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Ohio State Parks Hiking Trails
You need a moderate amount of skill and lots of endurance to hike Shawnee State Forest’s sixty mile backpack trail which crosses rugged terrain. Nicknamed “The Little Smokies of Ohio”, the forest is the largest of the twenty Ohio state forests with over 60,000 acres. This web site about this forest, done by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, has provided outstanding maps to help the public enjoy the trails in this park. There are both large and small area maps of the Shawnee State Forest and several large and small topographic maps too and a smaller topographic map that is clickable to zoom in on the area of the forest you are interested in. There are quadrant maps and a Backpack Trail Map Legend. Also further down the site’s page there is offered a Recreational Areas by County Map link. This site also gives a link to Trail Tips, Trail Rules, a link to Directions to Shawnee State Forest and some notes about the history of the forest. No reservation required but groups are limited to nor more then ten folks. At each trail head there is a place to register at no cost. Facilities available at various locations indicated on trail maps.
Click here to enter your favorite Ohio Hike. |
Big,
bright, yellow map is featured on the Ohio State Parks Hiking Trials page
with names of the trails and distance of the hike underneath the name. Location
of the highways gives you an idea in general how to reach the trails. this
map doesn’t look click-able but it is. Each labeled dot on the map takes
you to a page with information on that area. I clicked on a dot in the middle
of Ohio named Mt. Gilead and came to a nicely done page with photo, charts
and information on the three miles of trails that transverse Mt. Gilead State
Park. A lot more information at this section on nature in the area, history
of the area, area attractions and links to more information including maps.
On this
GORP site is given detailed informationon hiking Ohio’s Buckeye Trail.
This trail follows along the north shore of Mogadore Reservoir. The Reservoir
is a 1,000 acre impoundment in southern Portage County made in 1939 by damming
the Little Cuyahoga River near the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area.
This site gives a description of the trail that winds through a mix of evergreen
and deciduous forest and later a wide grassywath. A black and white map is
provided of the trail plus a section on access the Reservoir. The book Walks
and Rambles in Ohio’s Western Reserve is advertized on the site.
