Oak Openings–Sand Dunes Trail

Ohio Birding Day Hike
Oak Openings Preserve Metropark Trails

About Red Trail
The Sand Dunes Trail, blazed red, is 1.7 miles and to some extent parallels the Ferns Trail, but traverses higher ground. It passes through the largest of the open sand dunes and allows visitors to see how the sand is spilling over to the east and southeast covering vegetation, proving that sand dunes actually move. Some of the park’s rarest plant species can be found along this trail near the dunes.
From Oak Openings Sand Dunes Trail webpage

Tips for birding Oak Openings
Oak Openings Preserve Metropark is a stop on the Lake Erie Birding Trail.

Oak Openings Metropark Birding Tips brochure

About Oak Openings
Located between Whitehouse and Swanton, Oak Openings Preserve takes its name from the surrounding region, which is 23 times larger than the park itself. That’s something to consider when you realize that Oak Openings Preserve is over 4,000 acres.

Pioneers trudging through a dense swamp called this area “Oak Openings.” Most of the park is an oak savanna ecosystem, characterized by alternating wetlands and vegetated dunes. The Nature Conservancy once named the sandy region one of the 200 “Last Great Places on Earth.”

Prickly-pear cactus, wild lupine and sand cherry bloom atop dry, hot sand dunes just yards away from orchids growing in low, wet swales. There are more than 50 miles of trails in Oak Openings Preserve. Stands of isolated pine and spruce planted by the WPA during the Great Depression are still visible.

Oak Openings is a birder’s paradise. It is the nesting place of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Whippoorwills, Lark Sparrows, and many other species, as well as an excellent location to see migrating songbirds in the spring.
From Oak Openings Preserve Metropark webpage

Restrooms and handicap accessible facilities at locations identified on Oak Openings Preserve Metropark map.
At Mallard Lake there are handicap accessible paved paths to all facilities and around the lake.