Date: 01/22/2022 – Distance: 7.5 mi – Elapsed Time: 3.5 hr – Ascent: 584 ft – Descent: 591 ft – Difficulty: Medium
It was very cold and icy on this hike. This is my tenth hike of the Columbus and Franklin Park Metro Parks Winter Hike Challenge. I have to do 6 assigned parks each month for 3 months, and a total of 18 to complete the challenge.
Prairie Oaks Metro Park is a fairly large park west of Columbus, Ohio, and is characterized by large prairies, a quarry, the Big Darby Creek which flows through the middle, picnic areas, and lots of hiking trails.
Sign at the entrance off NE Pain City-Georgesville Road.
I parked at the Whispering Oaks Picnic Area.
Map of the park.
There is a shelter and restrooms at the Whispering Oaks Picnic Area.
I started by catching the Greenway Trail toward the bridge over Big Darby Creek to so the eastern half of the park first.
Coming up on the bridge.
It’s a good sized bridge.
Big Darby Creek, looking south.
This dead tree always catches my eye.
Big Darby is an amazing place.
You can see the red dot on the map where I am at.
Arrived at the quarries.
The trail goes left. To the right is just an access road for maintenance.
Entrance to the Darby Bend Lakes Area.
They look cold, but they found some unfrozen lake.
There is a Native American mound here.
Without the sign, it would be hard to tell.
A little history about the site.
Those cold geese again, but what a view.
Sometimes the wildlife needs assistance finding a place to nest.
Looks cozy, if you were a swallow.
There is a dog beach here, no people allowed swimming.
I can see the Big Darby Creek again.
They actually had to create a levee to keep the river at bay.
This little stream is flowing from the quarry into the river.
Interesting.
That has to be a big beaver. The left tree is two feet in diameter and it cut through half of it, plus it started on the one next to it. The parks people finished it off to prevent a danger on the trail, as it was right between the quarry pond and the river on the trail.
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