As the leaves turn colors, your Metro Parks transform into beautiful landscapes of reds, oranges and yellows and become the perfect backdrop for photographs.
Check out the lakes, creeks, meadows and prairies for great photo ops. Bring your camera to any Metro Park and start snapping away with gusto.
Battelle Darby Creek
Big Darby and Little Darby creeks flow through the largest Metro Park, at over 7,000 acres. You can get some great views of the creek from the Indian Ridge and Terrace trails. Jeff Sagar struck red and yellow gold on his visit to the creek. Make sure to check out the bison as well. Tina Copeland catch sight of them in a colorful fall pasture.
Clear Creek
You won’t have to search too hard to find Leaning Lena. This massive slab of sandstone leans over Clear Creek Road as you enter the park. Andrea Moore captured it cloaked in surrounding fall colors. Continue driving west along Clear Creek Road until you reach Lake Ramona, where you’ll be rewarded with a beautiful view of tall autumn trees reflected in the calm clear water, as captured by John Cagnina.
Highbanks
When Kim Strosnider stepped out onto the overlook deck behind the nature center at Highbanks, she was rewarded with a glorious view of color falling away into the ravine. A short step away from the deck is the start of the Dripping Rock Trail where Carey Sherrill snapped a majestic red-tailed hawk.
Pickerington Ponds
The wetlands are magnets for shore birds and Dan Ferrin was on the spot to find a trio of stunning egrets flying across the water, accompanied by an incongruous female mallard. Early mornings and late-afternoons conspire to present magnificent sunrises and sunsets, like the wonderful sunset captured by John Bonnett.
Three Creeks
Head out early to Heron Pond, as John Bonnett did, and delight in dawn’s heavenly canvas, with its red sky reflections in the lake. Barb McGilvray captured a spider web gloriously illuminated by the sun’s disk.