If you’re looking for ways to come out of hibernation and embrace the wonders of the season, head out to one of your 20 Metro Parks with family and friends. It’s a great time to learn about the creatures that make their homes in the parks as you hike the trails. In spring and summer, it’s not easy to see where animals traveled through the woods, but in winter, snow provides the perfect footprint of animal tracks. Practice your birding skills because there aren’t nearly as many species to see or hear and it’s easier to see them in the trees without leaves.
And if you’re the adventurous sort, there’s also plenty to do.
Metro Parks 49th Winter Hike Series is underway and runs through the end of February 2022. This is a great time to catch up with old friends and make new ones. Find details here.
When temperatures dip below freezing for several days in a row, lace up your skates and head to the ponds at Blendon Woods and Battelle Darby Creek and spend an afternoon gliding on the ice. The 3.2-mile Dyer Mill Trail at Battelle Darby Creek is clearly the best trail for cross-country skiing. It’s fairly wide and flat with a few steep hills and mostly clear of overhanging trees and winds along Little Darby Creek. Keep your eyes peeled for white-tailed deer and other wildlife.
Sledding in your Metro Parks is the perfect morning or afternoon activity for the young and young at heart. Walking up the hill after an exhilarating ride down is a great way to get some exercise.
What are the best metro parks for sledding
Sharon Woods has a large sledding hill that is a fan favorite. There are also sledding hills at Battelle Darby Creek, Blacklick Woods Golf Course, Highbanks, Scioto Audubon, Scioto Grove and Walnut Wooods.
Since there are about 5 good days of cross country skiing in central Ohio, this afternoon I went to Blacklick Woods Golf course to take advantage of this weeks weather. Unfortunately when I got there around 4:30, the gate was locked. I guess no one is sledding either. Very disappointing.