When we last left our heroes, they were heading for the final frontier in their quest to “hike them all.” The last park on the list was Hickory Woods Preservation Park with two miles of trails. Will our heroes make it to this final park? Will they hike all the trails? Will they win the coveted medallion?
Of course we did! With our trusty steed, Prius, we had no problem reaching Hickory Woods Preservation Park in the southern part of the city of Delaware. This park was another new location for us although we had driven close to it on US 23 many times.
The former agricultural fields on this 115-acre site have been transformed into wetlands and prairies, and reforested with oak and hickory trees. The park is still being developed. There is a sledding hill and a pond, but no playground or picnic shelter. The Olentangy River is close by, and Preservation Parks hopes to acquire land that will let them access the river eventually.
Hickory Woods Preservation Park has three loop trails laid out in series. After parking, we headed for the gravel loop. We walked the top part of the loop until it connected to the meadow loop. Then we walked that until it connected with the woodland primitive loop. None of the trails have very creative names, but they were certainly descriptive. The woodland primitive loop is a dirt trail through a woods. Once we completed the woodland primitive loop, we headed back along the bottom parts of the other two loops. And, just for the record, there were lots of hickory trees with hickory nuts on the ground.
It was another gorgeous day and another very nice walk in a beautiful place. When Tom and I finished, we gave each other a “high five” to celebrate completing the “Step Into Fall: Hike Them All” challenge. We finished on October 11, well before the November 1 deadline. All that was left to do was complete the paperwork to get our medallion.
We ran into a little snag with the paperwork. I went online to fill out the PDF form to get our medallion and the program wouldn’t let me order it. When I registered for the program, I had to fill out a registration form in order to access the trail list. Now it wouldn’t let me mark the trails as completed or order the medallion. I finally called the help number for the Preservation Parks.
The next day Sondra returned my call. She explained that the medallion wasn’t something you earned by completing the trails. It was something anyone could purchase when they registered. Because I hadn’t signed up to purchase the medallion when I registered, I couldn’t do any of it online. She told me I could purchase a medallion by going to the Deer Haven Visitors Center any afternoon. I could tell the volunteer what I wanted, pay my $5, and get the medallion. No proof of hiking required.
Although it was a little disheartening to realize that anyone could get the medallion, whether or not they hiked the trails, I was glad we could still get it. Tom and I drove over to Deer Haven a few days later and finally got the medallion. Ta da! Our victorious heroes with their prize!
Tom and I had a lot of fun doing “Step Into Fall: Hike Them All” in the Delaware County Preservation Parks. It got us out into some new areas. Many of the parks looks very similar, but we had some beautiful days to hike.