Highbanks Metro Park — Attraction in Orange Township

1200 acres of sprawling greenery nestled between three busy highways - 23, 750 and 315 - one of the best of Metro Parks in the Columbus area.

While most of the preserve is off-limits for humans, for good reason, what is there is enough to keep one occupied for a couple of months.

The park has a plethora of trails, with the longest one being a paved multi-use trail. The Coyote Run trail is for pets, some of the other trails don’t allow pets because they might end up scaring the wildlife around.

Getting to see different wildlife - rabbits, turkeys, squirrels, deers, beavers, bald eagles etc is very common if you are a regular visitor (remember, the number of wildlife coming out in the open is inversely proportionate to the number of humans lurking around :) ) and know when and where.

There are a lot of BBQ pits spread all over the park, and some shelters as well. But on a nice bright day, you might not find one of those covered shelters beyond 1PM. However, there are several other pits and picnic tables near them all over the place.

Recently, a mini zip line has also been installed for kids.

The Oak Coves and Big Meadows areas have large meadows for people to enjoy, especially kids running around and playing.

One of the favorite activity of kids in this park is wading in the river. There are a few access points from the main areas of the park. However, if you are familiar with the area, my suggestion will be to drive around to the River Bluff area whose entrance is on 315. The 0.4m Eagle View trail there runs along the river and you can walk down one of the pathways down to the river. The water is generally shallow, around knee dee at the deepest point. If you have kids, it will definitely be a great experience for them on a warm summer day. If you are lucky, you might get to view a few bald eagles as well.

In my opinion, a great place to explore nature and spend time with...

I've been visiting High Banks park since I've moved to Ohio in 2010. Not much has changed over the year, which is one of the highlights of the park. Some paths have been added that has improved the over all enjoyment. Parks like High banks are one of the last places you can go to enjoy peace and serenity. When I want to improve my mood, get away, Or just have a better quality outlook on life. This is where I come. I've visited all hours of the day, 7 days a week and its never over crowded on a walk. Up till now I've walked just about every trail available. I enjoy the one pet trail most of all. Its more of a real hike with untouched terrain. Some of you probably have seen me from time to time enjoying a walk with my kitty who sits on the back of her hiking bag. Talk about standing out:-) If I had to answer pros and cons. All would be pros. Since I can't give any cons. The only complaint I would have is parking for the pet trails. Up until a few years ago, the parking lot was never full. These days the lot is just about full no matter what time of day you come. If the lot is full, pet owners can't park elsewhere and walk back over since animals are not allowed on anyother trail. Unless you want to walk the roads, If you can even do that. I was led to believe pets are not allowed anywhere else but this area. An evaluation should be made to see how many spots are needed any given day for the pet trails. Those spots should be reserved for the pet trails only. Keep up the good work park officials and I'll keep coming back for years to...

Just wanted to let the staff know that we were not pleased with Park Ranger (believed to be) Dan Kederly's attitude towards us this evening. We were packing up as he walked up and said he'd try to be nice since we were having a wedding reception. Then he talked to us like we were middle schoolers, "I expect you you be gone by the time I'm back from the restrooms." Then when he came back he assumed we had tried to flush a pair of sunglasses down the toilet. He literally said " is someone missing the sunglasses you tried to flush down the toilet?" .......Why would we TRY to do that. We're not middle school hooligans. Once we told him it wasn't any of ours, he insisted it probably was since it was only us at the shelter, but we immediately thought ... "Well this is a public spot, we had seen other groups pass through." What sent us over the edge was that he proceeded with asking, "Well, do you want them anyway?" ..... Why would we want sunglasses that AREN'T ours that were FLUSHED in the toilet?? Why did he feel the need to ask that? This was someone's wedding, and he was very close to ruining that day for the couple.

All of these directions from him could've been said WAY more cordially and without a nasty under tone. He just felt very aggressive towards us. Sad way to end our evening.

The park and facilities were fine!...