Under An Hour From Dayton Is An Underrated Ohio Park With Lake Fun, Fishing, And Sporty Appeal

Ohio should be proud of its state parks, which were honored as the best park system in the United States by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration in 2025. But those accolades shouldn't stop with its 76 state parks. Cities throughout the Buckeye State take their public recreation spaces seriously, too. In Sidney, Tawawa Park is an underrated nature preserve with two lakes and various facilities for almost every sport you can think of.

Sidney is an Ohio city with a charming downtown and outdoor recreation in the west-central region of the state. The small city, with a population just over 20,000, sits only 40 minutes north of Dayton by car. It's also an outdoorsy spot with 18 public parks spread across 450 acres. Roughly half of that land — 220 wooded acres around Tawawa Creek — was protected as a nature preserve in 1948. Less than a decade later, Tawawa Park was transferred to the City of Sidney.

Tawawa Park is now filled with old-growth trees, wildflowers, and 7 miles of hiking trails. One trail leads out to Big Rock, a 12-foot-tall granite boulder that was deposited here when the glaciers melted during the last ice age. Another brings you to the red Ross Covered Bridge, which was built in the style of Ohio's 19th-century covered bridges. Other trails wind around Tawawa and Amos lakes (where you can drop a line for fish), the accessible Baumgardner Basin soccer fields, the 10-acre Flanagan Sports Complex, and the seasonal Sidney Water Park. You'll find picnic areas, playgrounds, and more courts (including basketball and sand volleyball) scattered throughout the park as well.

After exploring Tawawa Park's trails and sports facilities, you will probably be drawn closer to the water. The banks of the park's two small lakes, Tawawa and Amos, which are connected by the Tawawa Creek, are the perfect spots to cast for fish. In the spring, 3-acre Tawawa Lake is stocked with rainbow trout. Largemouth bass, bluegill, and yellow bullheads have been caught here, too, according to logs on Fishbrain. A kids' fishing derby, hosted by a semi-pro fisher, is even held in the park during the summer.

As with all of Sidney's parks, there is no cost to visit Tawawa Park or use its facilities. But, to go fishing in the park's two lakes, adults (aged 16 and older) must obtain a fishing license from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. If you plan to fish when the park is closed, you'll need an additional City of Sidney fishing permit, which is available at both the parks and recreation office and the police department.

The closest airport to Tawawa Park is in Dayton, a Midwest mecca of art, shopping, and dining. It's an easy, roughly 40-minute drive to Sidney from Dayton International Airport (DAY), which receives nonstop flights from over a dozen cities around the country. If you have extra time to explore the city, check out the coolest family-friendly getaways in and around Dayton.