The West Woods 9465 Kinsman Road, Novelty, OH 44072

"Amazing park for hiking. The Ansel's Cave trail is gorgeous & not too difficult. There are some steps but none too strenuous. The cave area is worth the trek."

"Very nice nature center and they give you seed to walk to this one place and hold your hand out and the birds will eat out of it. The only thing it was getting late and my husband was not patient enough to wait for the birds to come eat from my hands. We did take a little walk on a paved trail which was very nice and there are beautiful. It’s not a long walk. They do have longer paths, but this one was just right for me. I do recommend this place. It is kid friendly. All kinds of things for kids. Bathroom was very clean and everyone was super nice. I don’t know the ladies on the horses but I hope they did mind me using the picture. I just wanted to show all the things you can see. The ladies were nice enough to let me take pictures of the horses. Thank you ladies."

"We walked the Ansel's Cave Trail and the trail itself was a great hike! I would've brought my rating down to 3/5 because you can't actually walk back into the cave, there are signs prohibiting it :( . However, we came out at the wrong side of the trail on our hike back and ran into the nature center! Having 3 kids (ages 12, 7 and 3), this was a nice surprise to get into a cool place after our hike and get some hand on activity time. Thus, bringing my rating up to a 4/5! Follow me on IG @mother_beast"

"I recently visited The West Woods for the first time to do some hiking. There is a beautiful air conditioned nature center building with some exhibits and very nice restrooms adjacent to a large parking lot. I hiked the Ansel's Cave trail which was a pretty steady uphill incline through the woods for about the first 20 minutes or more of hiking. There were also some steps involved before you finally reach the Sharon Conglomerate rock outcroppings. A plaque gave some information about the rock formations. There was also a scenic Creek nearby and a little wooden bridge and small boardwalk area near more of the outcroppings then the trail continues uphill with additional steps which were somewhat steep, so this would not be a great hike for folks with mobility issues. The trail continues through the woods and then loops back toward the park driveway and nature center area. I also did some hiking on the trails near the nature center area, and those were an easier hike. I definitely recommend bringing some water with you if you are hiking to the rocky outcroppings since a lot of it is uphill. This park is located near the border of Newbury and Russell but it was definitely worth the trip."

"This park is a gem among many others in Geauga County, OH. Take the Ansel Cave Trail and enjoy spectacular views of a creek running between lichen-covered ledges. The cave itself is not much of a cave but more of a fissure surrounded by the rocks. The trail is not too crowded (we visited in October). A surprising benefit is a dense tree canopy - raining didn't feel too bad. Pavilions are mostly empty and make a great place for a small picnic."