Every Trail Project- Blacklick Woods

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Covering 230 miles through 19 Metro Parks is no easy task (for me) either physically or logistically, so I didn't want to waste any time getting started! My family and I needed to be on the east side of Columbus, which gave me the opportunity to check out Blacklick Woods Metro Park. This was my first time being in this park, and what a gem! Before I get to the trails, I wanted to share a few observations about the park in general. This park has some amazing shared space areas. There is plenty of open space, a great playground, and a few areas with different exercise options. Compared to the Metro Parks that I frequent, Blacklick Woods was much more crowded, especially on a Tuesday morning, than I had expected. It was still easy to socially distance and it was very apparent that this park is doing a wonderful job of serving the communities closest to it. 

Now on to the trails! Today I ran the 5 named trails that are completely within the park. They are Beech, Maple, Buttonbush, Walter A. Tucker and the Multipurpose trail. The Multipurpose trail is the longest (2.8 miles one way) and is the only trail that doesn't fully loop, making it's total distance closer to 4.5 miles. With the out and back on the Multipurpose trail and a few small double backs on the loops to make sure I hit the whole trail, I was able to do this run as one long route. You can see the route I mapped out here. You can see that the total route is about 6.3 miles (although I made a few navigational errors and did a little extra exploring so this run was closer to 6.7 miles for me). 


From forests with tall trees to some prairie sections, these trails had a little bit of everything! If you are a fan of running/hiking on finely crushed gravel, then you will love Blacklick Woods! You are forced to run on pavement in only a few very small sections, making this a great low impact option for your long run, as long as you don't mind doing loops.

Multipurpose Trail

Beech Trail




Buttonbush Trail

The only trail I didn't run that goes through Blacklick Woods is the Blacklick Creek Greenway which connects 3 different Metro Parks. I'll be hitting this trail on a different adventure!

Overall this is a great park! Nice trails and nice shared space. If you ever find yourself in the Reyndoldsburg area, I highly recommend a stop at Blacklick Creek. 

Don't forget, you can join me in supporting our amazing Metro Parks by donating to Friends of Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks at this donation page. Select "Every Trail Project" in the donation details section. You can also follow me on Instagram. Thanks for following along!

Get outside, stay healthy and find joy!



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