Central Ohio Parks

There are so many beautiful Central Ohio parks!  As residents of Central Ohio, we are so fortunate to have a number of gorgeous State Parks, Regional / Metro Parks and Local Parks right in our back yard!  Living in Central Ohio has its perks (“park perks”… I like it ;-))!

That being said, this is an attempt to introduce some of the parks near us that are well worth a visit.  Putting this information together is a fun challenge.  Even though I’ve lived in Columbus or one of its many suburbs for most of my life, there are quite a few parks that I haven’t visited before.

Join us in exploring the parks and places near you as well!  Adventure awaits, and is probably closer to home than you may realize.

Our Central Ohio Parks Challenge – 100 Parks to Explore

Below is a list of 100 parks that we will visit in our challenge.  While not a comprehensive list of parks in the area, it will give us a lot of places to explore.

How We Count a Visit

In order to count as a visit, we each of the parks that we visit, we will do something meaningful.  For us, this typically means biking, hiking, fishing, picnicking or animal-watching.  If you join us, whatever is meaningful to you can count as a visit.

There are many different types of parks and experiences that you can have.  This list is just a guide to challenge you to find and explore a few!

Our Parks Challenge List

We created the following list which is composed primarily of parks around Central Ohio.  All of the places on the list are within a ~60 minute drive of the city.  There was no real science involved in creating the list.  We primarily assembled parks that piqued our interest.

This list includes the following:

• All of the Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks (not including golf courses or trails)
• Ohio State Parks that are up to about an hour drive from Central Ohio (not an exact cut off, but you get the jist :-))
• A selection of local parks of interest (This is where the “not a real science” came into play – we just explored several parks pages to find what we thought we might like to check out.  We were intentional about getting a geographic mix though.)
• A selection of Ohio Historical Connection Sites (Natural places, mounds and nature preserves are the main items that we included)
• National Park Sites near Central Ohio

Feel free to filter and play around with this list.  It includes a total of 100 parks that are a part of our Central Ohio Parks Challenge.  For the sake of our challenge, we are only counting parks that Jason and I have visited together!

Also, there is no time frame for completing the challenge.  The point is to make purposeful visits to places to explore around the areas where we live!  Happy Exploring!