Glen Helen is a privately owned non-profit nature preserve. There is a small parking fee, but it is well worth it as there is one amazing natural feature after another all along Inman Trail.
The trail starts from the main parking lot and soon passes the Trailside Museum where there are a lot of birds and squirrels indulging in the seeds from several bird feeders.
From there Inman Trail descends down a fairly steep set of stone steps that end at a small bridge that crosses Yellow Springs Creek.
Heading around the trail to the left, the first geological feature you glimpse through the trees is Pompey’s Pillar, a rock spire with a larger rock perched precariously on top.
Next you come to a long bridge that spans back across the creek on the left, which is across from a small grotto with a waterfall on the right. Natural grottos typically form when water dissolves limestone rock forming a cave.
Then you come to The Yellow Spring. This is the natural spring that Yellow Springs, Ohio is named after. The potential healing powers of the spring attracted many visitors to this spa town in the 1700s, but the spring was used 1000s of years before that by Native Americans. The yellow-orange color comes from the high iron content in the water.
This spring which comes out the side of a small cliff is known as a gravity spring. This happens when water which is drawn down through the ground reaches a layer of rock it cannot pass through. It then flows horizontally, and will eventually reach a hillside or cliff where it flows out as a spring. In this case it makes a small waterfall.
Continuing around the trail you eventually come to Birch Creek where there are several small waterfalls.
There are two other smaller waterfalls farther down the trail.
The Inman Trail is a loop trail so you will eventually come back to the stone stairs leading up to the main parking lot. There are a couple of other parking areas and more trails as well. There is a raptor rehabilitation center, a trail that passes through a covered bridge, and trails that go into John Bryan State Park.
Glen Helen Nature Preserve – Greene County
505 Corry St, Yellow Springs, OH