Ash Cave at Hocking Hills State Park is a popular place for winter hikes. (Credit: Ken Drenten)

Where can you go sledding, hiking, skiing, ice skating, ice fishing and enjoy other winter recreation in Ohio? Now you can find out in a new page in Dusty Tires.

A great resource to find lots of information is the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Ohio State Parks & Watercraft website which lists dozens of winter activities at state parks across Ohio. Nearly every state park has some type of winter recreation activity available, under the right conditions.

Remember that proper conditions and attire are essential to take part in outdoor winter recreation, and it’s absolutely necessary to practice cold weather safety, especially on ice.

Downhill skiing, snowboarding and tubing is offered at Ohio’s ski resorts when conditions allow:

• Alpine Valley Ski Resort, 10620 Mayfield Road, Chesterland (440) 285-2211. 
• Boston Mills/Brandywine Ski Resort, 7100 Riverview Road, Peninsula (800) 875-4241.
• Mad River Mountain, 1000 Snow Valley Road, Zanesfield (937) 599-1015.
• Snow Trails, 3100 Possum Run Road, Mansfield (419) 774-9818.

Organized hikes are offered at many Ohio state parks in January and February. One of the most popular winter hikes is at Hocking Hills State Park. Go to the Ohio State Parks website for more information about winter hikes.

Sledding hills can be found at numerous locations in Ohio. Here are where some of the best are located.

• Battelle-Darby Creek Metro Park, Galloway.
• Fairfield’s Harbin Park, 1300 Hunter Road, Fairfield.
• Westlake’s Recreation Center Park.
• A 700-foot toboggan run at Cleveland Metroparks’ The Chalet at Mill Stream Run Reservation in Strongsville.

Here are some more places where you can enjoy Ohio outdoors in the wintertime.

Alum Creek State Park – Sledding, ice skating, snowmobiling on multipurpose trail, cross-country skiing on multipurpose trail, ice fishing, ice boating. 3615 S. Old State Road, Delaware.

Buckeye Lake State Park – Ice fishing, ice skating, ice boating, cross-country skiing. 2871 Liebs Island Road, Millersport.

Deer Creek State Park – Sledding, ice fishing and ice skating. Snowmobiling is permitted on 17-mile bridle trail when conditions allow. 20635 State Park Road 20, Mt. Sterling.

Dillon State Park – Sledding at the Sled Hill near the archery range. 5265 Dillon Hills Drive, Nashport.

Dublin City Parks – The City of Dublin has two parks that offer outdoor ice skating rinks in the winter, at Riverside Crossing Park and Coffman Park.

Indian Lake State Park – Snowmobiling, ice skating, cross-country skiing, ice fishing and ice boating. 13156 SR 235 N, Lakeview.

Mohican State Park – Snowmobiling on the Snowmobile Trail and on trails in the adjacent state forest. 3116 SR 3, Loudonville.

Salt Fork State Park – Sledding, cross-country skiing, ice fishing and ice boating. 14755 Cadiz Road, Lore City.

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Ken Drenten is creator and manager of Dusty-Tires.com, a travel blog for out-of-the-ordinary places in Ohio.

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