Everything you need to know before you hike:
You are entering a highly protected nature preserve. Regulations exist to protect natural communities from the impact of public visitors. Please follow these regulations to leave Kamama Prairie as beautiful as you found it. Remain on trails at all times and walk in single file to protect bulbs of native wildflowers bordering the trail. Do not disturb, pick, or collect flowers, plants, rocks, or wildlife. Hunting, caving, fishing, trail biking, rock climbing, wading, campfires, and swimming are prohibited. Click here for a list of full regulations.
Dogs are not permitted at Kamama Prairie. A dog owner’s guide to hiking Arc Trails.
Address: 778 Steam Furnace Road, Peebles OH 45660
Directions: Kamama Prairie is in northeastern Adams County in south central Ohio. From Peebles, drive south on OH-41 to OH- 32, a four-lane road known as the Appalachian Highway. Look for McDonalds and a Marathon station at this main intersection. Turn left (east) on OH-32, and proceed for 1.3 miles; then turn right onto Steam Furnace Road, the first exit. Follow Steam Furnace Road. You will jog across OH-781, pass by Toller’s Black Diamond Grocery, and pass Hoop Road on your right. 4.3 miles from OH-32, 2.1 miles from Black Diamond, and 1.4 miles past Hoop Road, look closely for Nixon Road on your left, a narrow road nearly hidden by vegetation. Immediately past Nixon Road, you will see a graveled parking lot and entrance signs for the trailhead. Park here. If you come to the little town of Fawcett, you go just under a mile too far.
Interpretive kiosk: An interpretive kiosk is not yet posted at the preserve trailhead. Please be sure to download a trail map onto your phone before hiking or print this handout.
Kamama Prairie’s hiking trails are open from sunrise to sunset. Please note parking lots are not winter-maintained and the trails are not safe to hike during periods of heavy rain, ice, and snow. Trails are closed during our annual Deer Management Hunt which takes place on the 1) Monday through Sunday following Thanksgiving, and 2) Saturday and Sunday before Christmas.
Hiking Trails’ Difficulty - Easy. The trail is flat and traverses through a prairie.
Kamama Prairie Three Trails:
Andy’s Trail - .4 mile loop - primarily winds through the prairie-influenced woodlands that border a small stream dissecting the preserve. A few rock dolomite outcrops line the stream. Here a rich display of wildflowers bloom from April through May. Along the section of the trail closest to the trailhead, the trail traverses a native prairie opening with outstanding floral displays in July, including the rare tall larkspur, Delphinium exaltatum.
Kamama Prairie Trail - 2 miles - leads hikers through a variety of wooded and prairie habitats. Of special note is its passing through an intact prairie at the top of a knoll which is one of the best representatives of an alkaline shortgrass prairie community in the world. Watch for its dense stands of prairie dock, Indian paintbrush, whorled milkweed, and scaly blazing star persisting on its extremely dry, thin soils. If you are botanically astute, this prairie is a fascinating destination throughout the growing season.
Prairie Fire Trail - .5 mile - loops off Kamama Prairie Trail and leads through the largest prairie remnant in the preserve – the result of many years of restoration work following earlier agricultural activity on the property.