Holden Arboretum Hiking Trails Pictures

Holden Arboretum has many adventures for the hiker. Explore the interactive displays, frequently changing art shows or the annual Photography Contest before taking on the Holden Arboretum Hiking Trails in search of flowers, shrubs and trees. Tour the many trails, which offer a variety of lengths and difficulty, from easy to rugged; something for everyone. Walk through gardens, fields and woods, past ponds and down into the valley. Guided hikes are available year-round and are listed in the quarterly Class Schedule. Self-guided walks are fun too!

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Pierson Creek Valley: 3 hours
Hike through the valley for wildflowers in spring and forest wonders the rest of the year. About 100 steps lead you to the bottom of the valley and back up again.

Trail Details:
Self-Guided Tours:

2. Highlights Trail (Easy - 1 mile) - First-time visitors will find this trail a great way to learn about what The Holden Arboretum has to offer and where major features, gardens and collections, and trails are located. Extension loop (Moderate - 2 miles).

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Once a resort for those escaping summer’s heat, Little mountain is once more a woodland retreat. Learn the history of the area while touring ravines, caves and wooded areas.

The Arlene and Arthur S. Holden Butterfly Garden is directly behind the Visitor Center. This fabulous garden is over two acres and home to two ponds, a waterfall and a profusion of plantings geared to attract caterpillars, butterflies and hummingbirds. Summer brings an explosion of color that attracts birds, butterflies and people alike. There is nothing more appealing on a warm summer afternoon than sitting on the patio listening to the waterfall and watching the nectar gatherers visiting the flowers.

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Little Mountain:
With its forests of towering conifers, its dramatic rocks and crevices, and its unusual plant communities, Little Mountain is a unique natural area of mysterious beauty and scientific interest.

Today, The Holden Arboretum owns and preserves parts of Little Mountain with two goals in mind: first, to maintain a responsible commitment to scientific study and management of this natural area, which is home to hundreds of plant and animal species; and second, to provide Arboretum members with an opportunity for learning and enjoyment.

The upland vegetation is typical of woodlands normally found farther north — a community of white pine, eastern hemlock, and northern hardwoods. At lower elevations is a beech-maple forest, more typical of the surrounding area.

The Arboretum preserves parts of Little Mountain as a unique natural legacy. On Little Mountain, our challenge is to maintain this unique area's integrity and diversity, and at the same time to balance natural process and human impact.

Because this natural area has a unique geological history and is home for hundreds of plant and animal species, Holden Arboretum limits access to its Little Mountain property to members and visitors only with special permission or on guided hikes, which are scheduled throughout the year.

Stebbins Gulch:
Stebbins Gulch is a bedrock ravine system. The deep ravine traps cool air and reduces the mean annual temperature. Summer temperatures rarely rise above 75 F. In winter the ravine walls block the wind and moderate the temperatures.

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Geology profoundly affects ecology in Stebbins. The plant and animal communities follow in response to three major factors: the massive bedrock formations which comprise the Gulch, the ravine system, and the interplay between stream and groundwater.

Several plant communities dominate Stebbins: hemlock-northern hardwoods on the slopes and terrace bluffs, oak-maple along the highest Berea bluffs, beech-sugar maple in the older middle terraces and upland flats, and mixed mesophytic in the valley bottoms.

Does the Myrtle S. Holden Wildflower Garden serve a conservation purpose?
Aside from being an aesthetic and educational garden, the five-acre Myrtle S. Holden Wildflower Garden, currently displaying over 700 taxa and over 165 rare Ohio Heritage Species, is also a repository for rare Ohio plants. For example, seed from the only Ohio population of labrador tea was collected and planted in the wildflower garden bog. If need be the wild population can be restored with offspring from the original population. Saving native germ plasm is important since genetic factors enable the population to survive in a particular location.

The Holden Arboretum displays and conserves rare Ohio plants designated by the Heritage Network, a program to protect rare Ohio plants. In 1997, thirty-five rare species were recorded on Arboretum property. These populations are monitored to see if they are increasing or decreasing, to see how successful changes in the environment alter the populations, and to calculate the percent fruit set and seed viability. We are also the Midwest regional representative for The Center for the Plant Conservation, a national organization dedicated to preserving rare and endangered plants throughout the United States, presently displaying 27 species of federal concern.

The Center for Plant Conservation (CPC) is a national consortium of 28 leading arboreta and botanical gardens that are working together to stem the tide of extinction. In 1984, The Holden Arboretum was selected to serve as the Great Lakes — Midwest Regional Garden by the newly-formed CPC.