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

Shawnee Section

Adams, Scioto · South Ohio

Buckeye Trail Association

56miles

13 of 26clockwise

2counties

56 rugged miles through steep ridges, deep hollows and dense forest in Shawnee State Forest, Shawnee State Park and the Edge of Appalachia preserves.

Remote section. Carry all the food and water you need and plan your resupply before you go.

Passes the Copperhead Fire Tower, Davis Memorial State Nature Preserve and Ohio River valley overlooks; the section ends on Nature Conservancy footpath between Lynx and Rome.

No permits are needed to hike the section, but sturdy boots and trekking poles are recommended for the steep terrain.

Highlights

Shawnee State Forest, the Little Smokies
Shawnee State Park and Roosevelt Lake
Copperhead Fire Tower
Davis Memorial State Nature Preserve
Edge of Appalachia preserves

Parks on this section

Davis Memorial State Nature Preserve

Nature preserve on the route

Open

Shawnee State Park

Campground near the Roosevelt Lake beach

Open

Shawnee State Forest

Primitive camp at Camp 7

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 Shawnee Section page →This section on AllTrails →

Camping

Shawnee State Park campground near the Roosevelt Lake beach
Shawnee State Forest Camp 7: primitive tent camping
Specific campsites and wilderness areas require written permission in advance

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

Water

Water at park offices and campgrounds; boil or filter everything from creeks.

Take the stops with you

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

Google Maps: stops 1 to 6

The file holds 6 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.