You’ve done the loop. You’ve done it at Highbanks. You’ve done it at Sharon Woods. You put on your shoes, drove twenty minutes, and walked a trail that felt exactly like the last trail you walked. It’s not that the Metro Parks aren’t beautiful. They are beautiful. It’s just that you’ve visited them so many times… you’ve stopped truly seeing them.
Here’s the thing: the Metro Parks aren’t just trails. There’s a via ferrata bolted into a former quarry wall in the middle of Columbus. There’s a canopy walk where you’re suspended 40 feet above a beech-maple forest in Reynoldsburg. There are bison… actual BISON — roaming a prairie on the west side. If you’ve been treating the parks like a treadmill with scenery, this is your sign that you’ve been doing it wrong.
Here’s what’s actually waiting for you at each one this summer.
Unique Things to Do in the Columbus Metro Parks
Quarry Trails Metro Park (Columbus)
The move: Via Ferrata + Mountain Biking
Quarry Trails is the most unique park in the entire system, and it’s not close. Built on the site of the Marble Cliff Quarry, once the largest contiguous quarry in the United States, the park’s topography is unlike anything else in central Ohio.
The headliner is the via ferrata, the country’s first major urban “iron path.” The route covers 1,040 feet of cabled climbing using metal rungs, ladders, and fixed cables. It includes a 90-foot suspension bridge suspended 105 feet above a scenic pond, two aerial walkways, and a 54-foot steel staircase. The whole thing takes about 90 minutes to complete. This is a guided, registration-only experience run by Metro Parks’ Outdoor Adventure team, and spots fill up, so plan ahead. (You must be at least 14, between 88 and 265 pounds, and at least 5 feet tall.)
If you’d rather go it alone, the sport climbing wall has six routes reaching more than 50 feet up the sheer quarry cliffs. Just bring your own gear and sign a waiver on-site.
And if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a rugged 0.75-mile single-track mountain bike trail accessed from the Dublin Road entrance. And when we say rugged, we mean rugged.
Before you leave, walk the Millikin Falls Trail to the park’s 25-foot waterfall. It’s free, it’s gorgeous, and it takes about 20 minutes.
Plan your visit at Quarry Trails | 2600 Dublin Road, Columbus
Blacklick Woods Metro Park (Reynoldsburg)
The move: The Canopy Walk
The Canopy Walk at Blacklick Woods is one of the most underrated things in all of Columbus. A wide boardwalk rises 40 feet into the air and loops for an eighth of a mile through the canopy of maples, beech, shagbark hickory, and oak trees. The views of the surrounding beech-maple forest are something else entirely, especially in summer when everything is dense and green.
Plus, because you’re up in the tree canopy, you’ll get up and close with all the critters that call the dense tree line home.
There’s also a higher viewing platform, 55 feet above the forest floor, reached by additional steps. For those who need it, an elevator makes the main Canopy Walk fully ADA accessible.
The Canopy Walk isn’t just a lookout point, either. Built into the structure are three rope bridges, a hammock-style cargo net that suspends you over the forest floor, a large treehouse with climbing apparatus, and a fireman’s pole. It’s completely free, open daily from 9am to 7pm April through September, and it’s the kind of thing that makes you feel like you’re somewhere very far away from central Ohio.
BONUS: Blacklick Woods also has a great golf course hiding inside the Metro Park. Certainly an underrated course in Central Ohio.
Plan your visit at Blacklick Woods | 6975 E Livingston Ave, Reynoldsburg
Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park (Galloway)
The move: See the Bison
More than 7,000 acres of forest, prairie, and wetlands stretching along 13 miles of the Big and Little Darby Creek, both designated State and National Scenic Rivers. This is already the largest park in the system by a wide margin.
But the thing you need to see: the bison. A herd of American bison has been reintroduced to the park and roams freely within two large enclosed pastures. Standing near the fence and watching a 2,000-pound animal lumber across a restored Ohio prairie is a genuinely disorienting, wonderful experience. There’s nothing else like it within an hour of Columbus.
Beyond the bison, the park has over 1,600 acres of restored wetlands and prairies, which are absolutely perfect for bird watching in the early morning, and nearly 20 miles of multi-use trails if you do want to hike or bike.
Plan your visit at Battelle Darby Creek | 1775 Darby Creek Drive, Galloway
Scioto Audubon Metro Park (Columbus)
The move: The Rock Climbing Wall + Obstacle Course
Located just south of downtown Columbus on the banks of the Scioto River, Scioto Audubon was built on a reclaimed brownfield and doesn’t look or feel like any other park in the system. The skyline is visible from the trails. The birding is elite. This is a certified Audubon park, after all.
But the outdoor activity scene here is what sets it apart. The main climbing wall has three towers and two arches reaching 35 feet, extending over 7,000 square feet of climbable surface. It features bouldering, top rope, and lead climbing, with four auto-belays for solo climbers (bring your own harness). It’s open 8am to 9pm through the summer.
Right next to it, the Columbus Rotary Obstacle Course is a quarter-mile running track with an 8-foot wall, tunnel crawl, monkey bars, cargo climb, belly crawl, and more. It’s free and open to everyone.
Add the dog park, volleyball courts, kayak/canoe access to the Scioto River, and a boat ramp, and this is one of the most activity-dense parks in the whole system.
Plan your visit at Scioto Audubon | 400 W Whittier Street, Columbus
*Note, as of June 9th, the Rock Climbing Wall is closed for repairs. Check their website for updates*
Highbanks Metro Park (Lewis Center)
The move: The Shale Bluffs + Olentangy River Views
Highbanks is named for its 100-foot shale bluffs towering over the Olentangy, a State Scenic River, and if you’ve only been doing the standard loop trail, you’re missing the best part of the park. The tributary streams cutting across the bluff have carved a series of deep ravines in the eastern section, it’s legitimately dramatic terrain for central Ohio.
The park also has a nature center and is one of the best spots in the system for early morning trail runs on well-maintained multi-use paths. At 1,160 acres with some of the most rugged topography of any Metro Park, Highbanks is the closest thing to real backcountry you’ll find within 30 minutes of downtown Columbus.
Plan your visit at Highbanks | 9466 US 23 N, Lewis Center
Scioto Grove Metro Park (Grove City)
The move: Fire Tower + 3D Archery
Scioto Grove has a fire tower you can climb, and if the wind picks up while you’re on it and the whole structure starts to sway, that’s part of the experience, baby. It’s the kind of adrenaline hit you don’t expect to find in a Metro Park 20 minutes from downtown Columbus
The park also has a 3D archery course with giant foam animals as targets (both a regular and a 3D course), plus canoe and kayak access to the Scioto River, making it one of the most versatile adventure parks in the system. More than 7 miles of trails wind through mature forests and scenic river bluffs.
Plan your visit at Scioto Grove | 5172 Jackson Pike, Grove City
Clear Creek Metro Park (Rockbridge)
The Move: The Gorge + Rhododendron
Fair warning: Clear Creek is about 45 minutes from Columbus, but it’s the park that will make you feel furthest from the city. The park covers 5,300 acres of woodland cut through with blackhand sandstone cliffs, deep ravines, and creek gorges, and it’s home to Ohio’s last remaining native colonies of rhododendron, which typically bloom in late June to early July.
The terrain here is the most geologically interesting in the system. Hemlock groves, sandstone outcroppings, forested ridgelines. If you’re chasing a real hike rather than a walk, this is where you go.
Plan your visit at Clear Creek | 23233 Clear Creek Road, Rockbridge
Glacier Ridge Metro Park (Plain City)
The Move: Honda Wetlands Boardwalk + Observation Tower
Built on the glacial debris left behind when the last ice sheet retreated 12,000 to 17,000 years ago, Glacier Ridge has a completely different character than most Metro Parks. Open, big-sky prairie and wetland rather than forest. The Honda Wetlands Area features a boardwalk trail through restored wetlands and a 25-foot observation tower, making it one of the best spots in the system for waterfowl viewing in summer.
It’s an especially good early morning visit: quiet, wide open, and loaded with bird activity. A very different kind of outdoor experience than the forested parks, that’s for sure.
Plan your visit at Glacier Ridge | 9801 Hyland Croy Road, Plain City
Great Southern Metro Park (Columbus)
The Move: The Newest Park in the System + Outdoor Gym
Great Southern is brand new, having opened in April 2026 as the 21st Metro Park. Located just south of downtown along the Scioto River on old riverboat canal land, the 70-acre park features prairies, an overlook mound, an obstacle course, fitness stations, a playground, and both paved and nature trails.
If you haven’t been yet, now is the time. Go explore it before the crowds figure it out.
Plan your visit at Great Southern | 125 Williams Road, Columbus
A Few More Columbus Metro Park Activities Worth Calling Out
Pickerington Ponds (Canal Winchester) is the single best birding spot in the Metro Parks system, with over 260 species documented. If you’re into birding or just want to see what the fuss is about, pack binoculars and go early.
Slate Run Living Historical Farm (Canal Winchester) is adjacent to Slate Run Metro Park and operates as a working 1880s farm with costumed staff and heirloom livestock. Not a thrill-seeker destination, but a genuinely memorable and unusual afternoon.
Rocky Fork Metro Park (Westerville) has a dedicated bridle trail, an off-leash dog trail, and a fenced dog park, making it the most dog-forward park in the system if you’re looking for somewhere to let your dog actually run.
Inniswood Metro Gardens (Westerville) is the outlier of the whole system: 121 acres of manicured botanical gardens with more than 2,000 plant species. Wildly different energy from everything else on this list, but genuinely beautiful in peak summer. The seamless blend between curated beauty and natural beauty is phenomenal.
All 21 Metro Parks are free to visit and open year-round. Most open at 6:30am, which is the right time to show up if you want the place to yourself. For programs like the via ferrata that require registration, head to metroparks.net to book.
