Maple Ridge is a relatively undeveloped and secluded area of Mount Airy Forest, especially the wooded area. The wooded area has many unpaved trails, many of these are not on the park maps or alltrails.com and most are not manicured or paved. If there is a spot on a map you would like to visit, there probably is a trail to get you there or near. Trails range from good condition to poor condition, true for all of Mount Airy Forest.

There are multiple types of habitats. The area alongside the road and lodge is an upland pasture. Ravines are in areas near the creeks. Creeks are small to medium in size and you can cross just about any creek by walking on top of rocks. Upland hardwood habitats have maple, oak, beech, tulip poplar, walnut, and hickory. There is a fair amount of white pine and red cedar in the mix as well. Succession forest is present in many places in all stages with areas of dense shrubbery, grass, and partially timbered. The entire Mount Airy forest has been hit hard by the Emerald Ash Borer with dead white ash trees everywhere, many on the ground rotting, many still standing but dead.

The main trail going into the woods is located at Point A on the second map. It is next to the parking lot which is at the end of the park road. There are no restrooms available in this part of the park. The lodge has them, but it is for rent so they are locked.

(The photo gallery at the top of the page has photos of Points A-I.)

Point A, behind the lodge, could certainly make a stationary or very short traveling birding session.
Point B to Point C is a grassy corridor with a lot of dense shrubbery along both sides.
Point C is the beginning of a trail not shown on any current map. It is an old unused service road and is a nice way to get down to the creek, easy and not steep.
Point D is about the end of the old service road and is where the walk along the creek starts. The second Point D photo is a longer more ambitious route.
Point E is more or less a 6-way trail junction. It is at the bottom of the trail leading out of the parking lot at the end of the park road. 
Point F is at the top of somewhat-secluded Meadow Ridge. There are two picnic tables at this point.
From Point F to Point H is a fairly wide trail going along the top of the ridge. This may once hve been an open meadow and is now grown out.
Point H is in a more mature part of the forest and has a nice canopy and an open understory. It is still on top of the ridge. Scarlet and Summer Tanagers seem to like this area.
From Point H to Point I is a stretch of the trail that can log a lot of Warblers and Vireos in the spring.

All woodpeckers that are in this region but the Red-headed are here in good numbers. A very healthy population of Red Bellied Woodpeckers. Tufted Titmouse, Eastern Towhee, Carolina Chickadee, Carolina Wren, American Robin, and a large population of Northern Cardinal. There are a nice amount of Hawks - Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, and Cooper's. A fair amount of White Breasted Nuthatch. Migrants include all vireos but Bell's, a very nice selection of warblers, a good population of Wood Thrush, and Flycatchers (Eastern Wood-Pewee is the most populous). Also Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Indigo Bunting, Scarlet and Summer Tanagers, and both Kinglets. In the grass area alongside the lodge, both Barn and Northern Rough-winged Swallows appear here often. One can have a nice birding session without leaving the parking lot and lodge area, as well as just about anywhere in the wooded areas or alongside the wooded areas.

Located within Mount Airy Forest, Cincinnati’s largest park, is Maple Ridge Lodge, offering a scenic variety of woods and wildlife, all within a ten-minute drive of downtown Cincinnati. This rustic lodge, featuring spacious interiors, a renovated kitchen & a handsome stone fireplace, in addition to expansive covered and open patios, is a perfect gathering place for family reunions, weddings, and corporate and social events.

At almost 1,500 acres, Mount Airy Forest is Cincinnati’s largest park. It was established in 1911 out of several unproductive farms and was the first municipal reforestation in America. A crew of young African Americans was employed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (a federal jobs program during the Great Depression) to build service roads, the large check dams in West Fork Creek and, along with more skilled laborers working for the Works Progress Administration, most of the shelter, service and restroom buildings. They also planted more than one million trees! Each recreational area typically included a shelter, comfort station, picnic tables, and a water source, either a fountain or a pump.