Blacklick Woods Nature Center

Opened in 1948, Blacklick Woods is the oldest and one of the busiest Metro Parks. The forest areas of this 643-acre park are laced with trails that wind through a swamp forest with white oak, pin oak and white ash along with red maple, red elm, shagbark, butternut hickory and dogwood.

Shrubs include spicebush and buttonbush and the park features a small buttonbush swamp.

The 100-acre beech-maple forest is one of the least disturbed in Central Ohio. As you meander along the trails amid the beech and sugar maples, you might spy a fox sizing up a meadow vole or watch a white-tailed deer browsing before sundown.

Visitors can also enjoy wildlife from the open meadows and fields while picnicking at the park. Seasonal ponds host abundant aquatic and plant life.

Blacklick Creek flows south along the eastern boundary of the park. The park features more than six miles of trails for hiking, biking and jogging.