Outdoor Enjoyment: Check out Burnet Woods

This image from Google maps shows Burnet Woods right across MLK from UC's Clifton campus.

It’s amazing the things we pay little attention to. I’m willing to bet not many people know that there was a park filled with activities, and people beside The University of Cincinnati. This park has everything a person who loves nature could want. What's even better is it has activities that a person who doesn’t love nature could enjoy. Even if parks aren’t your thing, you can still take advantage of the easy access it provides you the restaurants on the other side of the park, or a quick path home. If none of those work, you can simply sit in the shade of the hundred of trees surrounding the park. Of course, nothing is flawless, but I think you'll notice that most of the flaws I point out are minimal.

Burnet Woods is a 90 acre park located between Clifton campus UC, and a strip of various restaurants that include the original Skyline Chili. Over the weekend, I visited this park for the first time after being a student at UC for two years. After my initial visit I proceeded to use the park multiple times throughout the weekend. My first thought walking through was that this is a hidden gem that needs to be promoted more. It served as an easy, and traffic-less route to get to places I needed. The park has multiple entrances, or exits, depending on where you enter that all lead to convenient places rather that place is directly in front of the university, a slew of fine dining options, or steps away from a shuttle pickup. It helps that for the most part the grounds of this park are well kept, the trash bins are empty, and the restrooms are cleaner than the ones in most college students' homes.

Along with its cleanliness and convenience it also offers the opportunity to perform a plethora of activities such as hiking, fishing, and disc golf. Not looking for physical activities just a place to sit and write? No need to fret. There are benches and a roofed outdoor area that is perfect for just relaxing. If you happen to have children with you there’s no need to worry, because there is a playground at your disposal. Speaking of disposal, the restrooms are located throughout the park, and the trash bins are scattered for your personal use at any moment.

Burnet park also runs special occasion activities like a free circus, or plays that are held in the park’s own theater. If you'd like something a bit more private, you can rent or reserve the park for your own private events. You can even fulfill education responsibilities for some of your classes. The park offers a botanical garden that can be observed, or you can live a photography student's dream with the variety of different scenery to capture.

To be fair, I must point out any flaws in the park. This may be a minor problem to some people, but to me, not being able to find a park director to speak with about the history and future events was a bit of let down. The park seems to have a rich history, but maybe that’s only an assumption since no one from the park was there to tell me about it. 

The next problem is a bit more important, and should probably be looked at as a warning. The park has very poor lighting and is cloaked from the outside viewers because of the trees. This obviously makes it very unsafe to walk whether you’re alone or in a group. Not wanting to be a Debbie Downer, I've decided to end my list of grievances with something a bit lighthearted. There’s a bit of problem with dog feces being left by the owners for anyone to walk by and ruin their day. I don’t know if this is a worse reflection on the park, or the dog owners, but nevertheless it’s an inconvenience when you have to walk cautiously just to avoid poop.

Now the positives outweigh the negatives by a large sum in my opinion. However you can make that decision for yourself with the given information. However if this information wasn’t enough, you could simply visit the park yourself, and find out.