Field Notes Ohio

Ohio's parks, forests and wildlife areas with camping, the ancient mounds beside them, and the Buckeye Trail that links them. Stories, trails, wildlife, and where to eat and fuel up nearby. Book campsites on ReserveOhio.

Try:

Explore Ohio

One map for every park, mound, historic site, beach, cave, waterfall and oddity in the app.

Tap a symbol for a preview, or search for a place. Open the key to show or hide categories.

117 parks in 7 regions

Defiance Section

Paulding, Defiance, Henry, Lucas · West & Northwest Ohio

Buckeye Trail Association

55miles

21 of 26clockwise

4counties

Canals, rivers and historic towns along the Maumee. The Buckeye Trail app's free demo covers this 56-mile section.

From Defiance, at the meeting of the Maumee and Auglaize rivers, along the Maumee State Scenic River through Napoleon toward Toledo.

Highlights

Independence Dam State Park
Mary Jane Thurston State Park
North Turkeyfoot Wildlife Area, listed on the ODNR route map
Defiance and Napoleon

Parks on this section

Independence Dam State Park

A seasonal tent-only campground on the Maumee

Open

Mary Jane Thurston State Park

Electric and tent-only camping on the river

Open

Historic sites near this section

Fort Meigs

The War of 1812 fort that held against two sieges

Open

Fallen Timbers Battlefield and Fort Miamis

The 1794 battle that opened Ohio

Open

Section map and alerts

Show this section on the map Distances between stops in this section

The Buckeye Trail Association sells a detailed map for this section and posts current trail alerts.

Official Defiance Section page →This section on AllTrails →

Camping

Independence Dam State Park: seasonal tent-only camping, April 1 to October 31; no drinking water
Mary Jane Thurston State Park: electric and tent-only sites

Campsites are run by different agencies and owners, and the rules and fees change, so confirm before you go.

Water

Bring water to Independence Dam; water at Mary Jane Thurston and in towns.

Take the stops with you

Save the camps, resupply, lodging, trail towns and parks for this section as waypoints.

Google Maps: stops 1 to 10

The file holds 10 waypoints and a stop-by-stop route line. Locations are approximate, often a town center, so use the stop notes to find the exact spot. Your maps app chooses the roads between stops, usually the fastest, so follow the byway signs where they differ. The GPX arrives in a zip file; unzip it and open the .gpx in a GPS or hiking app. The CSV imports into Google My Maps.