I don't know about you, but when I spend time in nature, I prefer it to be meditative. I don't mind greeting the occasional passerby, but I'd like the majority of my visit to be spent immersed in birdsong, the soft crunching of squirrel pitter-patter over fallen leaves, and the distant song of a babbling brook. Today, we're going to visit five sites where you just might have the whole hiking trail and every song-like sound of nature to yourself. Pack your favorite hiking gear and prepare to reconvene with the splendor of Ohio's natural beauty, because Mother Nature beckons at these magical parks.

The first stop on our journey will be the Skok Meadow hike in Chardon, Ohio's Girdled Road Reservation.

I just love hiking in Chardon, because it captures the beauty of two delightfully hikeable counties: Geauga County and Lake County. While it is the county seat of Geauga County, it's not too far from the border between the two, which means bonus hikes through areas like Chapin Forest Reservation (which spans Northeast Ohio's only mountain) are just a short drive away. And the history in this area? Well, it's fascinating.

Girdled Road Reservation is actually part of the Lake Metroparks system, but well before that happened, it was a pretty forested stretch on the first road to span from the Cleveland area all the way into Pennsylvania. Girdled Road, as it was called, took its name from the process used to clear and widen the road. Its construction crew removed bark from the trees they wished to remove, cutting off their flow of nutrients and making them easier to cut down.

When you approach the Skok Meadow entrance, more history comes to life in the form of a quaint old barn. Known as the Hosea Brown Barn, this structure dates back to 1817 and is now one of the oldest buildings in the area. Just think, it was built a mere 13 years after Ohio became a state!

In addition to a rich history, this site is overflowing with natural beauty. The roughly mile-long trail encircles a beautiful wildflower meadow, and it easily connects to a surprising 6.5-miles of trails that span Girdled Road Reservation. The park is designated an Important Bird Area by Audubon Ohio, and the dazzling landscape of Big Creek Valley is poised to enchant visitors.

From here, the next stop on our meditative hiking checklist is Burton, Ohio. We're going to visit a kettle lake!

If you've never heard of a kettle lake, you might be surprised to learn that this incredible feature is a remnant of the last ice age. As glaciers retreat, they sometimes drop chunks called "dead ice." While the glacier retreats, that ice stays dead in the water, so to speak. It just sits there as sediment buries it. When the ice age ends and temperatures rise, that dead ice melts and forms a depression in the ground. Nature works its magic and bam, you've got a lake!

Kettle Trail in the Burton Wetlands will lead you to Lake Kelso, a 28-acre beauty that's nearly circular.

Throughout the park, roughly 1.5-miles of trails ensure a short but beautiful hike through a fascinatingly diverse landscape. This area is rich in plants typically found higher north on the Canadian Shield, so it's a unique indulgence for sharp-eyed nature lovers.

If you're looking for a more modern experience while you're in Burton, Century Village makes a fascinating addition to your local bucket list. This living history museum is free to explore, and you'll love seeing all the historic structures.

Now let's visit another site known for its unique plants: Brown's Lake Bog Preserve in Shreve, Ohio.

It's easy to wander into this 100-acre park and envision the world Winnie the Pooh and friends were said to frequent. However, since 1967, this landscape has remained a National Natural Landmark due to its unique qualities... and they're numerous! Like the Burton Wetlands, Brown's Lake Bog Preserve is home to a kettle lake. Believe it or not, that's not the only landmark here from Ohio's glaciated era. A kame, which may look like an unusually shaped hill to the untrained eye, greets visitors. This odd structure is created when dirt and debris collect in a depression in a retreating glacier. When the glacier melts, its waters carry the debris to the landscape and deposits it there. They tend to pop up near kettles, which earns landscapes like the one at Brown's Lake a fun nickname in the geomorphic community: kame and kettle topography.

In addition to unique structures, this landscape is also home to some 20 unique and rare plants. A floating sphagnum moss mat helped build the right qualities for these plants to thrive, so try to leave nothing beyond footprints during your visit. Look for pitcher plants and salamanders during your visit. Though the main hiking trail is less than a mile in length, you'll want to budget some time to let your eyes wander. Don't take your hiking boots off yet... we've still got two stops on our hiking trip!

Next up is a pretty spot in the Hocking Hills region known as Clear Creek Metro Park in Lancaster, Ohio.

There's no shortage of trails in this 5,470-acre park, but we'll opt to explore one of the more diverse routes: Cemetery Ridge Loop, a roughly two hour journey through untouched beauty. The beginning stretch of the route will take you up a steep landscape in the forest, and then it will alternate between forested stretches and gorgeous untamed meadows. This area is home to more than 2,200 species of plants and animals, including Ohio’s last remaining colonies of rhododendron.

This landscape contains the largest nature preserve in the state, and though it receives a decent amount of traffic, the sheer size of the park makes it feel intimate. The park is dotted with Blackhand sandstone cliffs and waterways, and it's still semi-primitive, meaning the landscape is a bit rugged. Keep your eyes peeled for indigenous critters like beavers and blue heron, and watch where you step... plants like little gray polypody may be underfoot! (Try saying that ten times fast. Little gray polypody, little groly... Shoot.)

To round out our hiking adventure in Ohio, we're going to go to one of the more striking trails in Chillicothe's Scioto Trail State Park.

With just 218 acres, this state park is surprisingly petite. Nevertheless, its vistas overlook Ohio’s Scioto River Valley and provide views that are downright jaw-dropping. The main loop trail in the park takes about three hours to complete, but for views like the one above, it's a worthy journey.

With high ridges, you can expect to work your calves as you traverse elevation change. The rolling landscape in and around Chillicothe is another remnant of the ice age... while glaciers covered roughly two-thirds of the state, they weren't as dense in the southern reaches. In this area, the Illinois and Wisconsin ice advances came to a terminus, which has resulted in various glacial deposits that have helped create a wild and rolling landscape.

When you visit Scioto Trail State Park, make sure you budget some time to sit and take in the beauty of the local landscape. The quiet solitude of this region is pure magic.

All across Ohio, unique landscapes thrive and make our state a nature lover's dream. From sandstone cliffs to quiet bogs and kettle lakes, there's much to discover in The Buckeye State.

After you get some time to yourself in nature, you might want to brave the crowds to explore our top-rated trails. They're fantastically beautiful!