all post to beam connections were through-bolted with carriage bolts, which I thought was no longer allowed, but maybe there are exemptions with construction outside of residential? They were also backed up with scab blocks underneath, so I personally see no issue, but I am just curious if construction in metro parks is not bound by the same rules as residential construction.

    1. Metro Parks complies with the Ohio Building Code as administered by the State of Ohio. The canopy walk was built consistent with signed and approved engineered drawings and all applicable and necessary permits and inspections were obtained during the course of the project. The canopy walk was a design build project and our contractor engaged the services of an engineering firm with experience in construction of canopy walks and like facilities.

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