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Beechwoods Trail

Trail Location

Chardon, Geauga County

From Interstate 90, take the State Route 44 exit. Go south about 3 miles to Clark Road. Turn east on Clark Road and follow it for about 2 miles. Make a right onto Robinson Road. The park entrance will be about a mile up the road.

From Interstate 422 take the State Route 44 exit. Go north 14 miles to Chardon Square. Take North Street from the square about 1 mile to Woodin Road. Go east on Woodin Roadabout 1 mile to Robinson Road. Go north on Robinson, and the park entrance will be about a mile up the road. Park at the Meyer Center parking lot, or Deep Woods Picnic Area.

Trail Summary

Length: .6 Mile
Duration: 1 hour
Surface: natural
Type: Loop Trail-Hiking,
Difficulty: moderate
Accessibility: The trail is not ADA accessible.

Trail Description

The Beechwoods trail is a joy to walk during any season of the year. This easy hiking trail is just over a half-mile long. It traverses a rich beech-maple forest scattered with beautiful wildflowers. In the early sping, you will see such wonders as the large white-flowered trillium, with its-you guessed it-large white flowers. These woods are a mosaic of different plant communities, partly due to the disturbance history of the area, and partly due to hydrological infulences on the soil over time.

Notice how the little individual leaflets of the Christmas Fern are all shaped like little stockings? This, and the evergreen fronds help to identify this fern.

Cutting through these rolling Geauga County hills are dozens of small streams, known as tributaries. These tributaries drain the land into a larger stream, known as Big Creek. Big Creek in turn drains into the Grand River. The Grand River is the cleanest, most biologically diverse river flowing into Lake Erie. Lake Erie in turn is noted as the most productive of the Great Lakes. As the most productive lake in the largest freshwater lake system in the world, Lake Erie is internationally significant. On this trail, you will be walking over and near the small streams that ultimately become this big, important, productive lake.

It hardly seems possible, as you wander through these beautiful woords, that what you do could impact Lake Erie. But, it is true. Our actions on the land impact the health of our rivers, and in turn, the lake. A nonprofit land trust called Grand River Partners, Inc. works to preserve the Grand River, and tributaries such as Big Creek. If you love nature, you should support such groups with your private donations. What better way for your actions to have a significant positive influence on the health of our regional ecological communities.

As you hike along the Beechwoods Trail, you will notice blue hash marks on some trees. That is because a portion of this trail is part of the state-wide Buckeye Trail that criss-crosses Ohio. In some areas the Buckeye Trail follows the edges of highways and power line corridors. Where an existing park is convenient, the trail is routed through the park trails, providing a peaceful route for that leg of the trip.

Nearby Trails

Hemlock Trail
White Oak Trail
Trillium Trail
Boreal Trail
Ruth Kennan Trail
Deepwoods Trail
Wildflower Trail
Creek Trail
Highline Trail
Buckeye Trail
Maple Highlands Trail