Another beautiful day so we took a road tip to Ohio to visit Oak Openings Preserve. The preserve consists of 5000 acres and has two campgrounds, over 70 miles of trails (bike, horse, and hiking), shelters, a playground, a lodge, a caretakers cottage, and much more. Although it took nearly 1.5 hours to get there, it was well worth the trip and one we plan to make again to check out more of the trails.
Our Adventure
There are several different areas to access the Oak Openings Preserve. We parked near the Oak Openings Preserve Metropark Lodge and walked toward the information kiosk. This kiosk has a map of the entire preserve and the trails. We took a quick look at the map and then headed off on the brown trail, which is an asphalt bike trail.
We planned to explore the sand dunes, but found it a little confusing to figure out how to get to that trail. Despite that we had a wonderful time exploring and hiked for nearly 4.5 miles. We followed the bike trail for almost a mile and then decided to head into the woods. We spent time on the blue, black, and yellow trails. I’m sure I could not retrace our steps, but we followed and crossed the creek several times, found the land of ferns, and enjoyed being in the middle of the beautiful oak trees.
After a couple miles we decided it was time to turn around and head back to the car. We retraced our steps and found the bike trail which led to the car. Once we arrived at the car we had a picnic lunch on the grass. All in all a lovely way to spend the morning.
Sunny’s Perspective
It was a really long drive to get to this place, but once we got out of the car it was super fun. The smells were fantastic even on the bike trail. But once we entered the woods, I was in heaven! The trail is pretty narrow and I smelled horses, birds, squirrels, and all sorts of critters. The bike trail was fun too because there were quite a few bikes and people. I like this place and hope we come back again.
Our Rating
Sunny and I rate Oak Openings Preserve 3.5 out of 4 paws up. The only downside is we found the trail map a little hard to understand so we didn’t get to the trails we wanted. Despite that we had a great time exploring the trails we did. The trails were well marked, too. There are several parking areas and the place we parked had a lodge with restrooms. We would recommend using bug spray as there are quite a few mosquitoes on the trails in the woods.
How Do I Get There?
We used 5230 Wilkens Road as the destination, but there are other areas to park. We recommend looking at the MetroParks Toledo website (link below) to determine the trails you want to visit and select the best parking area. Then let your GPS guide you on the best route.
Want more information about Oak Openings Preserve? Check out this website.