Sycamore State Park

On the ground

The park's trail system centers on the Ghost Hedge Nature Trail, a 2.7-mile route exploring the Wolf Creek Valley, and the Beech Ridge Trail, which runs 1.5 miles through woodlots and meadows. The Storybook Trail is a 0.6-mile mowed path near the shelter off Providence Road that presents a story in stages along the way, changing throughout the year, and starts at a Free Little Library where visitors can take or leave a book. The Meadowlark Trail and Heron Run Trail connect the Ghost Hedge and Beech Ridge trails, together forming approximately 8 miles of connected hiking. Ways mapped near the park also include the Green Trail - Horse and Snowmobile at 6.14 miles, the Red Trail at 5.99 miles, the Blue Trail at 1.94 miles, the Yellow Trail at 1.61 miles, and shorter named segments such as South Ghost Hedge Trail, Red Alternate 1, Lavender Trail, Silver Trail, Lower Meadowlark Trail, North Ghost Hedge Trail, South Heron Run Trail, and Heron Run Trail.

The park's history reaches back to the Adena Native Americans, who lived in the area from around 800 B.C. to 700 A.D.; evidence of their presence survives at a ceremonial mound found in the park. In the mid to late 1700s the area became a stronghold of the Miami and Shawnee tribes, and after General Anthony Wayne's defeat of the tribes at the battle of Fallen Timbers, the Greenville Treaty of 1795 stripped the Native Americans of their lands, with the first settlers arriving within a year of the treaty's signing. Those settlers were drawn by fertile soil, and the area grew prosperous after the Miami-Erie Canal was completed in 1829. In winter, under proper conditions, visitors can use a moderate 6.2-mile snowmobiling trail, along with sledding, cross-country skiing, ice skating, and ice fishing.