Field NotesOhio
Upper Falls in the Old Man's Cave gorge, Hocking Hills, with visitors on the rocks

An independent field guide · 365 places

The field guide to outdoor Ohio

Parks and forests, ancient mounds, caves, waterfalls and back roads, with the story behind each place and where to eat and fuel up nearby.
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  • 117parks & forests
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Old Man's Cave, Hocking Hills · Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0

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State parks & forests117 places, with cabins, campsites and trails117 places Waterfalls34 falls, with trail notes34 falls Mounds & earthworks64 ancient sites, from Serpent Mound to Newark64 ancient sites Caves & caverns12 show caverns, recess caves and rock shelters12 caves Lake Erie beaches20 public beaches, Conneaut to Toledo20 beaches Historic sites40 places, from the frontier to the Civil War40 places Road trips33 drives, from the Lincoln Highway to the Morgan Heritage Trail33 drives Oddities19 giants, ghosts and folk-art stops19 roadside stops The Buckeye TrailA 1,444-mile loop, all 26 sections1,444 miles

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Six places to start

One from every corner of the state, each with its full story inside.

01Old Man's CaveHocking Hills · SoutheastA gorge of waterfalls and recess caves where a hermit is said to have lived, with the park's visitor center. 02Great Serpent MoundAdams County · SouthwestA gigantic earthen snake on a hilltop over Ohio Brush Creek, built by a people whose name is still argued over. 03Brandywine FallsCuyahoga Valley · NortheastThe tallest waterfall in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, reached by an easy boardwalk with an accessible upper overlook. 04Marblehead LighthouseMarblehead · Lake ErieThe oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes, lit since 1821, on nine acres of limestone shoreline. 05Zoar VillageTuscarawas County · EasternA well-preserved communal village founded by German separatists in 1817, on the Ohio & Erie Canal. 06Longaberger Basket BuildingNewark · CentralA seven-story office building shaped like a picnic basket, with handles that are heated in winter.

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Parks, forests & wildlife areas

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117 parks in 7 regions

Blue Rock State Park

Blue Rock · Muskingum County
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
322acres
3trail miles
1949established
7924 Cutler Lake Rd Directions →Official source →

The story of this land

This corner of Muskingum County is the unglaciated Appalachian plateau — rugged hills and deep green hollows that were never flattened by ice and never made good farmland. The Muskingum River runs nearby, one of Ohio's historic transportation routes, and the region's economy ran on timber, clay, and coal rather than crops.

What that history left behind is a park defined by what it doesn't have. Blue Rock is small, at roughly 322 acres, and it sits inside 4,573 acres of state forest. Fifteen-acre Cutler Lake is limited to canoes, sailboats, and electric motors. The entire campground — 101 sites — is non-electric. Cell coverage is thin. There's no lodge, no golf course, no marina.

The result is one of the better places in Ohio to actually be left alone, and campers treat it that way: fall color here draws people who want the ridges without the crowds that come with Hocking Hills an hour southwest. One practical warning worth repeating, because campers keep running into it — GPS routing into this park can send you onto extremely narrow switchback roads to avoid construction. Take Route 60 and ignore the reroute.

Things to do in the park

  • Cutler Lake with a sand swimming beach
  • Laid-back boating — canoe, sailboat, or electric motor only, with rentals available
  • Camper cabins and Rent-A-Camp tents for hassle-free camping
  • Nature programs all summer
  • Fall color across the surrounding forest ridges

Trails

Maps, reviews and recent trail reports for Blue Rock State Park.

Find trails on AllTrails →

Things to do nearby

  • Zanesville, 16 miles northwest — the Y-Bridge, pottery, and Muskingum River history
  • Muskingum River hand-operated canal locks
  • Wilds safari park, about 40 minutes
  • Dillon State Park on the other side of Zanesville

Visiting information you can trust

Content last reviewed
September 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Primary official source
ODNR park finder (search this park)
Location confidence
Verified property location
Blue Rock State Park, 7924 Cutler Lake Rd
Check current conditions
Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets
ReserveOhio — camping and cabin bookings
Hunting or permits
Permitted in season in designated areas, and the adjoining 4,573-acre Blue Rock State Forest adds substantially more ground. Valid Ohio license required.

Prices, hours, closures, campsite availability and trail conditions shown elsewhere on this page are not live — always confirm with the official source before you go.

Hiking trails

About 3 miles of nature trails in the park itself, plus roughly 26 miles of bridle trail in the surrounding Blue Rock State Forest (bring your own horse).

Wildlife you might see

  • White-tailed deer and wild turkey
  • Diverse flora across the unglaciated hills
  • Barred owls and woodland songbirds
  • Excellent fall color through the hardwood ridges

Birding

Blue Rock State Park's lake and wooded shoreline draw both forest songbirds and lake-edge waterbirds — scan the open water for waterfowl and raptors, and the treeline for songbirds.

  • Song Sparrow
  • Bald Eagle
  • Wood Thrush
  • American Kestrel
  • Spotted Sandpiper
  • Veery
  • Red-tailed Hawk
  • Tree Swallow
  • Hermit Thrush
  • Wild Turkey
  • Purple Martin
  • Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

March–April and October–November for migrating waterfowl and raptors; June–July for nesting grassland and marsh birds. For a full, current checklist, search this park's name on eBird's Hotspot Explorer.

Fishing

  • Cutler Lake (15 acres): bluegill, largemouth bass, catfish and panfish. Shoreline or boat fishing; boat rental available.

Hunting

Permitted in season in designated areas, and the adjoining 4,573-acre Blue Rock State Forest adds substantially more ground. Valid Ohio license required.

Getting on the water

Cutler Lake is 15 acres and restricted to canoes, sailboats, and electric motors, which is the entire character of this park. Quiet water, sand beach, wooded hills straight down to the shoreline.

Launches & facilities

Boat launch
Canoe, sailboat, and electric-motor craft only.
Boat rental
Available in the park.
Sand swimming beach
On Cutler Lake; the campground showers are located here.

Good to know

  • No gas motors, period — bring a paddle or an electric trolling motor.
  • All 101 campsites are non-electric. Plan power accordingly.
  • Cell service is limited. Download maps before you arrive.

Dead Man's Ripple

The park's name comes from a blue-tinted shale that formed from the silt of an ancient inland sea. The park's history, though, is a more human one. Long before white settlers arrived, the story says, the Shawnee built a village called Old Town, the home of Chief White Eyes, near present-day Duncan Falls on the Muskingum. White Eyes was on friendly terms with a trapper named Duncan, whom he let hunt, trap and trade. Duncan grew furious when a hostile band from across the river began stealing game from his traps, and he began shooting any Indian who touched them. He was shot himself while crossing the river at a low spot.

His body was found on a gravelly ripple, and it has been called Dead Man's Ripple ever since. The falls there are called Duncan's Falls, because that is where Duncan fell.

Behind the legend

ODNR's history tells this as a story, and the place names are the evidence. Duncan's Falls and the ripple's grim nickname are both real. One detail is worth knowing: Chief White Eyes is usually identified in the histories as a Delaware (Lenape) leader, not a Shawnee one. The mine story is better documented: on Friday, April 25, 1856, a mine in this area collapsed at about 11 a.m., trapping people inside.

The park itself is a Depression-era creation. The state started buying the forest in 1936, the dam that made Cutler Lake was finished in 1938, and the park was officially created in 1949. Most of the forest land was marginal farmland acquired in the 1930s under the federal Resettlement Administration.

If you go

Look for Duncan's Falls on the Muskingum, a short drive from the park, and read the name of the ripple aloud. Then visit a lock and dam on the river, since the park calls out several 19th-century ones.

Oddities near Blue Rock State Park

Roadside curiosities, legends and giant things within reach of this park.

The Y-Bridge

Zanesville · Muskingum County
A Y-shaped bridge over the meeting of the Muskingum and Licking rivers, famous for the joke that you can cross it and end up on the same side you started.
Bridge
About 12 miles from this park

Campsites

Non-electric site
101 sites, all non-electric. Creek-side RV sites are posted as flood-prone in heavy rain
$19–23/night
Camper cabin
Basic cabins in their own loop
$50–70/night
Rent-A-Camp
Tent already set up for you
$35–50/night

Cabins

Camper cabin
Simple cabins near the lake; the cabin-loop latrine is the better one
$50–70/night

On site

  • Showers located at the beach
  • Pit latrines (quality varies by loop)
  • Boat rental
  • Reservable shelterhouses with tables and grills
  • Leashed pets on designated sites
Continue to ReserveOhio →
Field Notes Ohio isn't connected to ReserveOhio, so it can't hold a site or take payment. Tapping through opens it in a new tab — search "Blue Rock State Park" there to finish reserving.
Prefer the phone?740-674-4794

Do not let GPS reroute you off Route 60. Campers repeatedly report being sent onto narrow hairpin roads to avoid construction. Take 60 in and out.

Restaurants nearby

Muddy Misers
Deck over the Muskingum River in downtown Zanesville. Closed Sundays
Directions
Rake's Place
Steaks and seafood, casual. Closed Mondays
Directions
The Barn
Open until 2:30 a.m. daily, live music on the patio
Directions

Gas stations nearby

Marathon
On Route 60 heading toward the park — easy in and out with a trailer
Directions
Speedway
24 hours in Zanesville
Directions

Details last checked 2026-09-22. Confirm hours and prices before you go.

Know a place that belongs here, or spotted something out of date? Email hello@fieldnotesohio.com.