My first real backpacking experience, shared with my boys. Ostensibly a “city” park, Germantown MetroPark provides visitors with well-kept trails over rolling hills through old forests, leading down to lush river valleys of the Twin Creek watershed system. The creek runoff is managed by the Germantown Dam, and the park is upstream, so the heavy rains we’d been having had left the valley and banks very sloppy and muddy, but that was not the fault of the park. If there is one complaint, it would be that there is a dearth of potable water stations, so all water needs to be packed in from trailheads with water, the Welcome Center, or pumped from non-potable sources, filtered and/or treated. The Oak Ridge backcountry campsite is situated about 1/2 mile in from the Welcome Center, in among a few trees dotted in a wildflower prairie. There’s a pond here, with little water movement, so it’s not the best source for potability. There a three separate sites, and a common cook area, and a privy. Site C is grass-covered, clear of roots, rocks, and stumps, and easily handled 2 tents with four campers.
The Twin Valley Trail is actually a collection of trails in the Germantown and Twin Creek Metropark, interconnected by a rugged, heavily wooded trail with switchbacks managing the climbs and descents over the limestone bluffs and cuts overlooking the downstream portion of the Twin Creek. The Seibenthaler Nature Center is atop one of the wooded outcrops, with an associated parking lot down a staircase from the Center. The Cedar Ridge Backcountry Campsite is 1.6 miles of switchbacks and ups and downs of the TVT, from the Pink Trail in the GMP to the north, and 0.6 of a mile from the OH-725 highway bridge across the Twin Creek to the south. The sites are situated 0.1 miles in from the main trail, climbing up a little wooded ridge. The campsite, again, has three separate sites, a common area, and a privy. Site C is nestled in the trees, with a tent pad a tad smaller than the aforementioned Oak Ridge site. It also has little to no grass, a few roots and rocks in the soil, so the setup of camp is a little limited, but manageable. The common cook area has a little “counter” to set up a stove or what-not, and two parallel logs to sit facing each other while eating. Here, the closest water source is the Creek, at the bridge crossing, which also makes a good place to slip off the boots, slap on the water shoes, and wade in to cool off the tootsies a bit (when the creek isn’t in flood stage, of course!). Overall, for a 3-day/2-night backcountry experience not too far away from civilization, this is a great park! I estimate a total hike distance covered of about 13 miles across the different trail systems.
