The landscape of Ohio is extremely diverse. We may not have the spectacular mountain ranges of the west but we’ve got prairies and forests and wetlands and rivers and streams and especially our great lake Erie.
That landscape offers a lot of opportunities for outdoor recreation, including fishing, hiking, biking, camping, boating and bird watching. Luckily, the state has set aside terrain for that. Ohio offers 75 state parks, 17 state forests, 4 state nature preserves and 14 state wildlife areas. And that’s in addition to a national park, a national forest, two national historic parks and three national wildlife refuges.
Here in Northeast Ohio, we’re fortunate to have such waterfront parks as Headlands State Park and Geneva-on-The-Lake State Park to our east, all the way to South Bass Island State Park and Kelley’s Island State Park in the Erie Islands off Marblehead. Marblehead has its own park, East Harbor State Park, which features beaches, woods, swamps and ponds packed with water lilies.
Nearby inland parks include diverse terrain, from the cliffs of Nelson-Kennedy Ledges, to Portage Lakes inland waters offering swimming, boating and fishing, to Quail Hollows’ meadows, woodlands and marshes.
You can find more information about Ohio state parks, broken down by region, here, to discover a new area to explore or to engage in whatever recreation you prefer.
Go here to learn about boating requirements. Learn more about Ohio nature preserves here: Download an Ohio State Parks Map and Amenities guide here.