Pearl's Fen — Attraction in Fairborn

Beautiful boardwalk! I visited in late August '23, and the area was just wall-to-wall wild flowers. The bees were busy, I saw a few dragonflies and shy butterflies, and witnessed a four-way dogfight with some hummingbirds.

If you take the longer looping trail, you'll eventually have a choice of heading left down a darker path not quite as well-kept (bisected tree limbs/logs on either side of path) or go right across a wooden bridge. This is the point it connects to Oakes Quarry. If you go right across the bridge you'll return to the Fen parking lot. If you go left, you'll have quite the hike ahead of you, so be prepared.

The boardwalk could be broader and it would be great to have a larger area with a bench for longer-term birdwatching, but it's a great spot for photography or dipping a toe in nature when you don't feel up to...

I parked at Pearl's Fen and it's a small lot but beautiful space with covered picnic tables and lush yard. It was fun to walk (short!) the Pearl's Fen boardwalk (informative signs) before I did the full hike to include Oakes Quarry for a little more than 4 miles. Trails were dry as we've not gotten rain in a few weeks. A tiny buggy at the beginning but I didn't have bug spray and was fine through the whole hike. Trails are beautiful and mostly covered until you get to the quarry. There are many open spaces around the quarry. I did need to use the All Trails app and my location at a few points around the Quarry trail as it wasn't always marked. Overall a wonderful hike and I'll be back! I only encountered a few people on the trails but I got an early start (9am) to beat the heat. (There were porta potties at the...

I came for the first time on Sept. 22. Very lovely meadow with lots of flowers and the woods are beautiful and interesting and have the creek flowing peacefully through them. I loved the big rock outcroppings. I look forward to there being a trail map provided as I could see a few trails, but didn't want to get lost, so I didn't explore all of them. I also would want to come on a day when the wind wasn't blowing in from the direction of the pig farm that is out in the area. It had a strong odor from the pig manure. Another reviewer referred to the sulphur smell, but this was definitely livestock manure. So I put my mask on and that took care of it! Thank you, Dave, for creating this lovely area in nature for all of...