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
  • 64ancient mounds
  • 34waterfalls
  • 40historic sites
  • 33road trips

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

New to the guide?

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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Lake ErieWest Virginia36 places368 places813 places135 places523 places2321 places2124 places2416 places1613 places134 places418 places182 places217 places1710 places1014 places142 places27 places76 places613 places133 places34 places414 places143 places3Harrison Lake State Park2 places22 places22 places26 places64 places4

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Parks, forests & wildlife areas

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117 parks in 7 regions

Findley State Park

Wellington · Lorain County
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
838acres
10trail miles
1936established
25381 OH-58, Wellington Directions →Official source →

The story of this land

This was Erie country before it was anything else. The Erie were formidable, but by the early 1600s a confederation of other Iroquois nations — armed with firearms obtained from the Dutch — had subdued them entirely. In 1795 the Treaty of Greenville set aside the land north of the treaty line as Native reserve, though much of it had already been granted to Connecticut. That claim, the Connecticut Western Reserve, ran along Lake Erie from the Pennsylvania line to present-day Erie County and covered more than 3.5 million acres.

The park exists because of Judge Guy B. Findley. Around 1936 he donated this land to Lorain County with a specific condition attached: that it would forever be used exclusively as a state forest for the production of timber and for experiments with forestry projects. Findley went on to serve as president of the Ohio Forestry Association and vice president of the American Forestry Association. The Cleveland Press later described the forest as the judge's personal weapon in a long fight against juvenile delinquency — his theory being that boys with woods to work in stayed out of trouble.

Between 1937 and 1939 the Civilian Conservation Corps planted roughly 200,000 trees here. It became a state park in 1950, and the dam forming Findley Lake was finished in 1956. The stately pines and hardwoods you walk under are largely those CCC plantings, now eighty-odd years old — which makes the whole park, in a real sense, a forestry experiment that worked.

Things to do in the park

  • The 11-mile Thorn Mountain Bike Trail — clockwise only, with bank turns and north-shore obstacles that novices can bypass
  • 435-foot swimming beach
  • Canoe, rowboat and electric motorboat rentals
  • Ten miles of flat, easy hiking through 1930s pine plantations
  • Winter: ice skating, ice fishing, cross-country skiing

Trails

Maps, reviews and recent trail reports for Findley State Park.

Find trails on AllTrails →

Things to do nearby

  • Wellington's historic town hall (1885) and library
  • Oberlin and Oberlin College, about 15 minutes north
  • Lake Erie shoreline, roughly 30 minutes
  • Spirit of '76 Museum in Wellington

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
Findley State Park, 25381 OH-58, Wellington
Check current conditions
Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets
ReserveOhio — camping and cabin bookings
Hunting or permits
Check current park regulations before planning a hunt. The park's original deed restriction was forestry-focused, and hunting areas are limited.

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 10 miles of mostly flat, easy trail: Hickory Grove (1.1 mi), Larch (1.1 mi), Wyandot (1 mi), Spillway (0.8 mi), Black Locust (0.4 mi), Creekbank (0.5 mi) and Lake Trail (0.5 mi). Plus 1.6 miles of the Buckeye Trail and the 11-mile Thorn Mountain Bike Trail, which draws expert riders for its technical climbs while keeping a relatively flat midsection for novices.

Wildlife you might see

  • Mature CCC-planted pine and hardwood stands
  • Spectacular spring wildflowers along the trails
  • Bog and swampy habitat in corners of the lake
  • White-tailed deer and woodland songbirds

Birding

Findley 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.

  • Purple Martin
  • Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
  • Ring-billed Gull
  • Black-and-white Warbler
  • Canada Goose
  • Black-throated Green Warbler
  • Mallard
  • Chestnut-sided Warbler
  • Wood Duck
  • American Redstart
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Scarlet Tanager

March–May and September–November, during waterfowl migration, are liveliest on the water. For a full, current checklist, search this park's name on eBird's Hotspot Explorer.

Fishing

  • Findley Lake: largemouth bass, bluegill, crappie and catfish. Canoes, rowboats and electric motorboats available to rent.

Hunting

Check current park regulations before planning a hunt. The park's original deed restriction was forestry-focused, and hunting areas are limited.

Getting on the water

Findley Lake is quiet water — canoes, rowboats and electric motors only. Corners of it feel more like bog than lake, which is part of the appeal if you paddle.

Launches & facilities

Boat launch and rentals
Canoes, rowboats and electric motorboats available to rent in season.
435-foot swimming beach
Sand beach on the lake.
Shoreline fishing
Accessible around much of the lake, including from the Lake Trail.

Good to know

  • Electric motors only — bring a paddle or rent from the park.
  • The Thorn Trail runs clockwise only. Ride it the right direction.
  • Ice fishing and ice skating are both options here in a cold winter.

The Judge's Weapon Against Juvenile Delinquency

The park exists because of one man's theory. Judge Guy B. Findley donated this land to Lorain County around 1936 with a condition: that it be used forever as a state forest for the production of timber and for forestry experiments. The Cleveland Press later called the forest the judge's personal weapon in a long fight against juvenile delinquency, on the theory that boys with woods to work in stayed out of trouble.

Findley went on to serve as president of the Ohio Forestry Association and vice president of the American Forestry Association.

Behind the legend

The trees are the proof. Between 1937 and 1939 the Civilian Conservation Corps planted roughly 200,000 trees here. It became a state park in 1950, and the dam forming Findley Lake was finished in 1956. The stately pines and hardwoods you walk under are largely those CCC plantings, now more than eighty years old.

That makes the whole park, as its own history says, a forestry experiment that worked. Before any of it, this was Erie country, until other Iroquois nations subdued the Erie in the early 1600s.

If you go

Walk under the CCC pines and look at how orderly the rows were planted. Then walk the lake trail.

Historic sites near Findley State Park

Forts, villages, furnaces and lighthouses within reach of this park. Tap one for its story and visiting details.

Wyandot Mission Church

Upper Sandusky · Wyandot County · North-central Ohio
A limestone mission church on the Grand Reserve, the starting point of the 1843 Wyandot removal and now owned again by the Wyandotte Nation.
National Register of Historic Places
About 55 miles from this park · 1816–1843; returned 2019

Road trips through Findley State Park

Scenic byways and heritage drives that pass this park or run close to it.

North Ridge Scenic Byway

Northeast Ohio (Lorain County)
A camping park to the south on the Buckeye Trail.
Scenic byway8.8 miles
Lorain County to Lorain County

Caves near Findley State Park

Caves, rock shelters and cave attractions within reach of this park. Stay on marked trails and official tours.

Seneca Caverns

Bellevue · Seneca County
A guided tour down natural stone steps through a crack in the earth to an underground river 110 feet below the surface.
Show cavern (limestone)
About 45 miles from this park

Waterfalls near Findley State Park

Falls inside or within reach of this park. Stay behind railings and on marked trails; wet rock is slick in every season.

East Falls and West Falls of the Black River

Elyria · Lorain County
Two broad sandstone waterfalls facing each other across a wooded city park in Elyria, connected by bridges, stairs, and overlook platforms.
30 to 35 ftEasy walk
About 18 miles from this park

The Buckeye Trail at Findley State Park

Ohio's 1,444-mile blue-blazed loop passes through or beside this park. Tap a section for its route, camping, water and resupply.

24 Medina Section

56 miles · Lorain, Medina, Summit, Cuyahoga
A camping park right on the route
3 parks

Campsites

Electric site
Wooded campground among the pines
$35–39/night
Non-electric site
Quieter loops
$25–29/night

On site

  • Showers and flush toilets
  • Boat rentals
  • Swimming beach
  • Camp store
  • Dump station
  • Bicycle helmets strongly recommended on the Thorn Trail
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 "Findley State Park" there to finish reserving.
Prefer the phone?440-647-5749

Restaurants nearby

The Fox Den
Diner and bar under one roof, opens 7 a.m. Closed Mondays
Directions
Dimitri's Corner Restaurant
Open 7 a.m.–9 p.m. daily, big portions, cheap. Across from the 1885 town hall
Directions
Donny's
Creative burgers and funnel cake fries; service can be slow
Directions

Gas stations nearby

bp
24 hours, south side of Wellington toward the park. Has a Dunkin inside
Directions
Amoco
24 hours on the north end, though reviews flag pump problems
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.