Best For:
Hikers looking for a quick nature escape near Columbus, fossil enthusiasts, readers looking for stories of friends catching up on the trail, & anyone celebrating life’s milestones one step at a time.
Trail Notes:
- Our trip: May 8, 2026 | trekked Homesite Trail, Meadows Trail, & Ridge Trail to make a loop approximately of 2.3 miles| 1 hour 4 minutes
- Trail & Weather Conditions: Dry & well maintained| manicured |Easy – moderate | Sunny & Warm
- Notable Finds & Highlights: Intact fossilized snail specimen| Observation deck, Blackhand sandstone ridge, catching up with a friend, & the final hike of an eleven-year celebratory three day multiple state trek.
- History & Geology: the lost chestnut of Appalachia| Black hand Sandstone|
Chestnut Ridge – Our Lowkey Highlight Hike:
Some hikes are about chasing waterfalls, summits, or even logging miles.
Others are about slowing down long enough to appreciate where you’ve been and where you’re headed next. If you guessed that Chestnut Ridge was about slowing down and appreciating things you’d be correct.
Our visit to this Metro Park in Carrol, Ohio, on May 8th was the final hike in my series of adventures celebrating my recent milestone, on May 7th. This was my eleven years on testosterone replacement therapy, a step I decided to take toward my transition.
I had just explored Ohiopyle with a close friend, Maryland, and West Virginia in one day. Then the very next day which also was yesterday, I visited the Franklin Park Conservatory with my partner. All to take some time to celebrate marking a milestone that once felt impossibly far away.
What surprised me most was that this final hike happened at a park I had never even heard of despite living nearby. What began as a simple local walk turned into a morning of catching up with a friend, finding fossils beneath my hiking shoes, reflecting on recent adventures, and appreciating how much life can change in a few short years.
A New Trail Close to Home:
One of my favorite things about hiking is discovering places that have been hiding in plain sight. Right around the corner from your existence yet existing outside of your point of view until you adjust where you’re looking.
Despite spending years exploring parks throughout Ohio and neighboring states, and despite living in central Ohio for more than four years myself, neither Kylie nor I had ever visited Chestnut Ridge Metro Park. In fact, neither of us had even heard much about it before deciding to give it a try.
We left to start this trek relatively early by our standards, Kylie liked a lager start. So we ended up pulling out around eleven in the morning. The park turned out to be surprisingly close to home, making it exactly the kind of destination I appreciate on busier days.
Not every adventure needs to be an all-day commitment. Sometimes it is enough to spend an hour or two in the woods, breathe fresh air, and return home feeling recharged. I do like to tend the mid week between shift quick trip when I feel like i cannot wait until my next few days off.
That convenience became even more meaningful because Luna could join us. Finding nearby places where I can quickly get into nature with my dog is always a massive win.
Catching Up With Ky:
The miles passed quickly because most of the hike was spent talking. As we do tend to do.
Yet call us Yip & Yap.
A lot has happened recently for both of us.
We talked about my trip to Ohiopyle and how much I enjoyed catching up with my friend Tae after several years. I shared stories from Pennsylvania’s high point, the fire tower in Maryland, and the winding miles that eventually led us to Coopers Rock.
Celebrating Queer Joy Differently:
We also talked about how differently I chose to celebrate this year. Than the last few which had been kicked off with fires, adult drinks, green tinted baked goods, and many friendly faces,
This milestone last year would have meant a gathering or at my house with all the things named above. It would have also ended with me cleaning the house I just cleaned this time with a headache and lapse in memory to pair it with.
I don’t say any of this with judgment either.
A lot of queer spaces have historically centered around bars, clubs, and nightlife. For many people those places offered one of the only opportunities to safely gather, find community, and be themselves. There is value in that and always will be.
A lot of queer spaces have historically centered around bars, clubs, and nightlife. For many people those places offered one of the only opportunities to safely gather, find community, and be themselves. There is value in that and always will be.
At the same time, I think it is important to advocate for queer joy that exists outside of those spaces too. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying a night out, there are also hikes, art, road trips, camping trips, museums, bookstores, conservatories, coffee shops, and countless other ways for our community to gather and celebrate.
Sometimes queer joy looks like a packed dance floor.
Sometimes it looks like two friends and a dog wandering through the woods on a Friday morning.
I feel it is important to advocate for the community to experience some things outside of bars and parties.
For a long time my celebrations looked similar. They were loud, crowded, and often fueled by things that made the night easier to remember in the moment and harder to remember the next morning.
Somewhere along the way though, my priorities shifted.
I found myself wanting experiences I could carry home with me instead.
Trails I could remember years later.
Road trips with friends.
Quiet conversations in the woods.
Sunrises, overlooks, fossils, photographs, and stories.
The older I get, the more I realize I do not need to be disconnected from myself to celebrate being myself.
This year and however many more I have in the future, I want to focus more on different things. I may still have a drink here and there but these moments are much more worth it to me.
The bond I build with those I collect the experiences with. You have limited time with those closest to you. In the shapes of trails, road trips, conversations, scenery, and memories. I wanted to spend time with people I care about while doing things that genuinely make us all happy.
Conversation Moves as We do:
Somewhere along the conversation we ended up talking about her moving. We lived 3 doors down for the last three years.
It’s funny because when we all moved to this street a few years ago, I used to joke with Kylie that I wanted her house. Whenever the topic came up, I would tell her she should move out so I could move in.
Then life did what life sometimes does.
We hiked this trail Kylie finally planning to move out, of my house into a bigger home for her and her boo. While we thought at this time we wouldn’t be a few weeks after this my and my partner and I moved ended up moving into Kylie’s old house. (This is why this hiking journal is just over a month late!)
Standing on a trail with the person I had spent years joking with about moving out felt like one of those strange full-circle moments even before I talked Kelso into snatching up my dream house. Moments like these remind you how unpredictable and funny life can be.
The Final Hike of Celebration:
Eleven years on testosterone is not a small thing. Not if you’re asking me or many other transgender people at least.
There were years when simply reaching this point felt uncertain or even impossible.
There were obstacles, challenges, and moments where the future felt uncertain to predict or even like something that would be a waste of time planning for.
Yet here I am. Sure as shit.
I made it.
Let me just start by saying that eleven years changes a lot about the way you think about transition.
The novelty wore off a long time ago.
Most days I am not thinking about testosterone at all. For years after finally recognizing myself in the mirror, I became less obsessive about every shot, every change, and every milestone because transition stopped being something I was chasing and simply became my life.
That does not mean it stopped mattering.
In a lot of ways, it means it worked.
That is exactly why milestones like this matter. Even without medically transitioning or consistency, these moments are proof, for a lot of people just like me.
I am not celebrating an injection.
Not am I celebrating a prescription bottle sitting in a cabinet somewhere next to a needle and syringe. I am celebrating every year that came after finally choosing myself. I am celebrating surviving long enough to become the person I knew I was. I am celebrating the time the world has actually seen me as the man I am.
Celebrating the life that exists on the other side of all the fear, uncertainty, and waiting.
Most of all, I am celebrating the years I once wasn’t sure I would ever get. There were versions of me that could not imagine what a year would look like let alone eleven years. This hike was a reminder that sometimes the future arrives anyway, one day at a time, until suddenly you are standing in it.
This milestone deserves celebration as did every year before and every year to come. Again if y’all are asking me that is.
For me, celebration no longer looks like a single day. It no longer looks like blacking out around a fire either. It resembles a collection of experiences. This year it was hiking through Ohiopyle, sharing adventures with friends, exploring the conservatory with my partner, and spending time outdoors doing things that make me feel connected to myself.
This hike may have been the shortest adventure in the series, but it still was just as important to me. It felt like the perfect ending.
There was no rush.
No pressure.
Just good company, a beautiful trail, and enough space to reflect on how far life has carried me.
Chestnut Ridge Fossils Beneath Feet:
One of the most exciting moments of the day happened completely by accident. As usual for me at least… it is also funny to mention I have been called “Ax-ident” more than once, for good reason.
Kylie, Luna, and I are just yapping and walking all whimsical and shit when…
I happened to glance down at exactly the right moment. This is how I spotted a fossil resting directly on the trail.
The specimen appeared to be an ancient snail, and unlike many fossils that are fragmented or partially preserved, this one still retained its full spiral shell structure. It was larger than many of the two quarters and immediately caught my attention. Blessed I am in moments like these.
Give Thanks:
Thank the Goddess.
For me at least when it comes to finding fossils, crystals, heart shaped rocks, hag stones, and other minerals always feels a little bit like winning a treasure hunt.
Think about it a lot of people probably have walked that same section of trail before me. Many more people walk it afterward. Yet for a brief moment, I happened to be the person looking in the right place at the right time.
When you also consider that Chestnut Ridge sits atop ancient geological formations dating back roughly 300 million years, it felt fitting to carry home at least a small reminder of the deep history hidden beneath the forest floor. I usually collect one small memory for my altar from each trail I hike. They all hold an important part of making me into who I am and will be, so they all deserve to be honored in my sacred place.
Observation Deck:
The observation deck was easily one of the most memorable features of Chestnut Ridge Metro Park.
And not even because of the view itself. Crazy right?
Ironically, the trees were dense enough that we could not see the distant skyline that visitors sometimes report spotting on especially clear days.
I was mostly impressed by the design. Ouch, I think this may means I’m getting, dare I say it? Old. At the end of the day I was totally admiring a deck, on a hike.
The structure felt intentional. It blended into the surrounding landscape instead of dominating it. The seating area was also spacious, comfortable, and much larger than I expected.
Too often observation platforms feel like something dropped into the environment. This one felt like it belonged there.
It created a quiet place to pause, sit, and appreciate the ridge itself rather than simply looking beyond it.
Ghosts of the Forest:
The park’s name preserves a story most visitors will never see. Sadly most will never even look for it. Those readers and wanderers who enjoy history, geology, lore, and the stories that tie it all to the land we trek will enjoy the path to enlightenment though.
Before chestnut blight swept through eastern forests during the early twentieth century, American chestnut trees covered ridges like these throughout Appalachia and beyond. Some historical accounts even describe entire hillsides appearing dusted with snow when the trees bloomed.
Today those forests are gone leaving behind their skeletal remains as the only proof of their existence.
Therefore, this ridge carries their name, serving as a reminder of a landscape that once looked very different from the one hikers experience today.
I think knowing the history of a place allows you to respect and experience the land more genuinely. While also working to add another layer to the hike. The woods become more than scenery. When you allow them to become part of a much longer story in this case it’s a tale of ecological change, resilience, and loss.
Homesites, Sandstone, & the Ridge’s Past
Chestnut Ridge stands on Blackhand sandstone like much of central Ohio. This is a geological formation that has shaped both the natural and human history of the area for centuries.
The Homesite Trail hints at that history through remnants left behind by earlier residents who built their lives on the ridge long before it became a park. You can still find traces of their lives scattered throughout the landscape.
The same sandstone beneath hikers’ feet today also played a role in the region’s canal era. The stone quarried from this area helped build sections of the Ohio canal system, linking the ridge to communities far beyond the park itself.
Of course even older stories exist here as well. Indigenous peoples lived throughout this region long before European settlement, leaving cultural and archaeological footprints that remain important all across Ohio’s history and landscape even still today.
All of my favorite trails offer more than just out door exercise. Chestnut Ridge does this in the layers it allows the visitors who seek them to find. Whether you find geology, history, memory, inspiration or introspection, they all live here.
Not Just Another Metro Park:
Chestnut Ridge was not the most rugged hike of my celebration series. It was not the longest, steepest, or most dramatic.
What it offered instead was perspective.
It reminded me that meaningful experiences do not always require long drives or ambitious itineraries. Sometimes they exist just down the road, waiting to be discovered.
Between conversations with a friend, a fossil hidden in plain sight, a thoughtfully designed overlook, and reflections on eleven years of growth, the trail delivered exactly what I needed that morning.
The hike may have marked the end of my anniversary adventures, but it also reinforced something I have learned repeatedly over the years.
The best celebrations are often built from experiences rather than events. They live in stories, shared miles, unexpected discoveries, and the people who walk beside us along the way.
TLDR:
Chestnut Ridge Metro Park a first for both Kylie and I despite living nearby for years.
We combined the Homesite, Meadows, and Ridge Trails into an approximately 2.3-mile loop taking us about 1 hour and 4 minutes to complete.
This trip was sunny and made for a great quick escape into nature. We spent most of the trek catching up.
This was the final adventure in my eleven-year testosterone anniversary celebration. I chose experiences and time with loved ones over a traditional party.
I cannot believe I was lucky enough to find a large fossilized snail. The observation deck design blended naturally into the landscape and offered a peaceful place to rest.
Knowing the park’s geology, homestead history, and chestnut tree legacy add depth to the experience.
This hike reminded me that meaningful adventures do not always require long drives. Sometimes the best trails are the ones waiting close to home.
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