Conveniently located around the corner of the prominently featured tank at the national guard,…read moreGilmore Ponds Metropark is credited with keeping me alive through a harrowing year. This is my favorite type of park - a hidden gem of true nature among the warehouses and blight of industrialism. If you have the Merlin bird app, keep it listening here. I always get at least 15+ different birds in my loop around the ponds. In the trees you can see hundreds of birds nests, they look like little apartments. You can often find people out here with giant lenses hoping to catch a glimpse. The walking loop is a perfect distance for me. It's about 2.1 miles and if you take the optional traces you can make it even longer. My dog is not really into walking that far, but too bad for him. Also got my first mosquito bite of 2026 here! Be warned that when it rains, the beginning path at the Gilmore entrance can flood and come up through the holes, so watch your step. One of my favorite places in this part of Ohio, and I'll miss it dearly! Big gratitude to the people who keep this a wonderful place to experience nature. PS - Dogs are supposed to be on leash here. But in fall/winter, there aren't many others around, so they may not be...

Nice wetland space with a bird blind to look out at the water and forest to see what critters can…read morebe found. We headed left onto the boardwalk from the small parking lot and headed through a wooded area before we found ourselves walking alongside the ponds. The way the woods and boardwalk are situated, it seems likely they are seasonal wetlands, but on the cold crisp day of our visit, the ponds were the first water we spotted. We headed back to check out the bird blind, which is nicely constructed and features some helpful signage. Unfortunately, someone had left poop inside of the structure. Other than that unpleasant surprise, the area was very nice and a good place to visit.

Great hike! The loop is just over two miles and provides a few great views of the river. Very…read morewooded and beautiful nature. The loop provided about 500ft of elevation change so this is not too difficult for even the least experienced hikers.

I've lived in Delhi all my life and visit many parks all over Cincinnati. For some reason I've…read morenever gone to Bender Mountain Preserve until this year. Why? I have no idea. It's close to home and it's trails offer an amazing workout. Bender Mountain Preserve has many trails some that go along the creek bed, with others that are much more difficult, climbing up to a 45 degree incline. Once up top there is an amazing view overlooking the Ohio River Valley and Kentucky. Bender Mountain Preserve is more hiking trails than a standard park. It's very remote and even during peak times you may only see a hand full of other hikers. Plus dog friendly!!

California Woods has an address that's inside Cincinnati, but it doesn't look like most of the…read moreother parks in the City. The road in here is about a mile long, and it's VERY narrow - so narrow that I suspect it would be dangerous if you run into someone driving in the opposite direction... True to its name, this place has some fairly dense woods, and it's also got a fair number of hills. You'll find trailmaps for the taking inside the park, and you'd be wise to bring bug spray ;-)

This was another new (to us) hiking spot my husband and I checked out recently. On a Friday morning…read morewe only saw one other group in the woods. A good mix of flat, hilly, and moderate trails. One trail had pages from a children's book on signs as you went along the path, which was cute. Like others have said, it's not always very intuitive which trail you're on. But since they all lead back to the main path, you never feel like you're lost. Also want to reiterate driving in/out slowly due to the narrow road leading in.

England-idlewild DOG Park. Lots of space, well maintained, doggy water fountains. 8 or more fenced…read moreareas. Hard to find because it is separate from the main park.

Dog Park Review! They recently just opened up the new dog park. It's about 1/2 mile past the park…read moreon the same side of the road. It has 8 large fenced in fields for the dogs to run in. There are water stations, waste bag stations, and trash cans in all of the fields. They have shaded areas with picnic tables in each of the fields but it didn't look like there were any trees in the whole dog park. Great place to take your dog(s) and let them run around.

We recently visited for the first time over the Memorial Day weekend and were pleasantly surprised…read more We only hiked the Cascade Trail so that is what my review will be on. The park website and things online are very confusing. One site says, permit not required and another say one isn't. The sign at the park also says permit required, but there is no where to purchase one in person or online. We took the chance and parked without one. I did see a worker driving around and he didn't seem to be checking cars. The map seems okay for general navigating and there is signage around. The trails are marked okay I think. There could be some improvement, but the Cascade Trail is a big loop so it isn't a huge deal. The trail was well maintained. A little overgrown in places, but nothing terrible. It's also really flat except for the end of the trail where you need to walk up a big hill to get back to where we parked. My kids did fine with the trial the whole time though. The bridge is super neat and my kids had fun crossing it. The falls were pretty and a nice treat, but you really have to wander around to find a good view of it. Luckily none of us minded that. The creek is really nice to play and walk in. That was by far my kids favorite part. We also found lots of fossils to explore and look at! It was a little muddy after all the rain we had received, but nothing terrible.

My favorite 'hiking' spot in Butler County…read more My favorite part about this preserve are the trails. There are multiple trails that connect to each other, so if you get bored with hiking your usual trail, it's easy to mix it up a little bit. They are all well kept and maintained. Sometimes there is some litter, but we pick it up. There are two old building foundations on one of the trails and a piece of farm equipment grown into a tree, pretty neat! The park is big, lots of space.

Lovely park! I enjoy my long walks and then stopping at one of the restaurants for food, drinks or…read moreice cream.

The park was amazing for dance/prom/homecoming photos!!! Super pretty and well kept!!!read more

Love this hidden, scenic and dog-friendly trail! We didn't take the entire trail but it is set on…read more54 acres and is complete with a marked trail and creek. There is a small parking lot at the entrance and is right off the roadway. We took our pup here and it's great for off-leash or on-leash exploring. A lot of dogs are off-leash so if your dog isn't comfortable around that, I would suggest finding a different trail. It's a beautiful walk and enjoyable exploration but my only mark is the sign into the trail, telling you to not let the dogs get in the water. Apparently there is a contamination in the water so it could be harmful for pups. Not sure how old that sign is BUT a lot of dogs were in the creek and by that I mean every single person with their dogs so I'm not sure what is up with that but that definitely marked a star off for us because Opie loves playing in the water. We'd definitely hit the trail again and we would recommend it to anyone looking for a good hike or wanting to spend an active afternoon with your pup!

Great location for pets. Off leash. I love trails that are…read moreoff the beaten path. It's not overcrowded. I would recommend wearing comfortable/hiking shoes. It's not rocky, but it is not smooth (not pavement). I love coming here on the weekend mornings. It's quiet, peaceful and my pet frenchie loves it. One of my favorite walking spots. I would say it's roughly 2-3 miles long.

This is a strange nature preserve. Situated right on the edge of the Little Miami River, this…read morenature preserve floods with heay rains. Much of the shore becomes submerged in water. This includes the trash left behind by visitors. We found whole pockets of trash. There were some areas where it looked like groups had sat, had a few beers, then left. There was also broken glass in the parking lot. It looked to be window glass, so we did not stay long. Even if we wanted to, other that to look out at the high water levels, there was not much reason to stay long. All the trails were flood for the most part. We would start on a trail only to be stopped by tick mud. The water level was so high that a small walking bridge that is part of a trail could be seen far out from the water's edge. There was a small roundabout with benches. This looks to be/have been a flower garden. It was not blooming during our visit. The only thing that was in bloom were some flowering trees along one of the trails. Most of the other visitors we observed were using the preserve's parking lot as a starting point for the Little Miami River bike trail. They parked closer to the street, then zipped off.

We actually ended up at Magrish unexpectedly. We originally went to California Woods, but were…read moreturned away by their no dog policy. Magrish is dog friendly though, much to our furry cohort's delight! This is a great little park right along the Little Miami River. There isn't much in the way of amenities as far as picnic areas, restrooms, etc. but there are beautiful views of the River and some very cool trails. It also is adjacent to one of the bike paths along Kellogg which served as a nice way to extend our hike for the day. We did the majority of the trails through the park and then took a turnoff on the trail on the right just past the overlook leading down to the river. While the growth along the trail made me wish I had been wearing pants, this was SO worth it. If you follow it all the way to the end, there's a great view. (see photo!) This definitely deems to be a popular teenager hangout, and there's the leftover mass of trash to prove it, which is the only reason I gave this four instead of five stars.