Preble County Historical Society and Nature Reserve near Eaton, OH (Blog Hike #855)

Trails: Yellow, Blue, and Red Trails

Hike Location: Preble County Historical Society and Nature Reserve
Geographic Location: southeast of Eaton, OH (39.65785, -84.54740)
Length: 1.3 miles
Difficulty: 1/10 (Easy)
Date Hiked: June 2021
Overview: A short, fairly flat loop along Aukerman Creek.
Reserve Information: https://www.preblecountyhistoricalsociety.com/home/trails
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=876340
Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: 

Directions to the trailhead: From Eaton, take SR 122 southeast 7.5 miles to Swartsel Road and turn right on Swartsel Rd.  Drive Swartsel Rd. 0.3 miles to the signed Preble County Historical Society and Nature Reserve entrance on the right.  Turn right to enter the reserve, and park in the gravel area in front of the large white Swartsel House.

The hike: Organized in 1971, the not-for-profit Preble County Historical Society was founded to promote and preserve materials and objects of historical interest in Preble County.  The Society's center of operations is the old Swartsel farmstead, a 255-acre property donated to the Society by Sara Swartsel in 1974.  The site includes a large white homestead built in 1860, a log house built in 1813, a smokehouse built in 1855, and some other farm-related buildings.

            The Society also maintains a small nature reserve on the Swartsel site that can be accessed via three trail loops: the Yellow Loop, the Blue Loop, and the Red Loop.  All three loops overlap and start from a common trailhead.  This hike uses parts of all three loops, and it forms the longest possible route through the trail system that does not involve retracing steps.

Swartsel homestead

Nature Reserve trailhead

            Start at the southeast corner of the parking area, where a small information kiosk with a trail map and a sign that says "Nature Trails" marks the trailhead.  Follow the arrow for the Yellow Loop as the trail follows a continuation of the gravel entrance road.  Take a short detour to the left on a trail marked by blue and yellow markers to find a small pond, which featured some dragonflies and red-winged blackbirds on my visit.

            Rather than continuing down the blue/yellow connector trail, keep following the old gravel road, climb through the amphitheater, and then angle left beside the amphitheater parking lot to find where the Yellow Loop enters the woods.  A wooden sign with a yellow plastic circle marks this point.  In general, the trails in this reserve are well-marked but seldom-used.

Yellow loop enters the woods

            The trail descends gradually through young forest that features many red cedar trees.  Soon you cross a wooden bridge over a small creek that feeds the pond you visited earlier.  At 0.5 miles, you exit the woods and start following the bank of Aukerman Creek; the creek is to the right with a prairie to the left.  Some large sycamore and basswood trees live along the creek, and large amounts of stinging nettle live in the floodplain forest.

Hiking along Aukerman Creek

            At 0.6 miles, where the blue/yellow connector trail continues straight to head back to the pond and the trailhead, you need to turn right to leave the Yellow Loop and begin the Blue Loop.  The Blue Loop continues a southeast course that heads downstream along Aukerman Creek, and some spur trails exiting right take you to the creek.  Normally Aukerman Creek is a gentle sandy-bottomed stream only a few inches in depth, but the steep heavily eroded banks reveal that it can become a raging torrent after a heavy rain.

Beside Aukerman Creek

Hiking the Red Loop

            0.9 miles into the hike, the red/blue connector trail heads across the prairie to the left.  Angle right to leave the Blue Loop and begin the Red Loop.  More large sycamore trees are passed before the trail curves left to begin a gradual climb away from Aukerman Creek.  The difference between maximum and minimum elevation on this hike is less than 50 vertical feet, so this climb does not last long.  After passing under a power line, you come out at the rear of the old farm and picnic area.  Walk through the old farm to the trailhead to complete the hike.