There is surprising diversity for the size of this park (only 22 acres), including many species of trees, wild flowers and birds. Look for spring wildflowers such as spring beauty, sessile trillium, bloodroot and Virginia bluebells. You will see blue-gray gnatcatchers, travelling all the way from Central and South America, zipping around branches, grabbing up insects and singing a high nasally song. Be sure to listen for the “jug-o-rum” of the bullfrogs at the pond.
Check out the butterfly garden in the summer. Butterflies with names as colorful as their wings: tiger swallowtails, great spangled fritillaries, mourning cloaks and red admirals, can be seen nectaring and sunning themselves. Inspect the undersides of the leaves of milkweed plants in August to look for tiny green monarch eggs, black, yellow and white larvae and jewel-like green chrysalides.
This trail winds through three habitats, including second-growth forest, with many beeches and maples and some larger pin oak trees, which offers shade for most of your walk. Open prairie space, with big bluestem grasses towering overhead, attract seed and insect-eating birds, voles and white tailed deer, looking for a place to rest. The ponds and creeks are havens for streamside salamanders, leopard frogs and even mink.
Park Location:
3455 Poole Road
Cincinnati, OH 45251
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Pin Oak Trail
Trail Length: 0.60 miles
Trail Type: Nature
Trail Level: Easy
