Road Trippin’ with Truda: Leo Petroglyphs

At Leo Petroglyphs & Nature Preserve, you can explore ancient human history as well as geology and natural science, all while enjoying a beautiful hike.

The petroglyphs are a legacy of the American Indian peoples of ancient Ohio. Carved into a sandstone slab, this remarkable rock art includes 37 figurative drawings of humans, birds, footprints, animals and symbols. The most famous image is a human head with deer antlers and bird's feet (see photo below). The carvings are most likely the work of the Fort Ancient culture and may be as much as 1,000 years old.

You can hike the nature preserve on a 0.7-mile trail through a gorge along unglaciated Mississippian sandstone cliffs that are 20-65 feet high. The trail may be short, but it provides a lot of variety-elevation changes, waterfalls, streams, various rock formations, informative plaques, wildflowers, animal tracks and more. My husband and daughter came along with me, and we all loved this trail.

The petroglyphs are fascinating. Experts don't know the meaning of the symbols. They are most likely the work of the Fort Ancient culture and may be as much as 1,000 years old.

The sandstone cliffs are gorgeous!

Address: Leo Petroglyphs & Nature Preserve is located at 400 Park Rd., Ray, OH. I would highly recommend using a GPS to find your way. It can be a little tricky to find some of the turns. My husband, who is an excellent navigator, blew past the first turn off US-35. The site itself is well marked with a large Ohio History Connection sign. There's a small parking lot right off Park Rd.

How much time: We spent about 15 minutes looking at the petroglyphs, which are located right at the parking lot. The hike through the nature preserve took us about 30 minutes. We spent a lot of time looking at the waterfalls, animal prints, signs and rock formations.

My favorites: Aside from the petroglyphs, which are super interesting, I absolutely loved the hike in the nature preserve. It's short, but there's so much to see.

Truda's Tips: There are no restroom facilities at this site, but there is a large rest stop just north of the site on US-35. This site is not handicapped accessible. The shelter around the petroglyphs has a lot of stairs and the hike in the nature preserve is very rocky with lots of elevation changes.

Kid Friendly? Yes, for elementary school aged kids and older: As mentioned above, the trail through the nature preserve is short, but challenging. I think little legs would have trouble managing much of the trail. But kids who are a little older would LOVE scrambling over the rocks, splashing in the stream and looking for wildflowers.

There are lots of elevation changes and rocky areas to climb over. Leo Petroglyphs is a fun, but challenging place to hike.

Treat yourself to a taste of the 1980s at Rax in Circleville!

Lunch: There are picnic tables available at the site, both at the end of the parking lot and under the shelter near the petroglyphs, so you can definitely pack a lunch to enjoy during your visit.

We opted to drive about 30 minutes for a little taste of history at Rax Roast Beef at 24586 US 23 in Circleville. I told my daughter she was getting a real taste of what it felt like to live in the 1980s. I'm pretty sure the menu and décor have not changed one bit. We all thoroughly enjoyed our sandwiches, the great service and the clean restrooms. I would definitely go back.