I’m a lifelong Buckeye. Born here, raised here, live here. And one of the things I love most about being from Ohio is the abundant opportunities we have to enjoy nature. Oh sure, we have big cities and all the good stuff that comes with that: interesting museums, world-class restaurants, entertainment districts, big time sports, etc. etc. But when it comes to natural wonders, well, we’re no slouch there either.
Ohio is 28 million acres of old-growth forests and vast prairies, Appalachian foothills and wondrous waterfalls. Woodlands and wetlands and islands. Heck, we’ve even got a major river AND a Great Lake. And we’ve got 76 free state parks. That word free actually means priceless: Ohio is one of only 7 states where the state parks are free.
I grew up visiting those parks. With family, with friends, on solo hikes too. But I hadn’t visited all of them –– until now.
Three years ago Carie got me one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received. The Ohio State Parks Passport. A handy dandy field guide with every state park in it, and maps of all 76 broken down by region. So we made it a bucket list priority to hike them all.
Fortunately, living in downtown Columbus, we’re centrally located to visit all corners of the state. Good thing too, because many (most?) of these parks are a ways away and off the beaten path. And that’s a good thing. When you’re out there you get the pure reset that nature provides. That’s one of the reasons I’m so passionate about our parks, and why I joined the Board of Trustees for the Ohio State Parks Foundation.
For the first two years we hit a park or two on good-weather weekends, hiking and exploring and picnicking when the vibe was right. But the more we knocked off the list, the more challenging it became. They were farther afield and in remote (but beautiful) corners of the state. We planned vacations so that we could visit several parks on one trip. Or hit a few parks on the way back from Chicago or Pittsburgh or Ontario. We did overnight stays at state park lodges too, especially if there was a fundraising hike there.
After visiting them all, one thing becomes clear: They’re all so unique, and so beautiful.
Of course, despite loving them all, there are a few favorites:
Hocking Hills State Park
Hocking Hills is Ohio’s most-visited state park, and once you’ve done the loop from Old Man’s Cave to Cedar Falls to Ash Cave, you understand why. That six-mile stretch is the Grandma Gatewood Trail, named for Emma Gatewood, who casually became the first woman to solo thru-hike the entire Appalachian Trail — at age 67, in canvas sneakers, with a homemade denim bag over her shoulder. Ash Cave is the largest recess cave east of the Mississippi, and Cedar Falls carries more water than any other waterfall in the county. Inside tip: go on a weekday morning if you want the gorge to yourself, because on a fall weekend you’ll be sharing the trail with half of Ohio.
Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park
Nelson-Kennedy Ledges is only 167 acres, but it might have the best trail names in the state: Devil’s Icebox, Old Maid’s Kitchen, Dwarf’s Pass. The park is basically a giant sandstone maze — massive slump blocks that cracked away from the cliff face over millions of years, leaving narrow passages and fissures up to 60 feet deep to squeeze through. Four short color-coded trails cover about 3 miles total, and a new glass walkway now lets you look straight down into Sylvan Creek Gorge without breaking a sweat. Fun fact: the “Nelson-Kennedy” in the name isn’t a president — it’s just two separate land purchases from the 1940s that got mashed into one park in 1949.
John Bryan State Park
John Bryan wraps around Clifton Gorge, where the Little Miami River — a National and State Scenic River — has spent thousands of years cutting through layer after layer of limestone and shale. It’s a National Natural Landmark, and the views from the rim trails are some of the best in western Ohio. The park’s namesake, businessman John Bryan, bought the land in 1896 and called it Riverside Farm before donating it to the state in 1918, making it one of Ohio’s first forest parks. History runs deep here too — just south of the park was Old Chillicothe, a major Shawnee settlement, and Tecumseh himself was said to be a regular visitor.
Caesar Creek State Park
Caesar Creek is a big park — over 7,500 acres, with a 2,830-acre lake at the center and more than 40 miles of hiking trails circling it. But the real draw is the spillway, where the Army Corps of Engineers blasted through limestone in the 1970s and accidentally exposed a 450-million-year-old seabed. Grab a free permit at the visitor center and you can legally take home fossils — trilobites, brachiopods, horn coral — as long as they fit in the palm of your hand. Bonus: Caesar’s Creek Pioneer Village, a cluster of 19th-century log cabins inside the park, is worth a wander of its own.
Maumee Bay State Park
Maumee Bay sits right on the shores of Lake Erie near Toledo, and its two-mile Interpretive Boardwalk is one of my favorite easy hikes in the state — a wheelchair-accessible walk straight through a marsh that’s one of the last remnants of the old Great Black Swamp. More than 300 bird species have been spotted here, including nesting bald eagles, and it’s a stop on the Lake Erie Birding Trail. Bring binoculars, not just a camera.
Marblehead Lighthouse State Park
Marblehead Lighthouse State Park is only 9 acres, but it holds the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes — first lit in 1822. The original keeper, Benajah Wolcott, was a Revolutionary War veteran who climbed the tower every night to light 13 whale-oil lamps by hand. These days it’s an automated green LED visible from 11 nautical miles out, and the lighthouse has been famous enough to land on a U.S. postage stamp and an Ohio license plate. Climb it in summer season and you’ll get one of the best views of Lake Erie, Kelleys Island and South Bass Island anywhere on the peninsula.
Middle Bass Island State Park
Middle Bass Island’s centerpiece is the old Lonz Winery, a Gothic stone castle that was one of the biggest tourist draws on Lake Erie for decades — until a terrace collapse in 2000 closed it for good. The state bought the 124-acre property in 2001, and after a $3.9 million restoration, the 1906 Lonz Mansion reopened in 2024, and you can actually spend the night there now. This one’s personal for me: I emceed a fundraising event on the island for the Ohio State Parks Foundation to help restore the mansion, so watching it come back to life has been especially rewarding.
Deer Creek State Park
Deer Creek is the state park we probably visit the most, mostly because it’s the closest one to downtown Columbus — about 30 minutes and you’re at a 1,277-acre lake surrounded by hiking trails. It’s also thoroughly dog-friendly, which makes it our go-to for a quick reset with Oscar and Gizmo when a full-day trip isn’t in the cards. Bonus points if you like golf: there’s a solid 18-hole course on-site too.
Ohio’s state park system was built on one simple idea: 76 places where anyone in this state, regardless of budget, can walk out under a canopy of trees or plant their feet in Lake Erie sand and momentarily forget about everything else. We didn’t hike all 76 for a badge or a bragging right — although, sure, that part felt pretty great too. We did it because every single one of them, no matter how small or how far off the beaten path, had something worth seeing. So consider this your nudge: grab a map, or a passport of your own, pick a park you’ve never heard of, and go wander it. Ohio’s best-kept secrets aren’t really secrets. They’re just waiting a few miles off the highway, free of charge.