Chestnut Ridge Metro Park, the view southeast, across a prairie opening, just below the homestead area on the Homestead Trail, June 2023. Copyright: CC-BY-SA Larry Sanger. Chestnut Ridge Metro Park is a lovely woody park located 16 miles southeast of downtown Columbus, Ohio. The park lies in Fairfield County, a couple miles south of the area's main traffic artery, State Route 33, halfway to Lancaster. The park is about three miles southeast of Canal Winchester and five miles south of Pickerington. The park's main physical feature is the scenic Chestnut Ridge, arguably the nearest protrusion of the Appalachian Mountains towards Columbus. The ridge lies 200 feet above the parking lot and 350 feet above Walnut Creek, one mile to the north. The surrounding countryside is flat enough that the ridge can be seen for a few miles around. The high point in the park is 1,116 feet above sea level. This crop of a topographical map shows Chestnut Ridge and some of the surrounding landscape. "Jefferson," marked here at the northern edge of the park land, is a platted (subdivided and mapped) place, given a name that implies a village might have grown up there. It seems Jefferson never consisted of more than a few nearby residences. From U.S. Topographical Map, Canal Winchester, Scale 1:24000, 2023. The park is divided into a larger section to the east of Amanda Northern Road and a smaller section to the west. The park's main attractions are its extensive hiking trails in the eastern section and mountain bike trails in the western section. The eastern portion also features a small fishing pond, a second, swampy pond with a birdwatching blind, playground equipment, and a small woodland lecture area. There are three miles of scenic hiking trails, according to the Metro Parks website, and perhaps another mile more of unnamed trails. There are 10.5 miles of very twisty and steep mountain bike trails, leading to the highest point on the ridge. There are three parking lots on the eastern side and one on the western, with toilets (without plumbing) at three of the parking lots. There are excellent picnicking and outdoor meeting facilities as well, with two covered areas and picnic tables. A view in winter from one of two fishing docks, looking across the frozen fishing pond to the other dock and up to the northern side of Chestnut Ridge, in December 2021. Copyright: CC-BY-SA Larry Sanger. Wildlife typical of central Ohio is found abundantly in the park: deer, rabbits, tortoises in the ponds, hawks, and more. Frequently when the weather is nice, particularly near quitting time and on weekends, one may also spot walkers, often middle-aged and elderly locals, out for constitutionals, as well as joggers. The views and the enormous oaks, maples, hickory, and beech trees are perhaps the most interesting features, however. Metro Park policy has in recent years called for trees not to be cut up and removed but to be allowed to decompose where they fall. This policy follows natural forest management practices, which aim to allow ecosystems to regenerate naturally. For instance, leaving fallen trees or "coarse woody debris" in place provides habitat for various forest creatures. Hiking trails at Chestnut Ridge. Excerpted from the Metro Parks' 2021 PDF map, also found reprinted in free brochures at the park (as is true of Columbus Metro Parks generally). Geologically, the park is situated on a narrow outcropping of Blackhand sandstone "deposited more than 300 million years ago when Ohio's ancient ocean draned from the land," according to a Fairfield County park website. There are two small springs that feed the ponds. Hiking trails A typical spring view from the northern observation deck looking west, toward downtown Columbus, May, 2019. Copyright: CC-BY-SA Larry Sanger. The Ridge Trail (1 mile) climbs close to the top of high point of Chestnut Ridge. It is entirely wooded, except for one small clearing, and the temperature can be counted to be a good ten degrees cooler in the woods than out in the fields. A popular short, but vigorous, walk begins at the westernmost parking lot and climbs about 150 feet to two different observation decks (see image). In years past, there was a nice view of downtown Columbus from the first deck, but trees have grown up to block the skyline. The view from both decks might be thought better in winter. The southern deck simply overlooks the long, lightly-wooded hill. The trail has the park's best views of the woods, which are quite pretty throughout the year, featuring enormous oaks, maples, and hickory. The climb up to the observation decks is deemed "moderate to difficult" by the Metro Parks, but it is over fairly quickly for most hikers, and there is only one stretch that is rather steep-and there are benches for resting located conveniently after that. A few hundred yards of the upward path runs on a boardwalk that affords nice views eastward of the large trees and, in winter, of the ponds. Some hikers will go to the observation deck and then turn around. However, once on top of the ridge, the trail continues up and down a bit, but is much easier. The lower stretch that the parallels the ridge, closest to the parking lots and ponds, is also fairly easy and flat. Hikers who manage to make it to the junction on either the west or the east side of the park have the option to complete a loop: either the shorter Homesite Trail or the longer Meadows Trail. The Homesite Trail (0.4 mile) features one of the park's more intriguing viewpoints: the foundations of an abandoned house, with a lamppost, front walkway, yard, and orchard still maintained to some degree. The house was one of seven that were found on park land in years past (see History, below), but which are all now gone and reclaimed by the park and by the woods. The house was pleasantly situated on the ridge, with a nice view down the long slope to the east-southeast. The nearest three neighbors were about 500 feet down the hill to the north, a thousand feet to the south, and a thousand feet to the east. The climb up the ridge on the east begins on the Ridge Trail, then climbs while performing a 180 turn, switches to the Homesite Trail, and continues up to the homestead. The total climb from parking lot to homestead is about 140 feet, which explains the Metro Parks' labeling the trail "Moderate to Difficult." Again, there are benches for resting partway up and at the top. From the east, the trail skirts what seems to be a former farm field that is being maintained as one of the park's three larger meadows. It is unclear whether the three Chestnut Ridge meadows were prairie openings before settlement and farming. From the homestead area westward to the other junction with the Ridge Trail is a much gentler climb along the ridge, past a sizeable stand of large coniferous trees and another, smaller prairie opening. The large prairie opening in the extreme southeastern part of the park on a fine summer day, July 2023; panoramic shot. Copyright: CC-BY-SA Larry Sanger. The Meadows Trail (1 mile) is so called because it skirts all three of the park's prairie openings. The trail begins on the east at a junction with the Ridge Trail, halfway up Chestnut Ridge. The trail skirts a meadow, descending to the south to a bridge over tiny Poplar Creek, then rising up again about fifty feet to the park's largest prairie opening (see image above). As it executes a square-shaped route, the trail drops down to re-cross the creek. From there, the trail enters the woods (see image below) and climbs from one of the park's lowest points to the park's highest point on the hiking trail, an elevation gain of 170 feet. The stretch of trail is relatively long, so there are a couple of benches for rest along the way, and again the Metro Parks call it "Moderate to Difficult." Fall colors on display: a view uphill, along the wooded part of the Meadows Trail, October 2022. Chestnut Ridge is an excellent place to view fall colors. Copyright: CC-BY-SA Larry Sanger. There are side and connecting trails throughout the park. These include probably over a mile of mowed paths through the prairie openings, but these prairie paths can change from year to year. They are also frequently more uneven and thus harder to walk, especially if the grass has not been cut recently. Three of the more interesting side trails, not marked on the official map, are old roads, or driveways, maintained almost as well as the main trails. One of these begins two hundred yards or so to the east of the homestead and from there goes due south for a half a mile; this was evidently the homestead's driveway. From north to south, it first leads between a prairie opening and the conifer stand, then crosses the Meadows Trail, Poplar Creek, and ends at Slough Road, where there is a locked gate. This is a pleasant out-and-back side route. Off of the north end of the Meadows Trail, a hundred yards south from the junction with the Ridge Trail there is another pleasantly walkable old road, or driveway, that runs from a small meadow-which itself appears to have been the yard, or garden, of a long-abandoned house-down the hill to Winchester Road (where, again, there is a locked gate). A third old drive way runs west from near the top of the ridge east of the Meadow Trail. This slightly more winding and driveway runs southwest, to Amanda Northern Road (and another gate); just north and across the road from this point is another gate and old driveway that leads into the mountain biking area. There is a large old cut stone in the homestead at the top of this third driveway, apparently all that remains of the homestead at this place; there is an informative sign along Meadow Trail showing the place. There are a few other trails, such as connecting trails from the fishing pond to the birdwatching blind (paralleling the drive), a short Milkweed Trail through the grass near the park entrance. Aerial view of some of the Chestnut Ridge's "pump track"; some well-reviewed mountain biking trails are in the woods here. Copyright: CC-BY-SA Larry Sanger. Chestnut Ridge Mountain Bike Trails The western section is so separated from the eastern section (by a road, and with no shared trails) as to constitute a separate park. There are several named trails such as "Fireball," "Squatch," and "More Cowbell," rated from Easy to Advanced. Note that "Easy" trails are not apt to appear "Easy" to those brand new to mountain biking. All the trails are twisting and narrow, as mountain bike trails can be, with many steep inclines and long descents, for a total over ten miles of trails. As a result, many miles of the park trails are "for expert riders only," according(("Chestnut Ridge: About the Trail," accessed September 2023.)) to the Central Ohio Mountain Biking Organization (COMBO), the organization that built the trails. COMBO also reports that cyclists "should expect steep climbs, most notably a switchback climb up to the Apple Barn, followed by several flowy descents as you ride along the heavily wooded trail. A few bridges, banked turns, several log-overs, and a couple short sections of sandstone cobble can be found along this trail." The advanced trail was rated the #1 mountain biking trail in central Ohio by trailforks.com.(("The Best Mountain Biking Trails in Central Ohio." Accessed September 2023.)) There is also a short and fun "pump track" not far from the parking lot (see diagram on the Metro Park map, above). History The park offers a window into local history that we will briefly review.((This section was greatly assisted by two binders of information that park personnel made available. Here is a PDF scan (97.7MB) of selected pages from these binders.)) Geologists describe Chestnut Ridge as part of the Appalachians. It is an outlying knob of Black Hand Sandstone, part of deposit that has since been mostly eroded. The famous Hocking Hills, of which Chestnut Ridge might be considered an outlier, were carved out of this same sandstone by erosion. During the last ice age, called the Wisconsinan advance, an ice sheet covered two-thirds of Ohio and reached up to Lancaster. The glacier surrounded, but apparently did not cover, Chestnut Ridge.((This information is summarized from "Geology of Chestnut Ridge," a document found in ibid.)) The park has some archaeological history as well. In 1986, in preparation for the general opening of Chestnut Ridge Metro Park, an archaeological firm was hired to perform a survey of the park. The survey found: At the time of reconnaissance the ground cover of the project area consisted of woods and mown weeds. Subsurface testing and visual inspection of the project area located three prehistoric archaeological sites. Two of these sites are small, plow-disturbed lithic scatters which do not appear to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The third site is a mound located several meters away from the proposed nature trail. The location of this site should be noted during the construction of the nature trail, in order to protect it from disturbance.((Julie Kime, "Phase II Archaeological Survey of the Chestnut Ridge Metropolitan Park, Fairfield County, Ohio," August 1986, submitted by Archaeological Services Consultants, Inc., Columbus, Ohio, to Metro Parks.)) A review of the publicly-available topographical maps reveals that the park was labeled "Chestnut Ridge Park" in 1966,((Historical Topographic Map Collection, 1985 ed., scale 1:24000.)) but not on the previous 1955 map. The mountain bike trails opened Sunday, October 16, 2011, with 7.5 miles of trails, according to mtbr.com. This is the first encyclopedia article in Sangerpedia, an occasional encyclopedia located at larrysanger.org, making use of the EncycloShare plugin. This plugin allows me to push this and similar articles to Encyclosphere network aggregators, such as EncycloSearch.