Walnut Woods Metro Park is a great destination for some beautiful recreation in the Central Ohio area! Here, you will find great hiking – like the popular Tall Pines area -, nice places to bike, and even places to take your dogs.
What is there to explore at Walnut Woods Metro Park?
Walnut Woods is a beautiful, dog-friendly park in Groveport, Ohio. It boasts over 7 miles of trails, 2 dog park areas, bike paths and gardens. There is a lot to do – we highlight a few things below!
Walk (or bike) one of the Parks trails
Walnut Woods Metro Park contains five named trails. We share our favorites below. Additional details on these trails can be found on the Walnut Woods Metro Parks page here.
Explore the Monarch Trail
The Monarch Trail is an easy, paved trail which can be accessed via the Buckeye trail. Walkers will share these walkways with very courteous bikers.
This trail is accessible from the Buckeye Area in the park which has nice parking areas next to the Walnut Woods dog park. You’ll want to enter 6716 Lithopolis Road, Groveport, OH into your GPS. The default location connected to our Google search took us to the Tall Pines area of the park. The Lithopolis road address will take you to the Buckeye Area with ease.
The “Monarch” name in Monarch trail does not disappoint in the summer and fall. We have been fortunate to see several of these beautiful butterflies along with butterflies of other patterns as well. Butterflies offer a welcome change of scenery for us as they are rare in our suburban neighborhood.
A portion of the Monarch trail runs alongside Walnut Creek. This means that you might have the opportunity to see some leaping frogs (or even a tiny snake) along the way.
See the Walnut Woods Metro Park Tall Pines Along the Sweetgum Trail
The Walnut Woods Tall Pines area is one of Central Ohio’s hidden gems. In order to get to this section of the park, you will want to enter the following address into your GPS: 6833 Richardson Road, Groveport, OH. The paved 2.6 mile Sweetgum trail is a delight to walk, and it’s accessible to bikers as well.
The tall pines area got its name because of beautiful stands of pine trees. Walnut Woods is located on land that used to be a tree farm. There are several areas around the park where you will see organized rows of trees that provide some lovely views. The tall pines area is one of the most beautiful of these spots. There’s a section of oak trees that you’ll encounter along the Sweetgum trail that are beautiful to see as well.
I placed a blue star along the area where we took the pictures below. This is where the tall pines are the most dense.
See a pollinator-friendly garden and Insect Hotel
One of my favorite features of the park is the Pollinator Friendly Garden. You can see this garden and insect hotel in the Buckeye area, not too far between the parking area and the entrance to the Buckeye Trail. Here, varieties of flowering plants are located here to promote polination and provide space for the butterflies and other pollinators to do their jobs.
There is a box labeled ‘Insect Hotel’ next to the Polinator Friendly Garden. I had never seen an Insect Hotel before, so I was intrigued by the accompanying information card. I learned that 1) not all bees are social and 2) there are some incredibly valuable pollinators that do not produce honey.
Plan Your Visit Today!
We’ve been to this park in all four seasons, and it offers a nice touch of the outdoors in each one. If you haven’t already, add this park to your list of parks to visit in Central Ohio now! If you’d like, check out other great Central Ohio Parks. Happy exploring!
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