Angst Nature Preserve in Trenton, OH (Blog Hike #1035)

Trails: Big Bluestem, Snakeroot, and Ironweed Trails
Hike Location: Angst Nature Preserve
Geographic Location: west of Trenton, OH (39.48705, -84.51575)
Length: 1.8 miles
Difficulty: 4/10 (Easy/Moderate)
Date Hiked: October 2024
Overview: A round-the-park hike through old farm land converted to new prairie.
Park Information: https://www.yourmetroparks.net/parks/angst-nature-preserve-metropark
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=974758
Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: (coming October 14)

Directions to the trailhead: From Trenton, take SR 73 west 3.4 miles to the signed nature preserve entrance on the right.  Turn right to enter the preserve, and park in the only parking lot.

The hike: Opened only in 2021, Angst Nature Preserve is one of many recent additions to Butler County's system of MetroParks.  The cozy preserve protects 84 acres of former farm land, and some of the old farm structures still stand near the parking lot and trailhead.  The preserve exists thanks to the efforts of the Helen Angst family, the Three Valley Conservation Trust, and the Clean Ohio Fund.

            True to a nature preserve, the park is light on amenities: only a parking lot, port-o-let, and trail system grace the premises.  The preserve does offer 3 hiking trails, but they are laid out in consecutive loops so that you have to hike parts of the first 2 trails to get to the third one.  The hike described here follows the outer-most loop through the trail system, thus forming the longest possible loop while minimizing the need to retrace your steps.

Trailhead at Angst Nature Preserve

            Start at the information kiosk at the north end of the parking lot, where the entrance trail that serves all 3 of the preserve's trails heads north.  The old farm buildings can be seen to the left, and future plans call for converting some of these buildings into preserve buildings.  For the first part of this hike you want to follow the aqua-blazed Big Bluestem Trail, which means continuing north along the preserve's east boundary and ignoring other trails as they exit left.

Hiking along the preserve's east boundary

            After passing through a densely wooded area and crossing a small creek, you reach the preserve's rear prairie, which is my favorite part of this hike.  This prairie contains the loop portion of the Big Bluestem Trail, and you want to continue straight to begin heading counterclockwise around the loop.  Also known as turkeyfoot, big bluestem prairie grass surrounds the trail.  Future plans call for all of this preserve's old farm fields to be restored to this kind of prairie.  An innumerable number of grasshoppers hopped along the trail to avoid being crushed by my feet, and I saw a large number of common birds such as red-winged blackbirds while hiking here.

Hiking in the rear prairie

            The land slopes gradually from east to west, so you descend and then ascend while hiking around the Big Bluestem Trail's loop.  At 1.1 miles, you reach Trail Intersection #4, which is marked by a numbered wooden post bearing colored arrows.  To stay on the outer-most loop, turn right here to leave the aqua-blazed Big Bluestem Trail and begin the orange-blazed Snakeroot Trail.

Brushy woods on Snakeroot Trail

            The Snakeroot Trail winds back and forth as it re-crosses the small creek you crossed before.  The area around the creek features dense shrubby forest with honeysuckle everywhere.  Sycamore and black walnut are the most common trees in this forest, but some hedgeapple trees are also found here.  Also known as osage orange trees, hedgeapple trees typically mark old property or farm field boundaries, so finding these trees along an old farm field like this one is not surprising.

Old farm buildings near front prairie

            At 1.3 miles, you climb gradually away from the creek and intersect the Ironweed Trail at the edge of the front prairie; this point is marked as Trail Intersection #5.  Turn right to continue the outermost loop and begin heading counterclockwise around the Ironweed Trail.  Though the front prairie looks much like the rear prairie, traffic noise from SR 73 is your constant companion in the front prairie.  Thus, the hiking is not as pleasant.  At 1.7 miles, you close the Ironweed Trail's loop at Trail Intersection #1.  Angle right and retrace your steps out the entrance trail to return to the parking lot and complete the hike.