There is a small parking area on the west side of Africa Road which provides access to the berm of the east end of the Alum Creek Dam. Check the woodlot and successional fields along the berm and then views of the southeast end of the lake.

Park at the gate along Africa Road, just south of Lewis Center Road. You can walk along the top of the earthwork dam from here (as do many hikers and joggers). This will take you past small woods and several fields that are often quite productive, but it’s about 0.3 miles until you will see the reservoir. You can walk all the way across the dam (about 1.5 miles), but it is very open and tree-less and not very “birdy”.

The beach parking area is closed from November through April, but the beach can often be accessed from the Visitor Center parking area, old Lewis Center Road, or even the west dam parking area. Hogback Preserve may be closed on many winter weekends, but Hogback Road is always open.

Alum Creek rests in the midst of the fertile agricultural till plains and river valleys of Delaware County. In contrast to the surrounding farmlands, the park offers a diverse array of natural features. Cliffs of Ohio shale are notable in many areas, exposed as Alum Creek and other streams cut through underlying bedrock. The shale was formed as mud washed into the ancient sea which covered the area several hundred million years ago. The dark hue of the rock is due to the mixture of a carbonized plant material and mud that formed the shale.

The rich soils of Delaware County gave rise to a luxuriant beech-maple forest after the retreat of the glaciers about 12,000 years ago. That original forest has long since been cut but a healthy second-growth forest is preserved in the park. The woodlands harbor a variety of plant species and offer the interested observer beautiful displays of wildflowers and wildlife. Large-flowered trillium, wild geranium, bloodroot, and spring beauties carpet the forest floor. The forest is home to fox squirrel, woodchuck, rabbit, white-tail deer, and many other species of wildlife.