oregon ridge park

Oregon Ridge Park is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon with children. The nature center is always fun to visit, with its critters to view and its interesting exhibits. Then we can take a trail for a hike (looking for the secret playground is always a winner) and end up at the lake. The trails are short enough for toddlers to enjoy and longer ones appeal to the older kids. They also have numerous activities scheduled on weekends for kids and families. Plus there is a wonderful playground near the lodge that offers lots of challenges for kids of all ages. And it is all free.

We visited Oregon Ridge Park on a warm October Saturday. My children enjoyed checking out the turkeys and chickens, the outdoor playground and the Nature Center. The family took a short hike and my husband and son continued on for longer hike. The trails are clearly marked and free trail maps can be found at the Nature Center.The Nature center has many educational programs.

The park is great in summer time and has lot of activities for kids and adults. They have a big play area for kids,grilling area,shelters.They have an artificial beach area as well. Good place for hiking, bird watching and other nature oriented activities. Must visit for summer fun.

This is a nice trip up to Hunt Valley to the park. There are alot of trails to do hiking and a awesome nature center to visit. For me the best time to go there is in the Fall!!

People come to nature centers expecting circuses or pristine grounds where they won't get dirty or hope to find trails where they will never have to glance at a map. I am glad that Oregon Ridge has stuck to their guns over the years and just kept the same rustic feeling, yet always adding something new to the mix.Check out their newer interactive children's nature playground made from native plants & vegetation. Their grounds are stocked with small farm animals (not a petting zoo) and a couple of replica houses used back in the mining days.The nature center offers small rooms with healthy animals that are sure to delight the little ones. Sneak out on the back patio for a glimpse at the hawk & turkey.The trails are clean. Well marked and maintained. Parking is free. The nature center is free. Some programs require advance registration and fee, but have always been worth it. We attended camp fire sing alongs and butterfly seek & find here over the years. Really fun! Knowledgable staff. Please support this park and keep it in our community.The beach is a completely different attraction and should not be reviewed in the same post, but just to let you know. Free parking, fee to enter. In my opinion, dirty and crowded for no reason other than you don't have to have a membership. Maybe worth a visit.

Love to take my daughter to the playground here and run outdoors. There is also a lake and nature center. They also have scheduled events like campouts, nature hikes and demonstrations.

There is a great playground that my son has loved since he was little. There is also a free nature center. Great way to spend a morning or afternoon.

Went with my wife for a mini vacation day. We began with a pleasant walk on the well-marked trails. I strongly recommend printing out a trail map before you go--there were none in the boxes by the trail heads. We walked most of the park in about 1.5 hours. Some steep parts and a little crossing of streams on rocks, which made it fun for us but might challenge some. Almost the entire area is wooded, so despite warm temperatures it was an enjoyable walk.After our walk we visited the nature center, which is minimal but informative (and it has clean restrooms). We then visited the forge area which had many very interesting stations describing the history of the forge and the processes for mining iron ore and marble. This was our favorite part of the experience.My plan was to then spend the rest of the day at the beach. Once we got in, however, I was disappointed. The sanded area is very small and there were a LOT of little children everywhere. My idea of a quiet place to set up an umbrella, have a picnic lunch, and pretend we were on the ocean shore was not to be. Paid $7 each to get in, so we decided to just stay anyway despite the craziness. Water was warmer than expected, which was nice, but the wading/swimming area was very small, with three lifeguards watching over hoards of kids, so it wasn't much fun for an adult couple. Overall a positive experience though. Hope somebody finds this info helpful.

This park has some great trails that are well marked. There is a neat lake/quarry you can hike around. The entire park is well isolated from traffic or other noises/views and it was pretty cold the day we went so there weren't too many people on it. In some spots we had a climb across a small stream to stay on the path. The visitor center well exceeded my expectations with some very cool taxidermy and live turtles.

Oregon Ridge was a tiny iron-mining town, and the park gave us an appreciation for that. The trails and markers were very enjoyable and helpful. We also walked down to the lake and were impressed by its size and beauty, as we viewed it with a layer of ice on its surface. A memorably couple of hour. Oh, and there were displays of agricultural things--and chickens and a lone, literally hen-pecked duck, too. Kids will enjoy this, too.

Come every summer to the Wine in the Woods Festival. In addition to all the great wines to be sampled/purchased, there is food, vendors and live entertainment. There is a playground for children and loots of placed for a pick nice.

Oregon Ridge is a great place for an after work or short weekend hike. the trails are well marked and there are some great views. A lot of people use these trails so don't expect solitude.

There is a nice visitors center and lots of hiking trails. There's a pond not far from the parking lotwith cat tails and frogs. Interesting old buildings border a short trail. Some of the trails cover hilly, rocky terrain but there are also short flat trails that work well if you have very young children.

Good spot for a short hike. Go to the nature centure to pick up a trail map. There are a handful of short hikes to put together. You could do a nice 1 - 1 1/2 hr hike.There are also picnic tables and a beach area to wade in during the summer. I think there is a fee to use the beach, but hiking around the park is free.

Oregon Ridge Park is a 1,000+ acre park in Northern Baltimore County. They have a great nature center on site that is open 9-5 Tuesday-Sunday. The nature center staff is very friendly and there are lots of native animals to see- live and taxidermy. The nature center also offers programs nearly every weekend which are very affordable. The park itself has a great trail system and many historic features of when it was a mining town.