Trails & Ales! Blendon Woods Metro Park / Forbidden Root Restaurant & Brewery

Blendon Woods Metro Park spans 653 acres and features a diverse terrain, including stream-cut ravines with exposed ripple rock sandstone, open fields, and dense forests of beech-maple and oak-hickory trees. It was the second park established in the Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks system (after Blacklick Woods). The first land purchase of 229 acres occurred in 1949, and it opened to the public in 1951.

Here is a map of the park.

For this event, we will hike the Lake, Hickory Ridge, Ripple Rock, Overlook, Brookside, and Sugarbush Trails. This will be around 5 miles. While there are some hills here and there, Blendon Woods isn't generally a horribly strenuous park to hike. We won't always be in the shade though, so be prepared for the possibility of a little sun.

We will meet at the Nature Center, which is about a mile into the park from the main entrance. There are restrooms and water fountains here. We'll also pass another set of restrooms about a third of the way through the hike, and we'll go by the Nature Center a second time about two thirds of the way through the hike.

After the hike, we'll head to Easton and hit Forbidden Root Restaurant & Brewery - Columbus. They have beer, wine, spirits, and food. You can find the Brewery's entire menu at this link. Their actual address is 4080 Worth Ave, Columbus, OH 43219.

For parking at Easton, I recommend the Worth Garage. It's free and right next to the Brewery. Please note, while Google Maps will probably give you an address on Worth Ave. for the garage, the garage's entrances are actually on Brighton Rose Way and Fenlon St.

Lastly, for people who decide they want to hang out and stay super-late, Pins Mechanical is right across the street...