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.

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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

Sinking Spring Section

Pike, Highland, Adams · South Ohio

Buckeye Trail Association

54miles

12 of 26clockwise

3counties

Forests, earthworks and rural roads through Pike, Highland and Adams counties. This is the section of ancient sites.

Passes through Pike State Park and Forest, Fort Hill earthworks, Strait Creek Prairie Bluffs and the Great Serpent Mound.

Highlights

Pike State Park and Forest
Fort Hill Earthworks and Nature Preserve
Strait Creek Prairie Bluffs Nature Preserve
Great Serpent Mound

Parks on this section

Pike Lake State Park

Pike State Park and Forest are on the route

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Pike State Forest

The trail runs through the forest and next-door Pike Lake State Park

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Mounds and earthworks

Fort Hill State Memorial

A hilltop wall of earth and stone above Ohio Brush Creek

Open

Great Serpent Mound

The largest serpent effigy in the world

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 Sinking Spring Section page →This section on AllTrails →

Camping

Pike Lake State Park has a campground and cabins
Check the BTA section map for other sites

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

Water

Water at Pike Lake; filter everything else.

Take the stops with you

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

Google Maps: stops 1 to 8

The file holds 8 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.