I'm on a photography kick ., especially bird watching and joined several related facebook sites…read more Anyway i came here because several had reported eagles and rare ducks. It's winter so no one else was there at first ... I gather it's popular for fishing in warmer weather. No one was at the booth to collect any fee this time of year. No hawk, eagle or ducks but a ton of vultures .. around 50. They were eating something ..i walked around the lake to see .. it appears they were eating their own ... just bones and feathers left. There is a boat dock and a river. Saw a kingfisher at the river. I'd spotted several but this was the first time got a pic .. they usually are too quick to fly away.

As my journey continues to the places to have a nice carry out date night we come to this little…read morelake. You can reach this right off 275. It is really not a big place but nice quiet place. They do (not now of course) have boat rentals. There are really 2 places to park. One is right when you pass the small range/collect station you go a bit and look to your right. There is a kinda not noticeable entrance to a small parking/fishing area. Then if you drive a bit more around there is a much bigger parking area. There is also the rental building there. It has some nice places to lay down,walk, and just chill out. So do go and relax and enjoy.

Downstream of Cincinnati, this is a much quieter park than anything in the city. It has two road…read moreentrances; the one closer to the city was closed with no explanation, but the second one was open. The park had a paved walkway by the river with playground and picnic spaces as well as some kind of hut that could be booked for a party. There were some decent views to what looked like pastoral land across the river. The river itself was not particularly clean. The park also houses a more rustic trail which goes down by the riverside and through some woodsy areas filled with birdsong. The river isn't great, but the park as a whole has plenty to offer.

Nice park beside Ohio river, has paved road you can walk around the park, there are hiking trails…read moreyou can take, but i didn't. We are here in late October, the park is beautiful with all the leaves color change. Several bath rooms inside park, lots of trash can, very convenient for me since I'm constantly blow my nose with cold.

Great trails for all including kids and dogs. Nice easy hikes but beautiful. Area is clean and…read morepretty maintained.

My bf, dog, and myself hiked this park and enjoyed going through it. It's not a long hike but…read moreinteresting. It's a good beginner hiking trail.

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!!

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.

A beautiful park that's has more to offer than it seems…read more Theu have swings and slides in the front but the best part is the trail and once you walk it you'll see some pretty greenery and a creek. Make sure you wear gym shoes you you can walk down near the creek and just look at how beautiful the area is.

I have been eager to get to this park for a while and finally explored it by myself the other day…read more If you want a nice field to picnic in, if you want to do some hiking, if you want a creek, this is the place to be. There was a group of kids that was having a great time walking in the creek. While there is a path right next to the creek, if you have shoes that are good with water, I say just go and walk right in the creek. It's a little under a mile long and you can see little fish, I've heard you might be able to spot a turtle, and I saw a snake! There are other trails that veer off from the creek and there's a good amount of up and down. There are swings and a big shelter with picnic tables scattered around.

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.

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.