Clear Creek Metro Park

Lots of old growth forest, beautiful and quiet natural setting. Great hiking. Largest nature preserve in Ohio.

Great trails, well marked and parking by all the trail heads. Nice bathrooms too, very clean. We only did a short trail today.

There are some new trails or they are new to me in Clear Creek Metro Park. The Benua loop trail and the Green Mansions trail. Both trails are in the Lake Benua (Lake Emily) area of the park.The lake is actually a reservoir and is beautiful. The Green Mansions trail takes you to the ruins which was actually the home of the Benua family that donated the land.Parts of the mansion are left to look at and this whole area is amazing to explore.

Perfect place for an isolated hike. Of you're tired of the crowds at Hocking Hills, this is only about 10-15 minutes away. The trails are more difficult and more primitive, which I suspect keeps a lot of folks away (huge plus in my book). Great place if you're up for a more challenging hike!

Nice little metro park. Nothing incredible here. Some fun stone structures on the way in. Mainly just dense ohio forest. We hiked the chestnut trail a ways and eventually turned around and came back. The hiking itself was fun but not much in the way of views. After coming back we went to Lake Ramona which was more like a pond. Ended up getting caught in some rain which was a nice reprieve from the humidity. If you're close by this park is a nice option but maybe not worth the drive from Columbus.