Trip Journal: Weekend at The Wilds
Cumberland, Ohio, Sunday, September 6 – Tuesday, September 8
Lynn has been pining to return to The Wilds for some time, probably since we heard that they had added the yurts to the facility to allow for overnight visits. We had thought about making a trip to the area by combining The Wilds with Hocking Hills State Park and probably the Columbus Zoo, but never found a block of time big enough to fit all this considering everything else that has been happening this year. Still we kept an eye on availability and how our schedules were working out and as luck would have it the stars aligned over Labor Day weekend so I booked our dates just a couple weeks ahead of our visit. This is about as impromptu as it gets for us! Unfortunately, Friday and Saturday were already booked, so the evening tours that are only offered on those days would not be available, but we secured lodging for Sunday and Monday and just added a day off on Tuesday to extend our holiday weekend a bit. Odd thing about the reservations, I tried making them on-line, but the system would only allow me to make a one-night stay. That seemed odd, so I called the reservation number. Sure enough, the system is setup for one-night stays, so I had to make two separate reservations to get two consecutive nights. I later found out when talking to the concierge at Nomad Ridge that this is a known flaw in their system and they are working on fixing it. No worries as we now had a place to stay. We thought a bit about the tours we wanted to take. Each night of lodging included an Open Air tour but I also found out that we could get a discounted rate on the other tour options. So after studying the tours for a few days we decided to take our Open Air tour first thing on Monday morning (well,” first thing” is a relative term as the first tour of the day is at 10:00) then we would go on an afternoon Wildside Tour starting at 3:30. This would allow us to have Sunday and Tuesday open for travel so that we would not be rushed and we would have a full but not overly busy day on Monday which ended up working out perfectly.
Sunday, September 6 - Heading South. We were on the road exactly on time at 1:15 and arrived at The Wilds about 3:40. In our yurt, number 3, at 4:00. There was a short wait at the concierge yurt waiting for the staff to arrive but we were quickly checked-in and set up in our yurt (number 3) by 4:00. We were sitting on the front porch of the yurt with a White Rajah IPA at 4:04! The view from our yurt was decent; we could see part of the two ponds below Nomad Ridge and a few animal through the trees. But it was good that we were in the woods to get the shade on our porch as it is hot today (about 88 degrees F). But the shade and the nice breeze made it comfortable. We could see a few critters from the porch. We forgot the binoculars but the camera worked well enough. We were pleased to see that there was an air conditioning unit in the yurt (that was a recent addition as the website indicted there was no AC in a standard yurt). I guess they had to add these due to the very hot conditions over the summer.
Cumberland, Ohio, Sunday, September 6 – Tuesday, September 8
Lynn has been pining to return to The Wilds for some time, probably since we heard that they had added the yurts to the facility to allow for overnight visits. We had thought about making a trip to the area by combining The Wilds with Hocking Hills State Park and probably the Columbus Zoo, but never found a block of time big enough to fit all this considering everything else that has been happening this year. Still we kept an eye on availability and how our schedules were working out and as luck would have it the stars aligned over Labor Day weekend so I booked our dates just a couple weeks ahead of our visit. This is about as impromptu as it gets for us! Unfortunately, Friday and Saturday were already booked, so the evening tours that are only offered on those days would not be available, but we secured lodging for Sunday and Monday and just added a day off on Tuesday to extend our holiday weekend a bit. Odd thing about the reservations, I tried making them on-line, but the system would only allow me to make a one-night stay. That seemed odd, so I called the reservation number. Sure enough, the system is setup for one-night stays, so I had to make two separate reservations to get two consecutive nights. I later found out when talking to the concierge at Nomad Ridge that this is a known flaw in their system and they are working on fixing it. No worries as we now had a place to stay. We thought a bit about the tours we wanted to take. Each night of lodging included an Open Air tour but I also found out that we could get a discounted rate on the other tour options. So after studying the tours for a few days we decided to take our Open Air tour first thing on Monday morning (well,” first thing” is a relative term as the first tour of the day is at 10:00) then we would go on an afternoon Wildside Tour starting at 3:30. This would allow us to have Sunday and Tuesday open for travel so that we would not be rushed and we would have a full but not overly busy day on Monday which ended up working out perfectly.
Sunday, September 6 - Heading South. We were on the road exactly on time at 1:15 and arrived at The Wilds about 3:40. In our yurt, number 3, at 4:00. There was a short wait at the concierge yurt waiting for the staff to arrive but we were quickly checked-in and set up in our yurt (number 3) by 4:00. We were sitting on the front porch of the yurt with a White Rajah IPA at 4:04! The view from our yurt was decent; we could see part of the two ponds below Nomad Ridge and a few animal through the trees. But it was good that we were in the woods to get the shade on our porch as it is hot today (about 88 degrees F). But the shade and the nice breeze made it comfortable. We could see a few critters from the porch. We forgot the binoculars but the camera worked well enough. We were pleased to see that there was an air conditioning unit in the yurt (that was a recent addition as the website indicted there was no AC in a standard yurt). I guess they had to add these due to the very hot conditions over the summer.
We walked up to the dining hall at 5:00. There was only one server tonight when there are usually four, but we had nowhere to be so the delays were no big deal. Besides, Clay did a fine job juggling all the tables. The rosemary chicken with redskin potatoes and asparagus was good but not great. I tried a Redd’s apple ale since there was no good beer on the available and the chocolate caramel truffle for dessert. I would have the Redd’s again but I think once was enough for the truffle as it was just a bit too sweet for my taste.
After dinner we had a good beer on the main deck overlook. We stayed out until about 8:20 when the mosquitoes arrived. We saw deer, camels, bison, rhinos, antelope, giraffe and zebra this evening, plus a hawk and a flyby of a pair of swans. We came back out at 9:00 to check the stars but it was just too hazy so we just called it a day and crashed in the yurt.
Monday, September 7. Touring The Wilds. No rush this morning, this is supposed to be a vacation. But we were still up to breakfast by 8:15. Lynn had French toast and I had the fruit platter with yogurt. Simple yet tasty. We spotted a hawk out in the field adjacent to the dining room. Turned out to be an immature Cooper’s Hawk. AS we had plenty of time before our first tour, we had a leisurely morning and took our time walking back to Nomad Ridge, looking for birds and watching the big fauna on the other side of the fence. It was a peaceful, blue-sky morning, but the indications were that we are heading to another very warm day, probably around 90 degrees F. Time to break out the sunscreen and the big hat.
Our Open Air Tour was scheduled for 10:00 but we had to check-in at 9:45, so we started heading to the visitor center from our yurt about 9:30. There were a couple of animal exhibits here as well. Lynn spotted the Serval Cats right away, plus this is where the Hellbender conservation efforts take place. There is a tour of this area and we thought that we might fit that in between our other schedule tours, but that just did not work out so we’ll leave it for the next visit. We checked in at the visitor center then walked down to the embarkation point for the tour. Our bus and driver were waiting for us and loading was just staring when we walked up, so perfect timing.
The short story is that the Open Air tour provides an excellent over view of the park and offers great access to the animals. The buses stick to the roads but the tour covers a fair amount of the park. I think that we saw each species on the grounds except for the African Wild Dogs as they were not out due to the alpha female having been recently spayed. While it was a hot and sunny day, I found the trip comfortable as there was a breeze and the bus was covered. Our guide was also very informative and did a nice job of keeping the dialog going throughout the 2-plus hour tour. He was entertaining some of his family on the bus as well, including an aunt who kept calling for him to stop so that she could get pictures. They were fun to watch as they were sniping at each other.
So a few tidbits that I recall from the tour:
After dinner we had a good beer on the main deck overlook. We stayed out until about 8:20 when the mosquitoes arrived. We saw deer, camels, bison, rhinos, antelope, giraffe and zebra this evening, plus a hawk and a flyby of a pair of swans. We came back out at 9:00 to check the stars but it was just too hazy so we just called it a day and crashed in the yurt.
Monday, September 7. Touring The Wilds. No rush this morning, this is supposed to be a vacation. But we were still up to breakfast by 8:15. Lynn had French toast and I had the fruit platter with yogurt. Simple yet tasty. We spotted a hawk out in the field adjacent to the dining room. Turned out to be an immature Cooper’s Hawk. AS we had plenty of time before our first tour, we had a leisurely morning and took our time walking back to Nomad Ridge, looking for birds and watching the big fauna on the other side of the fence. It was a peaceful, blue-sky morning, but the indications were that we are heading to another very warm day, probably around 90 degrees F. Time to break out the sunscreen and the big hat.
Our Open Air Tour was scheduled for 10:00 but we had to check-in at 9:45, so we started heading to the visitor center from our yurt about 9:30. There were a couple of animal exhibits here as well. Lynn spotted the Serval Cats right away, plus this is where the Hellbender conservation efforts take place. There is a tour of this area and we thought that we might fit that in between our other schedule tours, but that just did not work out so we’ll leave it for the next visit. We checked in at the visitor center then walked down to the embarkation point for the tour. Our bus and driver were waiting for us and loading was just staring when we walked up, so perfect timing.
The short story is that the Open Air tour provides an excellent over view of the park and offers great access to the animals. The buses stick to the roads but the tour covers a fair amount of the park. I think that we saw each species on the grounds except for the African Wild Dogs as they were not out due to the alpha female having been recently spayed. While it was a hot and sunny day, I found the trip comfortable as there was a breeze and the bus was covered. Our guide was also very informative and did a nice job of keeping the dialog going throughout the 2-plus hour tour. He was entertaining some of his family on the bus as well, including an aunt who kept calling for him to stop so that she could get pictures. They were fun to watch as they were sniping at each other.
So a few tidbits that I recall from the tour:
- There is a reintroduction program ongoing for the Scimitar Oryx. The program pulled animals from several zoos and animal park breeding programs including The Wilds. One of the bucks from The Wilds herd stepped up to become the leader of its new wild herd. It is thought that this was because the animal was used to a more natural herd environment while living at The Wilds.
- There were a couple of stops along the tour where we got to get out and look around. The first was at the Lake Trail and there was a new addition to the area (well, I have no idea how long it has been there, but it was new to Lynn and me), the Budgerigar house which was full of Australian parakeets or budgies. We walked the trail down to the lake and saw the endangered Red-Crowned Cranes.
- The other stop was at the carnivore facility. As mentioned, the African Painted Dogs were not out this morning, but the Cheetahs were as was another newer member of The Wilds herd, a Dhole which is an Asian wild dog. Very pretty animal, looks like a very big fox.
- The Wilds has the largest breeding herd of White Rhinos.
- The Pere David ’s deer have a very interesting story. They would be extinct today if not for the work of a European missionary who had some of the deer sent to a zoo in Europe. The deer were already extinct in the wild and the only native herd was in the garden of the Emperor. However, during the Boxer Rebellion, the palace grounds were captured and the remaining deer to killed and eaten but the peasants. The deer are now being reintroduced into China.
A collection of images from our Open Air Tour; click an image to see a slideshow.
The tour ended back at the dining hall at 12:15. We grabbed a carryout lunch from the grill and took it back to the yurt. I had a Donato’s pizza and Lynn had a hot dog. Plus we had a Citra Dog out on our porch with our meal. After lunch we could have walked back up to the see the Serval cats, but a nap sounded like a much better idea. Life is good!
At 3:00 we walked back to the gift shop/dining building for out Wildside tour. We were a bit concerned that the tour may get canceled if there was no one else signed-up. Fortunately there was another couple on the trip; they were visiting from Michigan to see The Wilds and the Columbus zoo. Chris was our guide for the tour. He is one of the very few animal handlers at The Wilds. He said there are only 10 total full-time handlers for the 600 animals on site.
Again the short story is that this was an excellent tour and Chris was a very able guide. He stated that he started this tour about 10 years ago and that there are only two other employees who he trusts to be Wildside guides. This tour covers the same ground as the Open air tour, except that there are off road opportunities with several up-close encounters with the animals and a bit more detail. I think the Open Air tour tries to provide an overview of the park and show all the animals while the Wildside Tour focuses more on the animals that will allow closer contact. Here are some of the highlights:
At 3:00 we walked back to the gift shop/dining building for out Wildside tour. We were a bit concerned that the tour may get canceled if there was no one else signed-up. Fortunately there was another couple on the trip; they were visiting from Michigan to see The Wilds and the Columbus zoo. Chris was our guide for the tour. He is one of the very few animal handlers at The Wilds. He said there are only 10 total full-time handlers for the 600 animals on site.
Again the short story is that this was an excellent tour and Chris was a very able guide. He stated that he started this tour about 10 years ago and that there are only two other employees who he trusts to be Wildside guides. This tour covers the same ground as the Open air tour, except that there are off road opportunities with several up-close encounters with the animals and a bit more detail. I think the Open Air tour tries to provide an overview of the park and show all the animals while the Wildside Tour focuses more on the animals that will allow closer contact. Here are some of the highlights:
- We spotted a white-tailed deer buck on the outside of the fence as we were starting the tour.
- We went off-road almost immediately to get a close look at the Persian Onagers that were hanging out near one of the many ponds. On the way down the hill toward pond I spotted a large bird in a tree in the pond. I initially thought it was a Bald Eagle but upon further review of the long-range photos it was determined to be an Osprey.
- Our second off-road excursion was to visit with the Indian one-horned rhinos, especially mamma Sonja and her baby Asheesh. We got to fed them apples and sweet potatoes which gave us a true up-close experience. Their shin is very thick and rough.
- Next we went over to visit the camels, and got to pet a few of them to see how thick and coarse their coats are. The big male, Gobi, was a real sweetheart. Sonja and Asheesh ended up wandering over to the area as well. A little later an Open Air Tour bus rolled in, so Chris herded the rhinos and camels down to the road so the folks on the bus could get a better look.
- Chris told us that the Przewalski’s Wild Horse was the only horse that was never domesticated even though some of the best known horse cultures tried.
- The best part of the tour was visiting with Tuffy the giraffe. He is a true gentle giant. We fed you lettuce, and if we were not paying attention, he would just steal the lettuce right out of the truck. Unlike at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, we were allowed to pet Tuffy; he did not mind at all.
- On our return to the carnivore area, we did get to see the African Painted Dogs. Chris gave us a little more detail on why they spayed the alpha female. Turns out that in a pack, only the alpha female will breed, but the alpha at The Wilds was unable to have pups, but since she is the alpha the male will not breed with the other female. So the theory is that if the current alpha is spayed, then the other female may have a chance to be the “top dog” so that the breeding program can resume.
- There was a second white-tailed deer buck just off the road as we were returning from the carnivore area (he better watch which fences he crosses with the cats and dogs just up the road!).
- OK, Ostriches are just plain dumb. When we came upon them, there was a tour bus there already and one of the female birds was pecking at the bolts on the side of the bus (ooooh, shiny!). Chris indicated that their brains are smaller than their eye (granted they have a big eye but that still makes for a little brain). We later had the birds all around our truck and had to be careful not to get pecked. I did get pecked in the back by the male, but it was no big deal. The bigger issue was to protect the cameras.
- Chris told us that the Scimitar Oryx are extinct in the wild and there are several other species at the Wilds that are expected to be extinct in the wild within 3 to 10 years. That is just sad. The common causes are loss of habitat, poaching and other general stupidity by the human race.
- We spent a fair amount of time with the White Rhinos. Chris relayed the story of how the rhinos are somewhat missed named when the original Dutch (I think) naming was due to the rhinos wide lip but this was mistranslated into “white” over time. These big animals are not expected to be around in the wild much longer either, in large part due to poaching for their horns. C’mon people, that horn is made of keratin, the same stuff that makes up hair and fingernails….not medicinal value there at all. I is just sad.
- We drove through a good size herd of bison that included a few calves including one frolicking in a puddle. This little guy was only a few days old.
- Towards the end of the tour we got some close views of several of the antelope and the Grevy’s Zebra. The Grevy’s Zebra is the largest of the zebra species and has the widest stripes. It is also the most endangered of the zebras.
A few shots from the Wildside Tour. Click an image to see the slideshow.
The map below shows the route we took through The Wilds during both our Open Air and Wildside Tours (basically the same route for both tours, just the Wildside Tour had a few “off road” adventures).
Route taken through The Wilds during both of our tours. The blue line shows the Open Air Tour route and is also the basic route taken during the Wildside tour. The red line shows where the Wildside tour deviates from the Open Air Tour. The yellow line shows the short walks taken during the Open Air Tour (we also walked the carnivour area during the Wildside Tour).
We were back at the gift shop building at 6:00 and after thanking Chris for a wonderful tour we headed straight to dinner. Lynn had the prime rib and carrot cake. I had the black beans and rice with chocolate cake and another Redd’s. Another good meal. We were done about 7:00, made a stop at the gift shop where we loaded up on souvenirs and a couple guide Ohio field guides and then walked back to Nomad Ridge for the evening. Lynn staked out a couple seats on the concierge deck and I fetched us some good beer from our stash. There was a good crowd this evening but about 8:25 we realized that we had the deck to ourselves. We stayed out a few minutes longer, just enjoying the peace of the evening and watching the critters meander about their large paddocks.
About 9:00 we ventured back out to check on the stars. Chris had mentioned that this was a great area for stargazing, although you could not prove it based on last night. However tonight was a different story as the haze had subsided and the Milky Way was very visible. Sure, this is Ohio so we did not get the horizon to horizon stars or the deep black background like we see at Yellowstone or like we had last summer at Bear Paw in Sequoia, but it was certainly the best stars I remember anywhere in this region. We walked up to the dining hall to get away from the ambient light of Nomad Ridge. We sat out on the back patio for a while and just took it all in.
I tracked both of the tours on the Ramblr.com app on my phone; here are the links for the Open Air Tour and the Wildside Tour. The descriptions for the tours were taken from the journal, so that park is basically the same, but there photos attached to the tracks show where we spotted many of the critters during each tour.
Tuesday, September 8 - The long way home. Up at 7:00 to pack and get ready for the ride home. I went out about 7:45 and walked up to the dining hall to enjoy the morning and look for critters while Lynn was getting ready. It was a very nice morning but not much happening along the ridge. I walked back to the yurt and collected Lynn for breakfast, then we finished packing and hit the road. As we were weaving our way along the back roads to the Interstate I noted several signs for the John Hunt Morgan Heritage Trail. OK, I’ll have to check that out on-line to see if it is worth exploring. We took an alternate route home through Amish Country via Sugarcreek, Walnut Creek, Mount Hope and Kidron for wine (Breitenbach), chocolate (Coblentz) and a piece of furniture we had ordered a few weeks prior (Stone Barn Furnishings; good timing on that since it was sort of on the way home). An easy drive home along familiar roads. A nice end to a fun weekend get-away. Here's the link to the photos from this little excursion. I also posted a review of The Wilds as well as this journal on Trip Advisor.
Parting shots….That was a fun weekend trip. Honestly, I was not really thinking that we would have such a good time, but the whole experience was well done. The yurts are very comfortable, the concierge takes great care of the guests, the food was pretty darn good, and the setting is outstanding and very relaxing. Of course the tours of the grounds were the highlight. I think that the morning Open Air Tour then the afternoon Wildside Tour were very complementary. Granted they cover a lot of the same ground, but the Open Air Tour gives a great overview and tires to show off all of the species at The Wilds, while the Wildside tour gets more into the details on a few of the animals and allows for a more up close experience. Yeah, I wasn’t really expecting to enjoy this trip as much as I did but it ended up being a lot of fun, very educational and gave us some time to relax as well. Pretty good for just a two-night trip. I can certainly see us doing this again sometime.
About 9:00 we ventured back out to check on the stars. Chris had mentioned that this was a great area for stargazing, although you could not prove it based on last night. However tonight was a different story as the haze had subsided and the Milky Way was very visible. Sure, this is Ohio so we did not get the horizon to horizon stars or the deep black background like we see at Yellowstone or like we had last summer at Bear Paw in Sequoia, but it was certainly the best stars I remember anywhere in this region. We walked up to the dining hall to get away from the ambient light of Nomad Ridge. We sat out on the back patio for a while and just took it all in.
I tracked both of the tours on the Ramblr.com app on my phone; here are the links for the Open Air Tour and the Wildside Tour. The descriptions for the tours were taken from the journal, so that park is basically the same, but there photos attached to the tracks show where we spotted many of the critters during each tour.
Tuesday, September 8 - The long way home. Up at 7:00 to pack and get ready for the ride home. I went out about 7:45 and walked up to the dining hall to enjoy the morning and look for critters while Lynn was getting ready. It was a very nice morning but not much happening along the ridge. I walked back to the yurt and collected Lynn for breakfast, then we finished packing and hit the road. As we were weaving our way along the back roads to the Interstate I noted several signs for the John Hunt Morgan Heritage Trail. OK, I’ll have to check that out on-line to see if it is worth exploring. We took an alternate route home through Amish Country via Sugarcreek, Walnut Creek, Mount Hope and Kidron for wine (Breitenbach), chocolate (Coblentz) and a piece of furniture we had ordered a few weeks prior (Stone Barn Furnishings; good timing on that since it was sort of on the way home). An easy drive home along familiar roads. A nice end to a fun weekend get-away. Here's the link to the photos from this little excursion. I also posted a review of The Wilds as well as this journal on Trip Advisor.
Parting shots….That was a fun weekend trip. Honestly, I was not really thinking that we would have such a good time, but the whole experience was well done. The yurts are very comfortable, the concierge takes great care of the guests, the food was pretty darn good, and the setting is outstanding and very relaxing. Of course the tours of the grounds were the highlight. I think that the morning Open Air Tour then the afternoon Wildside Tour were very complementary. Granted they cover a lot of the same ground, but the Open Air Tour gives a great overview and tires to show off all of the species at The Wilds, while the Wildside tour gets more into the details on a few of the animals and allows for a more up close experience. Yeah, I wasn’t really expecting to enjoy this trip as much as I did but it ended up being a lot of fun, very educational and gave us some time to relax as well. Pretty good for just a two-night trip. I can certainly see us doing this again sometime.