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.
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All the colors on the Darby Creek Greenway Trail
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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) on this run because the Darby Dan Training Loops is an old horse racing track. The markers are really cool and you can even image yourself as a jockey as you run past the grandstand. This was a really good way to start my morning!
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A furlong marker on the Darby Dan Training Loop
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| Crossing the finish line! |
Wagtail Trails
The rest on my runs on this day would be in parts of the park that are in areas away from the main park, including the Wagtail Trails. These are mostly used as hiking trails for people with pets, but the grass trails can be used by anyone for hiking or running. You can see the way I ran the two loops here.
These trails take you through prairie and forest and a few hills over about 2.5 miles. It was actually pretty neat to see many of the features of the entire park packed into this small area. I even found a giant tree that I could fit inside of.
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Fulfilling my destiny as the Goblin King on the Wagtail Trail
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Osprey Lake Trail
After my finishing up on Wagtail, I got back into my car and headed for a quick loop around Osprey Lake on the Osprey Lake Trail. The trail is a 0.7 mile loop on all grass around the lake. There were several people fishing here and there was a designated dog swimming area.
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From the far end of Osprey Lake
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Pleasant Valley Area
After the quick loop around Osprey Lake I got back into my car to head to the Pleasant Valley Area, another stand-alone section of the park that features 3 trails (Edgewood, Lake and Prairie Way). You can see how I stitched these trails together
here.
Edgewood and Lake are loops and Prairie Way bisects the Edgewood Trail. The trails are mostly grass with some dirt sections and the Lake Trail has a small section on the paved road leading to the parking area. The Lake trail takes you around a lake with some pretty nice views which were a nice end to my Saturday morning of running. I actually thought I was done with Battelle after this run, but I would find out soon that I was wrong.
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The lake on the Lake Trail in the Pleasant Valley Area
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Camp Chase and Turkeyfoot
I got home after my four runs on Saturday ready to celebrate finally running every trail within Battelle. That was until I sat down and looked at the map to discover two areas that I had missed. One of those areas was right in the middle of the park - the Camp Chase Trail and the Turkeyfoot Trail. I came back the next day to finish this section.
The Camp Chase Trail is actually a 12.5 mile trail that is part of the Ohio to Erie Trail that runs from Cincinnati to Lake Erie. A small section of the trail is within Battelle, with a brand new connector section not yet on the park map that I ended up running. The Turkeyfoot Trail is a small grass loop that is just off of the Camp Chase Trail. You can see my route on this section
here.
I started at the parking area on Alkire Rd. and did a small spur of the trail that heads west and then back towards the main section of the Camp Chase Trail through the park. A large portion of this trail is actually along the road that leads into the middle of the park, so be careful on the shoulder if you run this. The good news is that the new addition to the trail actually allows you to avoid this section or to run it as a loop. At the top of the climb almost to the park entrance, you will find the small grass loop that is the Turkeyfoot Trail.
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| The brand new section of the Camp Chase/Ohio to Erie Trail through Battelle |
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In the tall grass on the Turkeyfoot Trail
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I came back 3 days later to finally run my last section in Battelle. The Dyer Mill trails are located within the Little Darby Picnic Area. These 3 trails (Dyer Mill Ski Trail A, B and C) are used for cross country skiing when conditions allow, but can be used for hiking at other times. I'm sure my cross country skiing friends would like me to mention that if you do run on these trails, try to avoid using them when they are muddy and wet so you don't mess up the trail too much for skiing. You can see how I stitched the 3 trails together
here.
This was a really fun area to run in and I was able to do the loops to create a run that was just over 4 miles. Much of this area is forest with some prairie mixed in as well. A few hills here and there too. I'll definitely be back to this section for some training runs!
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| Running across a bridge on the Dyer Mill Trails |
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A fun forest section on the Dyer Mill Trails
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Finally Done!
And with that I was finally finished with all the trails within Battelle Darby Creek. This is a wonderful park with some hidden gems that I would have probably never found if it weren't for this project. Metro Parks works hard to maintain this massive park and is definitely a true asset to our community. I used Strava to make a heat map to show how I was able to duplicate the park map:
Thank you for going on this journey with me! Between finishing this park and writing this post, I've finished up a few more parks that I'm excited to share with you. Stay tuned! As always, get outside, stay healthy and find joy!
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