This is a very cool park! My children tend to gravitate toward parks and playgrounds where there…read moreare open-ended and tactile features available, and this park has that. There are boulders to climb, outdoor musical instruments to play, a treehouse to play pretend in (and is wheelchair accessible!), a merry-go-round, swings, a traditional playground structure with slides, and lots more. The playground area is lined with wood chips. There is also lots of space to run around, and lots of trees. Like the name of the park suggests, this is a very sensory-friendly park, and there are nature stations set up all around where you can use your senses to explore. There is also a short, paved trail that goes around the park, which is wide and smooth enough for strollers and wheelchairs. The trail goes by a creek, which is nice. As of right now, this is the only sensory-friendly park in the state of Ohio! It's definitely worth a visit.

This is a really neat and wonderfully inclusive park. This features a short, paved path that is…read morewheelchair and walker accessible. Along the path are a variety of interactive stations that are also designed to be accessible. If you start near the entry sign, you'll find a Little Free Library, which, on our recent visit, was loaded with a lot of great kids options. Just ahead is a variety of benches and a little music garden, featuring musical instruments that can be played, and you can also interact with the Rough Bark Tactile Display to learn more about different tree barks. A little further down are the cutest animal looking instruments that can also be used. As you continue down the path, you find a swingset with a variety of swings that include both traditional and accessible options. There's a nice little shaded bench area with information about the creek, Fetter's Run, that can be seen from the location. As you proceed along, a very exciting find is the Treehouse, which is built within the forest trees as opposed to up in one, which allows a wheelchair ramp to make it accessible. This overlooks the creek and has things to explore, like neat nature art and a second floor (not accessible) with a fire pole. At the end of the path is a shelter house with picnic tables and nearby grills. Most, if not all, of the signage included Braille translations, as well. There is a large parking lot here, but I do note that this is located behind a school, so I'm not sure how that would affect parking for a visit during a school day.

Strouds Run State Park is a gem, just a few miles from the City of Athens in southeastern Ohio…read more Lots of great trails around the lake and above on the many ridges throughout the park. Fairly large campground with spots that aren't too close together. Beach is typically dragged each morning in the summer and canoes, kayaks, and even motorized pontoon boats for rent. The motorized pontoon is blasphemy for those of us who have been going to the park since the 1970s, but they aren't so many that it is too loud or disruptive. There is one short trail that is accessible for all and there is a mix of pit and flush toilet facilities. There is no life guard at the beach but there is a safe and sizable enclosed playground for young ones.

Pretty spot for a day in nature. They have a nice playground, boat launch, and plenty of bench's…read moreoverlooking water. They do have bathrooms too!

The Ash Cave Waterfall is a large natural rock overhang in the Hocking Hills region of Ohio. It is…read moreone of the premier Park destinations in the state, and the home of historic native populations in North America for millennia. A remnant of ancient pre-glacial North America, some of the flora species located here are unique to the continent. Other caves are also located nearby, and coupled with a visit to Ash Cave can make a truly unique and memorable visit to Southeast Ohio. Ash Cave is easily accessible from a large nearby parking lot and the trail is handicapped friendly. It is sometimes the location for special events, such as an annual concert by the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. This is a magnificent event and well worth attending, but tickets go fast so if you're interested really be on the lookout for them, so don't delay when they become available.

This was absolutely beautiful and such an amazing place for kids to play! The waterfall was…read morebeautiful and even with all the people tourist-ing it was relaxing. I love how accessible this hike was - we took the stroller most of the way and turned around and walked back instead of finishing the loop. The natural beauty was out of this world!

My wife and I have been aware the The Wilds from watching Secrets of the Zoo for years. So in…read moreloving zoo and aquariums and all of the wonderful animals. We had our opportunity and went for it in visiting The Wilds and others in the area. We visited on a Saturday for a Sunset tour. Dinner is cooked up in the kitchen there and provided buffet style on the deck overlooking the fields. The food was good. Shortly after dinner a thunder storm blew in quick with some strong winds. Being from the west coast we rarely see these strong storms. We sheltered in place for a while. Whe the storm had passed through those of us who stayed for the tours were treated a wonderful upclose tour and stunning colorful sunset. We returned on Monday to stay in one of the hurts for a few nights. There are about 12 yurts yurts overlooking the fields of some animals with a wonderful view. A very good Dinner and breakfast and an open air tour are included with the stay. After visit time around the fire pit. I woke up early one morning to find the takin along the water and some taking a swim. Everyone staying in the yurts enjoyed sharing the stories of their tours and checking out the views from the various yurts. There are the 2 tours for the visitors. The wildside tour is an upclose ride in the back of a truck which can leave the road to be up close to the animals. The open air tour is an open air bus which stays on the road while still getting to see the beautiful exotic animals. There are bison, Asian and white rhinos, giraffes, takin, camels, and so many other animals with all of the babies. The tour guides and whole staff is so knowledgeable about the animals. Ready to answer all of the visitors questions about the animals. Everyone has their favorite animals that enjoy seeing around. We are talking about a return visit to check out the new lodge.

Second time visiting. We will be back again. Staff is super knowledgeable and friendly . We saw so…read moremany animals up close. I would absolutely recommend the wild side tour Our tour leader Faith was absolutely amazing.

The park is located on the site of the old Marble Cliff Quarry. Aside from our favorite dog park…read morenow, the overall park includes 182-acres of hiking/walking trails, observations areas, mountain bike trail, observation areas, a waterfall, lakes, and a sport climbing area. It has been years since I have been out here and to say I was impressed was an understatement. I can't wait to come back here. You can learn more at https://www.metroparks.net/parks-and-trails/quarry-trails/

I love this park!!! It is so beautiful and so spacious. I come here for walks or runs with my…read morehusband or friends. The children's play area is very unique and fun. They have paved paths and some trails as well. The waterfall is gorgeous! It's one of those parks that you wouldn't expect in the middle of a city, but I'm so glad I visited the first time and will continue to come back

Another 5* experience. Never met a park we didn't like, and The Farm is just exceptional. Even more…read moreexceptional if you're under 5!

Always a nice metro park to visit - there's a historical working farm on the property as well…read more There's lots of different types of paths to go walking on including pet friendly ones. Including a pond that you can walk down by for fishing and birdwatching. And there's an old covered Bridge on one of the trails that you can see from the drive in.

This trail was super cool! There was a significant portion (probably about 3/4 of the length of the…read moretrail) was accessible... but if you are able continue on to the end (you have to climb on some rocks) definitely do so!!! We were easily able to park our stroller and carry our baby and the 8&10 year old handled the rocks easily. This is an amazing hike for kids - IF YOU STAY ON THE GROUND. Do *not* do the rim trail with kids... there are severe cliff drops offs. This was peaceful and beautiful and slightly less traveled than typical Hocking hills trails. There was an abundance of wildlife and the views are phenomenal! The water level on the waterfalls was low when we went, so it was more like 1 trickling fall rather than three falls. Worth. It.

This was such a peaceful way to start the day. We chose this path because it's kid-friendly (and…read morewheelchair accessible). We arrived by 9am and there were only a few other cars in the lot. This location also offers bathrooms (no guarantees on toilet paper though ). The half mile trail was filled with shade and beautiful views from start to finish. They also offer an upper trail thats more challenging and apparently not ideal with little kids due to the rim. Highly recommend this spot while in Hocking Hills!

The signs are really confusing here to be honest. The trail maps were confusing. We went down a…read more*ton* of stairs and went back the same way. It mentioned on climbing on the rocks and going one way, but everyone was confused and things weren't super clear directionally. If we weren't tired from other hikes that day we would have tried the loop but we just did the predictable thing with toddler meltdown on the horizon and dinner and dark coming fast.

Absolutely love to go hiking at Cedar Falls in Hocking Hills State Park. It was my son in-law first…read moretime here and he fully loved it. We went yesterday April 25, 2021, the group included my hubby, daughter, son in-law and myself. We also hiked Ash Cave Waterfall as well. It was absolutely gorgeous day and plenty of others out hiking enjoying weather as well. Always free to enjoy and definitely recommend you go hiking here if given the chance.

We love our walks in Shale Hollow! Love that there is such a lovely preserved nature space in the…read morebackyard!!!! We just love all the nearby parks and walking trails - they're all over Delaware County! also all the well kept green spaces in Columbus Metro Park System!

Recommended by Kid K's teacher, this is a beautiful nature preserve. K wanted a playground, of…read morecourse, and there is a natural play area that is, well, just logs and rocks. Not much of a much. Maybe it is being rebuilt? But there is a small building with bathrooms and what looks like it will be a nature center, and tons of trails up and down the hills. Surrounded by development, but fairly quiet, at least on an early spring weekday afternoon. Saved because of its creeks and hills and gullies, surely. Lots of shale outcrops, some decent elevation changes, well-developed paths mixed with more basic ones, decent parking. Far from our usual routes, but worth a detour.

Just beautiful clean and nice place for a family outing will be coming back and checking out more…read moreof the outdoors

At some of Ohio's State park it's hard to be a human powered vessel when so many boats are zooming…read moreby. You are almost relegated to smaller coves as you try to escape the waves caused by power boats. Not at Lake Hope State Park as boaters are restricted to electric motors only. My wife is all about the well maintained mountain bike trails. We were both all about the small camping pads and many non electric sites. This meant that as tent campers we were not back to back with massive RVs. And our dog was all about all of it, especially since a state park means that he gets to hang out with his pack!  On the down side, there was only one water spigot, one near the check in, that was marked as potable. Perhaps the others throughout the campground are and are not marked. However, we chose to only get water from that spigot. The spigot that was closest to our campsite was way too close to the pit toilet for me to feel comfortable drinking without filtering/boiling.  While we didn't get the chance to actually take our boats off the car, thanks to thunderstorms, we did drive around and find some spots that would work perfectly as put ins. There's a space just off the main road that would work for those who are kayaking, canoeing, or SUPing. The drive to and from LHSP was beautiful, with the visual elevation changes. I loved that it was almost in the HHills area but lacked all the folks (and the restrictions on dogs)! Lake Hope State Park is a place that we will hands down visit again. Although, our first visit there was filled with thunderstorms- we managed to stay dry and camped anyway!