Columbus ― Your Guide to the Area's Most Beautiful Hikes

Five-Star Trails: Columbus is the most current and comprehensive guide to hiking the area and rates hikes on the following factors: scenery, trail condition, difficulty, appropriateness for children, and solitude. Each hikes also includes detailed landmarks, flora, fauna, and local history. In this Columbus guide, an impressive collection of routes ranges north, east, south, and west from the metro center, as well as within the urban setting. This capital city is rich in metro parks, natural areas and preserves, state parks, and state forests. And this diversity of hiking terrain invites all levels of abilities and skills. Thus, this guidebook is geared not only to avid trekkers seeking more challenge than a paved neighborhood path, but also to families and senior citizens. Outdoor enthusiasts of every stripe will have reason to grab this book and, well, take a hike. Sized for easy carrying or tossing into a backpack, this handy guide will quickly become a treasured resource among Columbus locals and visitors alike.

Author Robert Loewendick has written Five-Star Trails: Columbus the only way he knows how to do it: as your personal guide. Because exploring the natural world is not a hobby with him, but a lifestyle, his intent with all of his writing is to excite, encourage, and escort every level of hiker on an entertaining adventure.

Robert’s quest in nature is diverse, whether he is hiking miles of tame trails or wild ones; paddling calm waters or running rapids; fly-fishing a mountain stream or cruising a Great Lake for angling adventures. His dedication to promoting the wonders of the outdoors extends to his wife and two children, who frequently accompany him and enrich his observations and insights.

An active member of Outdoor Writers of Ohio and Outdoor Writers Association of America, Robert writes and photographs for myriad nationwide media. His diverse outdoor pursuits and travels continue to provide compelling stories and images that encourage others, of all ages, to "get out there," he says. Born and raised in Ohio, he still calls the Buckeye State his base camp.