Possum Creek Metropark (Blog Hike #33)

Trails: (unnamed)
Hike Location: Possum Creek Metropark

Geographic Location: southwest side of Dayton, OH (39.70606,-84.26805)

Length: 2.5 miles
Difficulty: 1/10 (Easy)

Dates Hiked: February 1999, June 2015

Overview: A mostly flat hike featuring possibly the finest tallgrass prairie in southwest Ohio.

Park Information: https://www.metroparks.org/places-to-go/possum-creek/

Hike Route Map: http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=141113
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: From downtown Dayton, take SR 4 south about 6 miles to Frytown Rd.  There is a sign that says "Possum Creek Metropark," but it is located about 0.5 miles past Frytown Rd.  Turn left onto Frytown Rd. and take it to the park entrance, which is marked by another sign on the right.  Turn right to enter the park.  Take the park road past a stop sign to its very end and park in the parking lot provided.  The parking area is denoted PC-5.

The hike: Possum Creek Metropark is part of the Dayton-Montgomery County Park District.  Located only six miles southwest of downtown Dayton, the park sees quite a bit of action on nice summer afternoons.  This park provides recreation in the form fishing, picnicking, and, with 4.5 miles of mostly flat trails, hiking.  The centerpiece of the preserve is its tallgrass prairie, which is included in this hike.  The main park road also goes through this section of the park. 

            One word of caution: there are many overlapping trails in this park, and none of them are named or numbered.  Also, there are very few signs to direct you in the right direction, and many intersections look pretty much the same.  Thus, it is very easy to take a wrong turn and end up lost for a period of time.  Follow this trail description and the trail map carefully.

Trailhead near Argonne Lake

            From the parking lot, take the trail off the northwest side of the lot (the far right side as you come in), which leads a short distance through young forest to Argonne Lake.  The name Argonne comes from a defunct amusement park that operated on the north side of this property just after World War I.  Possum Creek Metropark also contains Argonne Forest and Argonne campsite, both of which are included in this hike.

            Turn right to follow the trail around the east side of the lake past a picnic area and a restroom.  This lake is very popular with fishermen during the warm months.  Continuing around the lake, the trail enters some underbrush, mostly honeysuckle.  Shortly after entering the bushes, a trail goes off to the right.  Turn right here to take you away from the lake.  This trail passes through some more honeysuckle and beside a row of sugar maples before coming out at a parking area.  If you could not find a trail map at PC-5, there might be some available in a small green box attached to an information kiosk at this parking lot. 

Argonne Forest trailhead

            Turn about 45 degrees left, cross the parking area, and take another trail that goes into the woods on the other side.  This trail soon crosses a small creek on a bridge, then meanders for several hundred feet through more honeysuckle before taking a turn to the left. 

            Eventually, the trail comes to a T-intersection.  Shortly before this intersection, ignore two trails that go off to the right (both of which were blocked by a pile of sticks when I was there) and one that goes off to the left, which takes you back to Argonne Lake.  This section of forest above all others can be particularly confusing due to the number of trails, the nondescript forest, and a mistake on the park’s trail map: the trail you are hiking does not take a sharp right turn as the map suggests, but continues straight to intersect the loop trail through Argonne Forest at the "T-intersection"  mentioned earlier.

            Turn left at the "T-intersection" to begin the loop trail through Argonne Forest.  Traveling clockwise, the trail slowly descends through young forest to Possum Creek, which is in the ravine that can be seen on the right.  Field grass and honeysuckle dominate this area.  Upon reaching Possum Creek, the trail crosses a stream, takes a sharp right, and begins following Possum Creek upstream.  The ripples in the creek are very pretty with sufficient water.  The bridle trail and some homes can be seen on the far side of the creek. 

Approaching Argonne Forest

            The trail soon turns to the right to leave the creek and begins ascending moderately to Argonne Forest, which is reached very shortly.  This is probably the best forest in the preserve with its large beech and maple trees.  Where the trail forks at a rock wall, go to the left; the trail to the right is a short cut to the camp area.  The trail climbs a little more, then takes a right turn to pass by a concrete foundation, the remnant of what was once a fairly large building. 

After another right turn and several hundred feet you will arrive at the other end of the shortcut you passed earlier, which goes down the hill to the right from here.  Turn left here to continue the loop.  In a short distance, arrive at Argonne Campsite where some picnic tables and a rock provide nice resting spots.  The loop through Argonne Forest takes a right turn at the campsite just before closing the loop.  Do not close the loop, but continue straight on a trail that leads to the tallgrass prairie.  Ignore two trails that exit to the right just past the campsite. 

            In several hundred feet, the trail leaves the woods and comes out on the western edge of a field.  Just before reaching the main park road, the trail takes a sharp right turn.  Immediately after the turn, a trail goes off to the left to cross the road and take you into the tall grass prairie.

Prairie west of park road

            Turn left here, cross the road, and go through a patch of trees before arriving at the tall grass prairie.  This is one of the better (and bigger) tall grass prairies in southwestern Ohio.  The light yellow ornamental grass grows six to ten feet high in the summer and seems to stretch for miles.  When settlers first moved in to the area, the rich topsoil was scraped off for use elsewhere, leaving just the rocky subsoil for plants to grow in.  It will be many years before crops could be grown in this area again. 

            In addition to the prairie grass, plants typical of the prairie such as nodding onion and thistle can be seen here.  The park managers do a wonderful job of weeding out the other plants so that the tall grass prairie can thrive in this location.  If controlled burning or mowing was not used to control the plant population in the area, the tall grass prairie would quickly revert to the deciduous forest that originally occupied the land.

Larger tallgrass prairie east of park road

            The trail meanders through the tall grass prairie, passing some signs to interpret the sights.  Ignore the first trail that goes off to the right, but turn right on the second one, which is reached just before the previous trail ends at a cinder service road.  This trail continues along the tall grass prairie, with some wildlife ponds now in view on the left.  Like Argonne Lake, these ponds are very popular spots for fishing.

            About 0.4 miles after turning right, the trail comes out at a parking lot where there is a large, colorful sign telling you about the prairie.  Follow around the right side of the blacktop, turning right to go to the park road, cross the road, and enter a trail through a short stretch of tall grass prairie that leads back to Argonne Lake.  Go around the left side of the lake, and catch a short trail near the restrooms that leads back to PC-5 to complete the hike.