Sandy Ridge Reservation

Beautiful metro park! They have a trail where you can walk your dogs, which has new sand laid down, so the trail is no longer too rocky for the dogs paws.

They have a separate trail through the woods and around a gorgeous lake. This metro park is now hooked up to two housing developments, so there's always people walking here now.

There is a little indor building you can rent out for weddings, birthdays, conferences, etc! There are also bathrooms in this building you can access both indoor or outdoors. This building is right next to the parking lot, right before the woods & lake trail.

Across from the building is a playground and more outdoor grills.

They also have an outdoor covered area at the second parking lot, at the beginning of the dog trail. You can rent this outdoor covered area that has picnic benches and two grills! Across from the covered area, they have a picnic bench under some trees.

I stopped here to watch the 2024 solar eclipse. The park was beautiful and really well kept. There were great walking trails and we saw lots of wildlife. We saw many birds and turtles and there was even a bald eagle nest.

Love having this park in my backyard. Excellent for birding, walking, or running. Dogs not allowed on loop by pond. There is a 0.7mi loop that you can bring them on, but beware ticks!

I went here with my friend to photograph the Solar Eclipse. It was a perfect spot. I want to come back to do some general landscape and woodland photography. Bird photographers would adore this place, especially obsessive bird in flight photographers. A must visit to calm down your hectic day

Wonderful Lorain County park and bird sanctuary. Pair of eagles nesting with two eaglettes, swans, egrets, sandhill cranes, herons, a variety of ducks, geese, and song birds. My last walk there also revealed rat snakes warming on the rocks and a baby turtle crossing the path toward the water. There are many jack-in-the-pulpit spring flowers seen walking through the woods, squirrels and chipmunks and the sound of woodpeckers, tree frogs, bullfrogs. There is a playground and clean bathrooms too. No dogs allowed except for a short side walk apart from the bird sanctuary.

The Scouts had a nature hike in May 2023. My son and I had such a great time. There are long trails and short trails, a playground, lots of birds, turtles, and other critters to watch. It's well kept.

Sandy Ridge is one of the best birding spots in the area and you will almost always encounter people with cameras and binoculars, so if you wonder what that cool bird is, don't be afraid to ask, somebody probably will be having to tell you. The main loop is also popular with walkers and anyone who enjoys nature.

Except for one optional observation point which is ip a slight hill, the path is flat, wide, and smooth. The loop is very open so you can always see where you are, and it's practically impossible to get lost. The part in the woods can be a little damp in the spring but I've never seen it actually flooded, and it's always well maintained.

Wonderful nature preserve, good for long walks in beautiful woods.
The park added a challenge this season is to walk and figure out which are plastic birds and which are real ones. It makes the walk really interesting some of the real ones looks like plastic lol. Good luck with this fun Challenge if you decide to do the walk.
Parking is free, there are additional parking lot when peak time.
The park opens at 8:00am and they just adjusted the hours to open until 7:00pm instead of 4:00 please check before you head there.

If you like observing wildlife then you will love this place. Beautiful grounds, nice walking loop surrounded by so many different kinds of animals. There is a bald eagle nest which is amazing.

Nice quiet park and wetland full of wildlife. Bring a camera, there's always something to see. If you're lucky, the pair of eagles might make an appearance.

Love this place, a great quick mile, with lots to see.

Walking path was filled with wildlife on each side. We discovered a bald eagle 🦅 nest

This place is unreal. It feels like another world once you pass the woods. The pond and the trail around its simply beautiful. Loved the combination.

Absolutely beautiful Marsh filled with many birds. We were lucky enough to catch a family of swan and very friendly pack goers who told us about the eagle nest and that there were a total of 8 baby swan. The babies are the ones with grey necks.

I love Sandy Ridge!! It's a great relaxing place to walk on nice days. Super calming and lots of great nature views. Definitely recommend visiting this reservation! Just don't forget a camera and binoculars!

Really nicely maintained paths easily walked. Nice walk through the woods and then see water birds in the marsh and lake

I do bird photography! This place is great for bird photography, especially during bird migration session (April-May)! Also, this place is perfect to take a evening or morning walk!

Incredible array of bird species in the spring through fall. Wintertime is for viewing the Eagles, but be sure to bundle up, the reserve is open and exposed and the wind can sometimes be quite chilling.

There is a wonderful variety of different types of birds to be seen here, along with turtles and frogs. Very nice trail to walk on too.

What's nice about this area is that it has two different environments or nature walks. There's the path through the woods, and then the pond and wetlands. The different birds, the water lilies. It's very pretty, diverse and peaceful. Seems we maintained.