One of my favorite parts about Columbus is the number, and quality, of their metro parks. It’s so easy to escape the city vibes and fall into nature. Many of these parks have miles of paved bike paths, which is also a huge plus.

The downside is the lack of dog-friendliness. Look, I get that a lot of dog owners are assholes and don’t leash their dogs or pick up their poop, but the good dog-parents suffer the consequences. If a metro park has a dog-friendly trail, it’s typically a grassy path through a meadow, which, hello tick-city. My dog is protected, but do I want to bring a bunch of those blood-thirsty bastards into my car and home by way of them getting lost in her massive pile of floof? Hellll no.

Despite my love for Columbus, I recognize it’s not the best place for woodsy or lakeside adventures, let alone the chance to get your heartrate up on a mountain hill. Well, we can’t just drive to Tennessee and West Virginia every weekend, so we have to make do with what we’ve got. There are hikes out there. And we’re going to find them.

So, it’s time to address which parks have decent sniffari opportunities for the fur-kids we love. Also to be discussed: how far into suburbia do these lesbians dare travel.

I’ll start with our go-to: Scioto Grove Metro Park. On the southside (thus, close to us) it offers more dog-friendly trails than any of the other metro parks we’ve been to yet. We also see park rangers while we’re there, indicating the park is well taken care of (and it does seem to be). Our most common trail is the Overlook Trail; this makes the trail sound a bit more exciting than it is, but there are wooden deck overlooks into the woods and over the river. Most are shaded, and some have tables to sit and enjoy the nature. The Overlook Trail is gravel, and though I wouldn’t say it’s crowded, there are also a good number of humans and their dogs enjoying the trail. The Overlook trail connects with the Arrowhead Trail, which loops back around to the large picnic area and playground. From there, we head back up the overlook trail to our car.

For a longer hike, you can continue on the Overlook Trail past the Lodge, which offers a nice wooded section of the trail, complete with a rope bridge that our dog is very frightened of (warning: it does get slipper when wet). Past the rope bridge is a very long loop trail (Mingo Trail) through meadows and woods, which we particularly enjoy after a good snowfall.

Lastly, the REI River Trail: a delightful trail through the woods, along the river and around the pond. It’s wooded and shady, but can get very muggy and buggy. I would not recommend this route on a humid day, but when the air is dryer, it’s really lovely.