Hoover Prairie And Mud Hen Marsh

July 20, 2021

Hoover Prairie And Mud Hen Marsh

We explored two new to us hiking trails.  They are pretty close to each other so I’m going to cover them both here.  

Hoover Prairie

Cubbage Rd. & Park Dr. Westerville, OH

This trail has nice wide paths. My middle daughter had to go back and look at the breathtaking view and didn’t want to leave.  It felt like we were on vacation somewhere.  

The Hoover Prairie Nature Preserve consists of 8 acres of prairie and 32 acres of wooded area. The prairie is over 100 years old, once referred to as the Central College Prairie. Naturalist, John Thomas first discovered the wild indigo dusky wing skipper here in 1937. The prairie is now undergoing restoration. It is home to the only known Ohio population of the state-endangered Gattinger’s foxglove.

Rare & Interesting Species:

  • Gattinger’s Foxglove Agalinis gattingeri
  • Prairie False Indigo Baptisia lactea
  • Wild Indigo Skipper Erynnis baptisia
  • Sharp-shinned Hawk Accipiter striatus
disk golf course

Mud Hen Marsh

8742 Big Walnut Rd. Galena, OH 43082

This is a smaller loop trail with a pond.  It’s in deep woods so I suggest not going on rainy days.  We saw a few deer.  

Mud Hen Marsh is a popular birding spot for viewing red-headed woodpeckers and warblers. There are natural surface trails throughout the wooded and open areas and an observation blind that looks out over the meadow and pond.

Rare & Interesting Species:

  • Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata
  • Hooded Merganser Lophodytes cucullatus
  • Red-headed Woodpecker Melanerpes erythrocephalus
  • Question Mark Butterfly Polygonia interrogationis

Park details provided from 

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=8c06478f52dd40aba1fd75c8488e5152#detail