GOhio! Adventures Around Columbus

Early-bird coffee and conversation at Paris Baguette!

Setting

The Ohio Bird Sanctuary is a non-profit organization dedicated to rehabilitating injured and orphaned native Ohio birds, protecting natural habitats, and educating the public about wildlife conservation. It serves as a haven for native birds, a nature preserve, and a living museum.

Founded in 1988, the Sanctuary spans 90 acres, featuring marshes, old-growth forests, and approximately 4 miles of hiking trails along the Clear Fork River, ideal for birdwatching and nature exploration.

The Sanctuary cares for over 85 birds, including more than 30 species of native songbirds and raptors, such as bald eagles, owls, and hawks, many of which are permanent residents due to injuries preventing their release into the wild. These birds serve as avian ambassadors for educational programs.

Admission to the bird display area costs $5, with a walk-through songbird aviary where visitors can feed birds for $0.25 per cup. The Sanctuary's hiking trails may be accessed for free.

If you have an injured or orphaned bird, the Sanctuary can help.

Summary

Here is a map of the Sanctuary.

For this event, we will begin by hiking around 3, maybe 4, miles on the Sanctuary's trails. None of the trails is individually that long, but we'll do various permutations until we get a reasonable distance in and see the better part of the Sanctuary's outer grounds.

I strongly recommend waterproof hiking shoes and a change of socks for after the hike. Some of the trails here can be very wet. They may not be quite as bad in late November as they can be in mid-June, but I wouldn't risk it.

After our abbreviated hike, we'll see the bird enclosures and walk through the songbird aviary. This will cost $5 for each person. They do take credit cards.

Most of the enclosures have placards on them with each bird's individual story. Some of the stories are very touching. I also think their songbird aviary, while not terribly large, is one of the best aviaries I have ever gone through.

The bird-viewing part of the Sanctuary is not large, and I would personally recommend we not be in a rush to go through it. If you're not wired to have some sort of compassionate reaction to the birds who live at the Sanctuary, then this isn't the event for you.

After the Sanctuary

Normally when I plan the back half of an event, I look for something that will be very close to where we are, or on our way back home.

In this case, though, for those that are interested, I'll be asking you to drive 15 minutes out of your way, and add 15 minutes to your return trip home (assuming you're in Columbus), when we go to The Phoenix Brewing Company in Mansfield.

Phoenix Brewing is an exceptionally highly rated brewery, with a 4.8 rating on Google. They also have a food truck on Saturdays, though I don't at this time know what the truck on the day of this event will be. I'll update this description once I do.

On rare occasions, they have live music on Saturday afternoons, but please don't count on that for this event. However, once I know more details about their schedule on this day, I'll update this description.

The actual address of the brewery is 131 N Diamond St, Mansfield, OH 44902. If you live in the Mansfield area and just want to swing by the brewery, that's fine too. We should be there no later than 4:15.

Where We'll Meet

Barring hearing anything else to the contrary, we'll meet at the Sanctuary's Visitor Center at 1:00. However, for those who want to carpool or otherwise follow me up, we'll meet at the Polaris Target located at 1485 Polaris Pkwy, Columbus, OH 43240 at 11:15 a.m. and head out no later than 11:25 a.m.

However, you have to let me know that you want to do this. Otherwise, I'll just drive directly to the Sanctuary. Please note, I won't ride with you, nor will I let you ride with me. So if you want to catch a ride with someone, you should post in the comments below that this is what you want. You may also wish to offer to pay for gas for whomever you ride with, but that's between you and them. Waiting until the last minute to work out these arrangements, though, probably severely decreases your chances of snagging a ride. So I would recommend starting the process early.

How To Get to the Sanctuary

Your GPS will get you to the Sanctuary just fine. You can follow it and not get lost, and you won't have an issue with your cell service.

However, your GPS is likely to want you to get off of I-71N at Exit 151 and drive halfway across Morrow County on two-lane roads. It you map this out, though, this will literally save you no more than five minutes. But Google Maps likes to take you on the most inane routes, even if will only save 30 seconds. This drives me nuts.

Personally, I prefer to take I-71N to Exit 165, which is the Lexington/Bellville exit, and drive through Lexington on State Route 97. As a bonus, if you do this, you get to drive by the Clear Fork Reservoir, which is pretty cool.

Coffee and conversation at The Roosevelt Coffeehouse, located at Olentangy River Brewing.

They will also have a Venezuelan food truck that always gets good reviews.

We will meet next to the restrooms at the Big Meadows Picnic Area. They're all the way at the back of the park, and they can be found at coordinates 40°09'06.6"N 83°02'30.2"W (near the playground and the zip line).

We'll hike about 5 miles at Highbanks Metro Park on the Dripping Rock and Overlook Trails. Afterward, we'll head over to Olentangy River Brewing for drinks, coffee, or food (their Sunday food truck is Venezuelan and always gets good reviews).

The actual address of the brewery is 303 Green Meadows Dr S, 43035. If you can't make the hike, we should be there by noon.

How to find our starting point in Big Meadows:

If you are new to Highbanks, the Big Meadows picnic area is 1.5 miles into the park just after you turn into the park off of U.S. Route 23. That is, after you enter the park, drive a mile and a half into the park. You will come to a crosswalk with a yield sign in the middle of it (this is not to be confused with the first such crosswalk you come to just in front of the Nature Center, which you arrive at maybe a quarter of a mile into the park).

Just after this second crosswalk, make a left. Then make another almost immediate left into the parking lot on your left. There you will see the jungle gym and the kiddie zip line to your left. I will be just in front of the restrooms just a bit further down from the jungle gym and picnic shelter; the restroom building will also be on your left.