First time Metro Parks visitor?
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Whatever you enjoy doing outdoors, Columbus & Franklin County Metro Parks has a great place to begin your adventure. Find adventurous things to do, new activities to try and places to explore every day of the year! For seven decades, your Metro Parks have been a treasured natural resource for generations of central Ohioans of all ages and abilities.

Metro Parks are free and belong to everyone… so get out, get active and have some fun.

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Discover & Experience Nature

The mission of Metro Parks is to conserve open space, while providing place and opportunities that encourage people to discover and experience nature. Your 20 Metro Parks cover more than 28,500 acres of land and water and are home to more than 2,400 plant and animal species.

Every year more than 12 million people visit a Metro Park to escape into a world teeming with wildlife and rich in recreational and educational opportunities. The tremendous growth and enduring popularity of Metro Parks is due to the strong support of the community – as voters, as volunteers and as visitors.

Believe it, or Not! A few nature myths

SCOTT FELKER Three Creeks Naturalist As a Metro Parks naturalist, I’ve heard many things over the years. Kids often go into “stream of consciousness” monologues that usually start with “One …Read More

Behind the Parks: Meet Carrie, Outreach Naturalist for Senior Programs

Carrie Keller Outreach Naturalist for Senior Programs Hometown and background I come from Reynoldsburg and went to school there, first at Herbert Mills Elementary and then graduating from Reynoldsburg High …Read More

How’s the first year of the via ferrata going?

MELISSA TURPENING Bank Run Park Manager It seems like only yesterday that Dan Kaderly, Manager of Park Operations, was saying “Let’s build a via ferrata at Quarry Trails Metro Park” …Read More

Death of a Hedgerow

ANDREW BOOSE Aquatic Ecologist A 700-yard-long, 30-foot-wide hedgerow, at Prairie Oaks Metro Park, had been on the list for removal since the park opened in 2002. But it survived for …Read More

Lodges & Shelters

Find the perfect place for events of all sizes

Information on Lodges & Shelters

Get Outside, It’s Your Nature!

MAPS & DIRECTIONS