Discover the Beauty of Nature at Blue Rock State Park
Wednesday, March 6, 2019 by Emily Justus, Zane State College Student
Have you ever wanted to find the perfect place to go when you just want to get away from the chaos of life and surround yourself with the beauty of nature? If you haven’t, then I have the perfect place for you. The name of the place is Blue Rock State Park. At Blue Rock State Park, you can find many activities where you’re either in or around nature. The activities that are offered to you at Blue Rock State Park are camping, swimming, fishing, hiking, hunting, and boating.
At Blue Rock you’ll find that no matter what you do, you are completely surrounded by the beauty of nature. When you go walking or even horseback riding on the trails, you are almost always completely encompassed by trees. When you look up, you will see a canopy of trees surrounding you. While looking around, you can see flowers, trees, and sometimes animals if you’re quiet enough. All of the trails are quite long, and almost the whole time you will be surrounded by nature, and sometimes you may stumble upon the beautiful water in Cutler Lake where you can see various kinds of fish swimming around. Some of the trails will take you to amazing sights, such as the fire tower. The fire tower stands a strong 100 feet tall, and it is the last 100-foot fire tower that is left standing in the state of Ohio. If you would like to hike or horseback ride on the trails and would like to take a breather, there are nice shelters that you can eat at and still be surrounded by nothing more than trees, flowers, and whatever animals may be around. The shelters are hidden way back near some of the trails, and if you don’t look very hard, you will easily overlook the shelters.
Blue Rock also offers various other activities such as camping, fishing, hunting, boating, and swimming. If you like to camp, there is a big chunk of land set aside for campers where you can reserve a spot either just slightly hidden in the woods or more out in the open, but no matter which you reserve you’re still surrounded by trees and flowers, and sometimes other campers who are around. If you like to swim, there is a beach area in Cutler Lake where you are allowed to go swimming. On the beach area, you aren’t exactly surrounded by trees and flowers, but you can still look all around the lake and find trees and flowers. There is also a big concession stand where you can eat on a deck that overlooks Cutler Lake and either watch people swimming or just enjoy the view. Blue Rock also offers a spot on Cutler Lake specifically meant for fishing. When you’re fishing, you’re away from the people who are swimming and boating, to help avoid any accidents. While fishing, you will be able to lean back against a tree while you are waiting for a fish to bite. At Blue Rock some of the most commonly caught fish are bluegill, rainbow trout, and largemouth bass, only to name a few. If you are looking to hunt, don’t fret: you can find those areas at Blue Rock too. Although they may seem hard to find at first, Blue Rock has set spots to help avoid any accidents happening between visitors. At Blue Rock you can find all kinds of wildlife, such as deer, squirrels, or sometimes a turkey if you don’t scare it off. Not only can you find wildlife, you can just find many of nature’s other gorgeous creatures such as birds, butterflies, bats (if you’re out late enough), and many other stunning animals. Blue Rock also offers areas for you to boat in. When you go boating in Cutler Lake, there is a certain zone the boats have to stay in to keep away from the swimmers, but that isn’t a problem. Cutler Lake is an astonishing size, and this gives people plenty of space to swim, boat, and fish all at the same time, while not having to worry about being in each other’s way.
Blue Rock is the perfect place to go to be surrounded by nature, because it seems as though no matter what activity you care to partake in, whether it be fishing, swimming, boating, or any of the other various activities, you are still able to look up and be able to see all of the various kinds of trees and flowers and sometimes even bushes that are growing everywhere. All too often we all take the beauty of nature for granted. Due to the rise in technology, no one really cares to spend a lot of time outdoors because people would rather be on their phone or watching television or even playing video games. Sometimes people need a break from all of the hassle of technology and life in general, and a great way to help yourself is to reconnect with nature or even family or friends. Blue Rock is definitely a place I would recommend you go, even for a little while. It’s worth the trip, I promise. Blue Rock is a huge park that is hidden by twisting and turning back roads, and it may seem like it takes forever to get there—but once you get there, you will lose track of time because you will be enjoying some of the activities so much.
