Ridge Trail (Oak Openings Preserve Metropark)

A bridge along the trail

The ridge trail at Oak Openings Preserve is one of my personal favorite trails in Northwest Ohio.  I have hiked every trail in Oak Openings and they are all very nice but this one has a little bit of all the Oak Openings Region has to offer.

The Ridge trail has a little of everything; sand dunes, oak savanna, swamp forest, blueberry forest, and floodplain.  That's why I think its special. 

If you don't have the time to tackle the Scout trail (Oak Openings Hiking Trail) then you can catch a glimpse of the Oak Openings' diversity on this trail.

The ridge trail is 2.5 miles long.  It starts at the main parking lot at Mallard Lake and Buehner Center.

Lots of Wildflowers in the Spring

The trail heads off in to the woods, goes across Oak Openings Parkway and towards Swan Creek.  You then walk down to a floodplain.  The part of the trail heading down to the floodplain is particularly nice in the spring.  Many different spring flowers bloom along this section.  You will see spring beauty, buttercup, golden ragwort, and cutleaf toothwort, (and many others).

The trail goes across a bridge to the other side of Swan Creek.  This is a nice section of the trail as it meanders along a ridge next to the creek.  There are also many spring wildflowers along this section of the trail.  Hepatica, large-flowered trillium, white trout lilly, among others add a lot of color in the spring.

Some Places are a Bit Mucky

The trail gets a little mucky beyond this point.  This is the swamp forest section and depending on when you walk it could be pretty sloppy.  Summer typically isn't a problem but spring will likely present you with a wet trail here.  You will see a lot of pin oak in this low area.

As you continue on along the ridge trail the terrain gradually gets dryer as you enter into a higher sandy area.  There are many oak-covered sand dunes here.  The sand dunes are left over from the post-glacier days when a large lake covered this area.  The dunes are remnants of the beach of pre-historic Lake Warren.

Classic Oak Savanna

This is a restored oak savanna area.  All of the invasive underbrush was removed to make way for the native plants.  Black oak is dominant along with bracken ferns, and wild blueberry.  This is one of the larger oak savanna areas in Oak Openings Preserve.

The trail goes up, down and around many of the dunes and eventually back down to another low forest area.  As you continue you will likely see the closed section of Wilkins road.  This road goes between Campbell Prairie on the south and Oak Openings Lodge on the north. 

Eventually you will end up back to another section of Swan Creek.  Once again the trail goes along the ridge of the floodplain.  There are some pine trees (non-native) here.  Skunk cabbage is abundant.  The trail will end up back at the same bridge you crossed earlier and then back up to the Mallard lake area.

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