Trails of Gratitude

Moving along on my journey through the Metro Parks brings me to Rocky Fork Metro Park in Westerville. This is one of the smaller parks in the Metro Parks system, but if you have a dog, this park is for you! Almost every trail in the park permits pets and there a few dog park areas. There is even a trail that permits dogs off of the leash. There is also a small playground area. The longest trail in the park is actually the bridle trail which is not open to foot traffic. There are five named trails in the park that are open to foot traffic - Beech Woodland, Millstone Connector, North Meadow, Dog and Bevelhymer. With the exception of the North Meadow and Dog Trails, all the trails in Rocky Fork are paved.  I ran every trail in this park using one 4.7 mile route. You can see the route I took here . I started at Millstone Picnic Area which is where the playground is located and access to both the Beech Woodland Trail, North Meadow Trail and Millstone Connector Trail. I hopped onto Beech Wo

Well, I am clearly very, very behind on these posts, but just as an update, as of today, I have about 4 miles left to run and I have finished the rest! So, it's likely that I'll be making these posts a bit into October to make sure I give account of all our wonderful Metro Parks.  That brings me to Slate Run Metro Park . I had been to this park one time before to run a race, but had never really explored it beyond that. I have really been missing out! This park is all the way in Canal Winchester, so it's not the closet park to me, but it was well worth the trip and I'll be going back for sure. Slate Run also has a living historical farm, so if you have kids, this is a must visit! This park has 8 named trails that are open to public foot traffic - Bobolink Grassland, Covered Bridge, Five Oaks, Kokomo, Lake, Sassafras, Shagbark and Sugar Maple. The majority of these trails are crushed gravel, dirt and grass. The Lake Trail is the only paved trail. There is also some board

 It's been a few days and I've been racking up the miles in several parks since finishing Battelle Darby Creek. A few days after finishing my last trail at Battelle, I headed over to Scioto Grove Metro Park to finish my last few trails there.  Scioto Grove is one of my most frequently visited parks (second only behind Prairie Oaks) and it has one of my favorite stretches of trail in the whole Metro Parks system - the REI River Trail. This park also boasts a few additional features including a canoe access point, archery course and a playground. It also has several tent camping spots for people who want to try out backpacking for the first time or to test new gear. Scioto Grove has 6 named trails that are open for hiking/running - Arrowhead, Connector, Mingo, Multipurpose, Overlook and REI River. I actually started this park closer to the beginning of the month with the intention of running the whole thing in one day. The original route that I planned was just under 10 miles to

  There and Back Again When I left you last, I had returned to the 7,000 acre Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park on 3 separate days to work my way through every trail. We pick up two days after my last run there, a Saturday morning, where I would do 4 separate runs in mostly disconnected parts of the park. You can read about my earlier adventures in Part 1 . Darby Creek Greenway and Darby Dan Loop I started nice and early on Saturday morning at the parking lot on Kuhlwein Rd., my turnaround point on my last run. This would take me on the rest of the Darby Creek Greenway Trail within Battelle to the Darby Dan Training Loop and back. You can see the route I ran here . There was a bit of fog which provided a beautiful backdrop to the beginning of this run as I made my way to the loop.  All the colors on the Darby Creek Greenway Trail To get to the loop you run about 1.5 miles and the loop itself is about a mile...or 10 furlongs. Yes. I learned the distance of a furlong (1/8 mile or 220 yards

I Unlocked All The Levels! After 6 days, 9 runs and 35 miles, I finally unlocked all the levels at Battelle Darby Creek . I ran my first trail at Battelle for this project on Sept. 3 and just finished the park today (Sept. 16). This was a logistically challenging park for a few reasons. First, it's just a large park, the largest in the Metro Park system at 7,000 acres. Second, while many of the trails in the park connect, there are several that do not. I had to make the decision to break up the distance in Battelle by doing shorter runs, mostly to reduce the wear on my body so I could finish the other 18 parks! I'll discuss each run in different sections below, along with the route and trails I took. Darby Creek Greenway Trail (Cedar Ridge to Prairie Bison Pasture) and Hawthorne Trail This was the first trail I ran in Battelle for this project. It was actually at the end of the same day that I had finished Heritage Trail/Homestead Park and just did this as a little recovery run

 I got a few days behind, but don't worry, I've still been running! On Monday I needed to have an active recovery day and it was beautiful outside which made it the perfect day to head over to Inniswood Metro Gardens !  The first thing that should be noted is that there is only one trail at Inniswood where running (or any other active sport) is permitted. That is the 0.6 mile Chipmunk Chatter Trail. My family headed towards the Sister's Garden and I set off in the other direction to run the out and back Chipmunk Chatter Trail.  I recorded the rest of the trails at Inniswood as a hike on my Garmin and took a nice stroll through the other 5 named trails within the park - Boardwalk, Brookwood, Frog Talk Walk, Sister's Garden Loop and Spring Run. Besides the beautiful flowers and gardens at Inniswood, there are some great forest trails too, especially Boardwalk and Spring Run.  Boardwalk Trail I eventually met up with my family on the Sister's Garden Loop. It's a co