My wife and I created this tradition that wherever we go, we search for nature trails. We visited Youngstown, Ohio recently. The town is similar to a lot of small towns, there are a lot of small businesses where everyone knows everyone and in the short time we were there we loved it. In the heart of this town we found some amazing trails. The one I focused on was this one that started and ended at Lanterman’s Mill. My son is 7 and my daughter is 10. They both love the outdoors and cherish the time we are hiking together. We also had our awesome puppies Cheddar and Charli for their first hike with us.

The trail starts in the middle of a fairly busy intersection of town at Lanterman’s Mill at Mills Creek Park. This trail has a bit of everything. The Mill itself is breathtaking as you walk up to it. With the waterfall right next to the building cascading over into the next level of Mills Creek, the power generated by the water is intense. History can be felt all around it.

From the mill, you follow a paved footpath up to a gorgeous covered bridge. At that point you can either cross the covered bridge and head around the east side of the river, or, you can stay on the west side of the river. We opted to cross the covered bridge. After the bridge you hang a hard left onto a marked trail. The trail is somewhat narrow, but you follow up the river the whole time. After about a mile you come up to a beautiful waterfall. You have to climb up a cool rock staircase and at the top the view of the damned lake is stunning. There are several places you could fish around the lake, so if you’re into fishing, bring your fishing poles (as I did not and did not hear the end of it from my kids). You walk up another half mile and you have to cross through a part of Mills Creek Park to continue on the trail. Once you find the trail again it’s smooth hiking. We saw Canadian geese, fish jumping out of the lake near us, chipmunks and other wildlife. Eventually the trail ends and you come to state park road that says it’s “closed”. After a brief conversation with a local we discover the closed road was just to cars. Bikes and hikers were allowed to continue through, so we did. The rest of the trail is on a paved road through Mills Creek Park, which is ok, just not as blissful as being in the middle of the woods. While finishing up the hike on the west side of the lake there is a place where you could rent kayaks and canoes and go out on the lake for a while. If we didn’t have the dogs we would have done that, but, we saved it for a different time. We ended back at the mill and were very excited to have found such a gem. The trail’s total distance was 5.7 miles and there was something to be wowed by around every turn and over every hill.

My wife and I grew up loving the outdoors and to have our kids love it is something that is very important to both of us. They used to complain about going for a hike, but once we got out there they were all into it asking all kinds of questions and get excited about seeing wildlife. And now, if we don’t go on a hike during our travels, they ask us, why aren’t we going for a hike today?