There are some parks and nature preserves in Delaware County that are well-known and popular, like Shale Hollow and Char-Mar Ridge Park.
But there are also some hidden forest gems where sometimes you might get lucky and have the place all to yourself. That’s how we felt on a recent Saturday morning hike at Hogback Ridge nature preserve in Sunbury, Ohio.
We pulled into the drive, looked down a path to our right and immediately came face to face with a gorgeous buck, antlers and all. It was a magical moment that made us realize we picked the right park for our date day hike!
Hogback Ridge backs up to Alum Creek State Park – there’s a gorgeous, sizeable swath of nature up there. With an equestrian camp nearby at the state park, and equestrian trails running through both the state park and Hogback Ridge, there’s always a chance of hearing the clip-clop of horse hooves during your hike through the woods.
We didn’t see any horses during our morning trail walk, just the aforementioned buck and a few folks walking lovely dogs. The trails at Hogback are dog-friendly but pups must stay on-leash.
One thing I will say about Hogback Ridge’s trails – they’re not super well marked other than at the entrance. We started out walking on the Woodland Ridge Trail from the parking lot, but we soon ended up on the Ravine Crossing because the boardwalk and stairs down into, across and up out of the ravine on the other side looked hella cool.
Then, after we crossed the ravine, we ended up on the Pine Grove Trail for a while. It was fine – we just reversed our path to get back where we needed to be – but I could see people getting lost or confused because the Pine Grove Trail will never get you back to the parking lot. Bottom line, take a look at the map and just know that if you take the Ravine Crossing boardwalk one way, you’re going to have to take it back again to get to your car.
All that said, getting lost in nature is kind of the whole reason we were there, so we were absolutely delighted with the way our hike turned out.
I definitely can’t wait to visit Hogback Ridge again – maybe with our dogs, but possibly not since I want to be able to relax, enjoy the forest and get into my nature zen mode. It’s honestly hard to do that when I have to be in dog-mom mode.
I love that we can drive to popular Ohio hiking destinations like Mohican State Park or Hocking Hills, but we can also find amazing nature-immersion forest trails close to home. Alum Creek State Park and the Preservation Parks of Delaware County are truly natural treasures!
Have you enjoyed a really great, close-to-home nature hike lately? Let me know all about it in the comments below or over on Facebook or Instagram!
