Ritchey Woods Nature Preserve

We LOVE Ritchey Woods! Walking the entire park (all trails) with a determined pup takes about 30-45 minutes, but it's easy to spend hours diving into nature! Besides the amazing plant life, we have seen deer in this park (a baby that we have happily seen get bigger!). Make sure if you bring your pup that they are up to date on flea and tick meds and you wear proper gear to protect yourself! Bathrooms are usually kept in order as are the trash cans. There are multiple spots to sit and rest if necessary, a great covered area for picnics, and multiple spots for great pictures with your family or pups!

Very nice, walkable trails. Not too long. Walked the longest trail in about half an hour, sort of took my time. There's a little pioneer cemetery at the top of a hill, accessible by a trail and it's so surreal. But like, in a good way. Very nice and clean bathrooms and plenty of picnic tables, but only near the entrance of the trails. Plenty of gravel parking.

Peaceful and pristinely maintained park. You can probably do all the trails in 30 or 40 minutes. Every time I've gone at dusk there are bunnies galore. 🐰 there's a free lending library, bathroom, lots of parking, areas for eating, benches for resting and maybe places for camping. Everything was well marked. Felt safe and the beauty of the forest trails was restorative. I could've easily used a jogging stroller and felt that I could've taken a wheelchair on most of these trails (my child uses a wheelchair so ♿️ accessibility is important to our family).

We live less than a mile from Ritchey Woods and have frequented this wonderful preserve for many years. Our dogs have always loved going to "RW". It is beautiful in all seasons, especially the Fall. Over the years we have seen lots of deer as well as coyotes, foxes, raccoons, otters in Cheney Creek, beavers, several non-vemomous species of snakes, turtles, and an abundance of bird life including various raptors, pialated woodpeckers, Great Horned Owls, etc. RW has a nice series of well-maintained trails and bridges and even a small cemetery dating to the early 1800s. RW has the feel of southern lndiana woodlands such as Brown County, Lake Monroe, Yellowwood etc although obviously on a much smaller scale and is a perfect place to take children, leashed dogs and anyone seeking a respite of solitude and beauty in an area surrounded by development.

Ritchey Woods is a wonderful place to go for a walk. It's beautiful and never too crowded. There are various trails to have different experiences like small bridges or stream views. There's a small pioneer-era graveyard on one of the trails. There are some benches or tree stumps off some trails to take a rest if desired. There are picnic tables behind the bathrooms so it's a good place for a get-together or to enjoy a meal outdoors. If you arrive early or stay late, you're more likely to see deer grazing which is a nice treat.