Choose your language:
  • #facebook
  • #twitter
  • #instagram
  • #youtube
  • #blog
  •  
  • Parks & Trails
        • Metro Park Map Locations
        • MAPS & DIRECTIONS

          • Parks Overviews & Directions
          • Individual Park Maps
          • View Mobile Parks App
          • ADA Accessible Trails
        • GREENWAY TRAILS

          • Overview & Maps
        • Northwest

          • Glacier Ridge
          • Heritage Trail
          • Highbanks
          • Homestead
        • Northeast

          • Blendon Woods
          • Inniswood
          • Rocky Fork
          • Sharon Woods
        • Central

          • Quarry Trails
          • Scioto Audubon
        • Southwest

          • Battelle Darby Creek
          • Prairie Oaks
          • Scioto Grove
        • Southeast

          • Blacklick Woods
          • Blacklick Woods Golf Course
          • Chestnut Ridge
          • Clear Creek
          • Pickerington Ponds
          • Slate Run Park
          • Slate Run Living Historical Farm
          • Three Creeks
          • Walnut Woods
  • About Us
        • Metro Parks Get Outside it's Your Nature Maps and Directions
        • General Information

          • Board Meetings
          • Careers
          • Contract Bidding
          • Finance
          • Resource Management
          • Park Projects
          • The Plan
          • Rules & Regulations
          • Surplus Equipment
          • Wander & Wonder: Photo Gallery
          • Policy Page
        • Get Involved

          • Friends of Metro Parks
          • Guide to Giving
          • Volunteer
        • Stay Informed

          • The Metro Parks Blog
          • Newsletter Signup
          • FAQs
          • Contact Us
  • Reservations
        • Make a Metro Parks Reservation
        • Reservations

          • Make a Reservation
          • Reservation Info
        • Programs

          • Program Search
          • Special Events
          • Summer Camps
          • Farm School Tours
          • Outdoor Adventure
          • Scout Programs
          • Hikes
          • Homeschoolers
          • Preschool
          • Seniors
  • Plan Your Visit
        • Columbus Metro Park Activities
        • Interests & Activities

          • All Activities
          • All Events
          • Biking
          • Educators
          • Family & Kids
          • Fishing
          • Fitness & Recreation
          • Geocaching at Metro Parks
          • Nature
          • New Visitors
          • Outdoor Adventure
          • Pets
          • Play Areas
          • Seniors
          • Wildlife
          • Winter Hikes
        • Programs

          • Program Search
          • Farm School Tours
          • Field Trips
          • Homeschoolers
          • Scioto Fest 2025
          • Summer Camps
          • Tram 2025
          • FAQs

The Metro Parks Blog

Photo: Stefan Bruch

My favorite place: Stunning downtown views at Scioto Audubon’s bocce ball courts

Posted on September 13, 2017January 21, 2021 |
  • Fitness & Recreation
  • The Metro Parks Blog

CHRISTOPHER DELGROSSO Assistant Manager, Scioto Audubon As summer bows its head and awaits the arrival of fall there is a magical transformation that takes place at Scioto Audubon Metro Park. …Read More

Plein Air art society enjoys a Paint Out at Inniswood

Posted on September 6, 2017July 11, 2018 |
  • The Metro Parks Blog

A group of very talented artists unpacked their paints, brushes and canvases at Inniswood Metro Gardens recently. All of them are members of the Ohio Plein Air Society, and they …Read More

We’re Buckeyes because…

Posted on August 30, 2017July 23, 2025 |
  • Nature
  • The Metro Parks Blog

CODY BERKEBILE Blacklick Woods Naturalist Now that football season is here, Ohioans turn their focus to The Ohio State Buckeyes. Living in Columbus, it is impossible to ignore the barrage of …Read More

How to grow a butterfly

Posted on August 29, 2017December 4, 2018 |
  • Nature
  • The Metro Parks Blog

It’s that time of year when monarch butterflies begin their magical migration south to the mountains of Mexico, where they’ll spend the winter. I’ve been seeing monarch butterflies in the …Read More

Friday Night Floaters

Posted on August 25, 2017June 5, 2019 |
  • The Metro Parks Blog

The sun shone brightly on Sharon Woods’ 11-acre Schrock Lake as its recent Friday Night Float program began. Eager canoeists, many of them first-timers, signed-on for a 20-minute float around …Read More

Hellbenders make a splash as they return to Big Darby Creek

Posted on August 24, 2017July 21, 2023 |
  • Resource Management
  • The Metro Parks Blog

Eastern hellbenders found a new home in Big Darby Creek in August. More than 80 of these impressively sized creatures, the largest species of amphibian in Ohio and one of …Read More

Winter blues spark Metro Parks adventures

Posted on August 18, 2017June 10, 2019 |
  • Fitness & Recreation
  • Outdoor Adventures
  • The Metro Parks Blog

On a drab winter night, Scott Ballard, 49, contemplated what he would do for the rest of the year. He certainly didn’t want to spend it inside doing little or …Read More

Insects make for delicious and nutritious fare

Posted on August 10, 2017July 11, 2018 |
  • The Metro Parks Blog

Blacklick Woods Metro Park is offering a delightful program for food lovers with a taste for something new and exotic. Join us at the nature center on Sunday August 20, …Read More

It’s always Dog Days at Prairie Oak—but especially at WAG!

Posted on August 9, 2017July 11, 2024 |
  • Pets
  • The Metro Parks Blog

BARK BASH – August 24, 2024 Bark Bash is the super-duper event of the summer for you and your canine friends. The inaugural Bark Bash replaces the cancelled WAG! Fest …Read More

Visiting the parks: Blacklick Woods, an urban retreat

Posted on August 2, 2017July 11, 2018 |
  • The Metro Parks Blog

Just like the citizens of Central Ohio, Metro Parks are a wide-ranging lot, offering everything from herb gardens to strenuous hikes for the 10-million people who visit them annually. In …Read More

It’s threshing time

Posted on July 28, 2017June 10, 2019 |
  • Slate Run Farm Posts
  • The Metro Parks Blog

A golden, ripe wheat field is a beautiful sight and its appearance in July means it is grain threshing season on the farm. At Metro Parks’ Slate Run Living Historical …Read More

Happy birthday, Henry David Thoreau

Posted on July 19, 2017December 4, 2018 |
  • Educators
  • The Metro Parks Blog

Two hundred years ago, on July 12, 1817, Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts. This famous American author, transcendentalist, naturalist, political dissident and human rights advocate inspired the …Read More

World Snake Day: Celebrating Memaw and snakes around the globe

Posted on July 12, 2017December 4, 2018 |
  • Educators
  • Nature
  • The Metro Parks Blog

July 16 marks World Snake Day, a time to celebrate snakes and the vital roles they play in the ecosystem. The Metro Parks have several different snakes, including Memaw, a …Read More

Butterflies of the Night

Posted on July 12, 2017December 4, 2018 |
  • Nature
  • The Metro Parks Blog

Butterflies get all the attention. They’re pretty, and they fly during the day when us fellow day-dwellers are likely to actually see them. Moths, on the other hand, are mostly …Read More

Archery in 3D makes its bow at Scioto Grove

Posted on July 7, 2017December 4, 2018 |
  • Fitness & Recreation
  • The Metro Parks Blog
  • What's Happening

A new facility for the Robin Hoods and archers among us has just opened at Scioto Grove Metro Park. The new feature is actually two separate archery courses. The first …Read More

The importance and beauty of forests

Posted on June 28, 2017July 21, 2023 |
  • Nature
  • Resource Management
  • The Metro Parks Blog

A summer walk in the cool green forests at any of your 19 Metro Parks will inspire your imagination and stir your senses. Forests are the centerpiece of most parks, …Read More

Unsung beauties lie ready for discovery in the fields

Posted on June 21, 2017December 4, 2018 |
  • Nature
  • The Metro Parks Blog

A stroll or run through a Metro Park provides many views—forest, fields, mid-succession areas and mowed lawn areas. Fields provide a habitat for many plants and animals and are typically …Read More

Threshing is done the old-fashioned way at Slate Run Living Historical Farm

Posted on June 21, 2017June 10, 2019 |
  • Slate Run Farm Posts
  • The Metro Parks Blog

With each passing month from spring to fall, the farm’s Percheron draft horses are kept busy as the driving forces behind the farm’s vast array of machinery and tools for …Read More

Posts navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →

Categories

  • The Metro Parks Blog
  • Park Histories
  • Behind the Parks
  • Resource Management

Archived Posts

Instagram

LET'S KEEP IN TOUCH.

Sign up for our Newsletter

Park Info

  • Park Overviews
  • Directions
  • Reservations
  • FAQs

About

  • Friends of Metro Parks
  • Guide to Giving
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Contact Us
  • Accessibility Policy
  • Rules & Regulations
  • Policy Page

Plan Your Visit

  • Park Activities
  • Program Search
  • Family & Kids
  • Fitness & Recreation
  • Pets
  • Seniors
  • Educators
Metro Parks

Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks

1069 West Main Street

Westerville, OH 43081

Questions? Contact us at info@metroparks.net

  • #facebook
  • #twitter
  • #instagram
  • #youtube
  • #blog
© Copyright 2025 Columbus Metro Parks Site Crafted by Robintek: Columbus Website Design