Winter hikes have always been a favorite around here.
Every December, five Columbus Metro Parks string Christmas lights along their trails: Battelle Darby Creek, Blacklick Woods, Highbanks, Homestead and Inniswood. The lights come on at dark and shut off at 8 p.m., every night of the month, and they cost nothing. In a season where Wildlights needs zoo admission and the drive-thru shows charge by the car, this is the free walk-in option.
The lights are the December leg of the Metro Parks Winter Hikes series, which runs December through February across all 19 parks. January and February trade the lights for hot drinks and treats at scheduled parks, and hiking seven parks earns a patch. How the card works is further down.
Which Metro Parks have Christmas lights
| Park | Address | Lights on | Cost |
| Battelle Darby Creek | 1775 Darby Creek Drive, Galloway | Dark to 8 p.m., all of December | Free |
| Blacklick Woods | 6975 E. Livingston Ave., Reynoldsburg | Dark to 8 p.m., all of December | Free |
| Highbanks | 9466 Columbus Pike, Lewis Center | Dark to 8 p.m., all of December | Free |
| Homestead | 4675 Cosgray Road, Hilliard | Dark to 8 p.m., all of December | Free |
| Inniswood Metro Gardens | 940 S. Hempstead Road, Westerville | Dark to 8 p.m., all of December (park hours end at 7 p.m.) | Free |
Walk at any time after dark. Nothing is ticketed and there is no set route.
Inniswood Metro Gardens
Inniswood looks different from the other four. The lights run through the gardens rather than a woodland loop, with lit animal figures mixed in among the beds. The gardens are at 940 S. Hempstead Road in Westerville. One thing to plan around: Metro Parks lists the lights as running until 8 p.m., but Inniswood’s own posted winter hours end at 7 p.m., so treat 7 as the safe cutoff there.
Highbanks Metro Park
Highbanks is the north-side pick, at 9466 Columbus Pike (U.S. 23) in Lewis Center, and the closest of the five for Worthington, Powell and Delaware. It hosted the Winter Hikes kick-off in 2024, with the nature center as the hub for hot chocolate and hike cards. The nature center closes at 6 p.m. in winter, so plan on the trails, not the exhibits.
Blacklick Woods Metro Park
Blacklick Woods, at 6975 E. Livingston Ave. in Reynoldsburg, hosted the 2025 kick-off at its nature center, and the lights there go up around that building. It’s also the park with the Canopy Walk, the free boardwalk through the treetops; the full rundown is in the Blacklick Woods guide.
Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park
Battelle Darby Creek is the biggest Metro Park by a wide margin: 7,358 acres stretched along 13 miles of the Big and Little Darby creeks west of Columbus. Because the park is that spread out, navigate to the nature center at 1775 Darby Creek Drive in Galloway, the building with the 53-foot living stream inside.
Homestead Metro Park
Homestead is the small one, 43 acres in Hilliard at 4675 Cosgray Road, with a covered bridge and a three-quarter-mile paved loop that makes it the easiest of the five for strollers and short legs. It hosted the kick-off in 2023.
Chestnut Ridge lantern walks
Chestnut Ridge, at 8445 Winchester Road NW in Carroll, doesn’t string lights for the month. Instead it does two evenings of luminary walks: stretches of the Ridge Trail lined with luminaries, with hot cocoa and card stamps at the far parking lot shelter house, and you can drop in any time between 5 and 6:30 p.m. The park normally closes at dark and stays open only for the length of the program, so this is the one to check the date on before you drive out.
This season’s dates
Metro Parks posts each season’s schedule on its Winter Hikes page in November, and the 2026-27 dates aren’t out yet. They’ll be added here the day they post. Until then, the pattern has held for years:
- Kick-off: December 1 from 5 to 7 p.m., three seasons running, at a different lit park each year (Homestead in 2023, Highbanks in 2024, Blacklick Woods in 2025). Hot chocolate and a first walk under the lights, plus your card.
- Twinkling lights: the whole month of December at the five parks above, dark to 8 p.m.
- Chestnut Ridge lantern walks: the first Friday and Saturday of December, 5 to 6:30 p.m., the last two seasons.
- Winter Hikes celebration: a Sunday in late February at Blacklick Woods Golf Course, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., where the patches get handed out.
How the Winter Hikes card works
- Pick up a card at any park or print one from the Metro Parks Winter Hikes page. Or skip paper: join the Winter Hikes challenge in the free OuterSpatial app, which tracks check-ins on your phone.
- Hike any trail at a park featured that month, then have a staff member stamp the card (or check in on the app).
- Seven parks earns the Winter Hikes patch, collected at the February celebration.
- Friends of Metro Parks members who hike all 19 parks can earn a Metro Parks walking stick or a medallion instead.
The Metro Parks trails are one stop of many. See the best Christmas lights in Columbus for the full list, and the complete guide to Columbus Metro Parks for the rest of the system.
