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:
The Buckeye TrailA 1,444-mile blue-blazed loop around Ohio, with all 26 sections.
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Mounds & Earthworks43 ancient sites, including the Great Serpent Mound and the Newark Earthworks.
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Historic Sites39 places, from Fort Steuben and Zoar to Camp Chase and the Rankin House, from the frontier to the Civil War.
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Road Trips33 drives, from the Lincoln Highway to the Morgan Heritage Trail.
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Lake Erie Beaches20 public beaches from Conneaut to Toledo and the islands, with a map.
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Oddities & Roadside Attractions19 giants, ghosts and folk-art stops, plus a Mothman just over the line.
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Caves & Caverns12 show caverns, recess caves and rock shelters, with a map.
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Waterfalls34 falls from the Cuyahoga Valley to the Hocking Hills, with trail notes and a map.
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Explore Ohio

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

Lake ErieWest Virginia27 places277 places77 places73 places35 places519 places1913 places1319 places1916 places168 places810 places1010 places109 places98 places820 places204 places43 places3Barkcamp State Park4 places47 places77 places76 places69 places917 places173 places3Harrison Lake State Park2 places2Forked Run State Park3 places32 places26 places610 places103 places32 places2

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117 parks in 7 regions

Pike Lake State Park

Bainbridge · Pike County
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
600acres
6trail miles
1949established

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
Pike Lake State Park, 1847 Pike Lake Rd, Bainbridge
Check current conditions
Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets
ReserveOhio — camping and cabin bookings
Hunting or permits
Not permitted in the state park, but the surrounding Pike State Forest offers substantial public hunting for deer, turkey and small game. 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.

The story of this land

Chillicothe, Ohio's first capital, pulled settlement into this corner of the state, and some of the buildings from that push are still standing. Just south of the park is Eagers Inn, built in 1797 on the route running from Limestone, Kentucky up to Chillicothe. Limestone — now called Maysville — was a major Ohio River crossing, and a great many settlers coming out of Kentucky walked this road into the frontier. The inn was there to put them up.

The park itself is a Depression project, and an unusually literal one. A Civilian Conservation Corps camp was set up near Morgantown, close to where the lake is now, and the corpsmen dug Pike Lake by hand. They also built two or three fire towers in the area, cut the roads to reach them, and planted hundreds of pine trees. Nearly everything you see here — the water, the roads, the pines on the ridges — is the work of young men who needed jobs in the 1930s.

It stayed a state forest park until 1949, when the Division of Parks and Recreation was created and Pike Lake became an official state park that same year. It has remained small and quiet: a 13-acre lake, a short list of trails, a scatter of seasonal cabins, and one of the CCC's own trails still named for them.

Things to do in the park

  • Walk the CCC Nature Trail — the corps that dug this lake has its own trail here
  • 155-foot sand beach
  • Kayak launch and paddling on the lake
  • Disc golf course
  • Seasonal cabins, a family campground, a group lodge, and a nature center

Trails

Maps, reviews and recent trail reports for Pike Lake State Park.

Find trails on AllTrails →

Things to do nearby

  • Eagers Inn, built 1797, just south of the park on the old Kentucky-to-Chillicothe route
  • Pike State Forest for hunting and longer trails
  • Chillicothe — Ohio's first capital — and Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
  • Rocky Fork and Paint Creek, both within about 25 miles

Hiking trails

About 6 miles across five trails: Mitchell Ridge (1.2 mi, connects to the Buckeye Trail), Wildcat Hollow Nature Trail (1.2 mi), CCC Nature Trail (0.5 mi, moderate), Greenbrier Nature Trail (0.5 mi, self-guided), and the Lake Rim Trail (0.4 mi).

Wildlife you might see

  • White-tailed deer and wild turkey
  • Pine plantations from the 1930s CCC planting, now mature
  • Barred owls and woodland songbirds
  • Wildflowers through the hollows in spring

Fishing

  • Pike Lake (13 acres): bluegill, largemouth bass, and other panfish. Small, quiet water with a kayak launch — canoe and paddle territory.

Hunting

Not permitted in the state park, but the surrounding Pike State Forest offers substantial public hunting for deer, turkey and small game. Valid Ohio license required.

Getting on the water

Thirteen acres, dug by hand in the 1930s. This is about as small and quiet as a state park lake gets in Ohio — paddling, panfish, and a sand beach, with wooded hills right down to the water.

Launches & facilities

Kayak launch
Carry-in access to the lake.
155-foot sand beach
Small swim beach.
Shoreline fishing
Accessible around much of the lake.

Good to know

  • Bring your own kayak or canoe — this isn't a motorboat lake.
  • The lake was dug by hand by CCC crews, which is worth knowing while you paddle it.
  • Mitchell Ridge Trail connects to the Buckeye Trail if you want to go farther.

The Hands in the Stump

Not every legend is a nice one. The story told about Pike Lake, and it is told in low voices, is that a woman lost her hands in a bonfire in the late 1800s on the ground where the park now stands. Her hands were thrown into an old hollow stump, and she died. Walk the path after dark, the story says, and hands may reach out of the brush to grab at your feet.

Behind the legend

This is a local legend in the truest sense. It is told about Pike Lake in Pike County ghost lore, handed along by word of mouth with no name or date attached, which is exactly why it has lasted. Stories like this grow up around dark, quiet places, and this one has stuck to the woods here.

If you go

Come during the day for the forest and lake, and if you camp here, save this story for the fire.

Mounds & earthworks near Pike Lake State Park

Ancient earthworks within easy reach of this park. Tap one for its history, legends and visiting details.

Seip Earthworks

Bainbridge · Ross County · Southern Ohio
Enormous circles beside Paint Creek and one of the tallest mounds in the Hopewell park.
Can visitHopewell Culture National Historical Park
About 7 miles from this park · About 2,000 years ago

Baum Earthworks & Village

Bourneville · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A Hopewell square below Spruce Hill, and a Fort Ancient village that the first mapmakers did not even mention.
National Register of Historic Places
About 8 miles from this park · Earthworks about 100 BCE to 500 CE; village about 1000 to 1650 CE

Fort Hill State Memorial

Sinking Spring · Highland County · Southern Ohio
A great enclosing wall on a wooded summit, with a nature preserve's trails around it.
Can visitState Memorial and nature preserve
About 10 miles from this park · About 2,000 years ago

Spruce Hill Earthworks

Bourneville · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A meadow-topped hill ringed by a broken stone wall, and one of Ohio's biggest puzzles.
Can visitPreserved by the Arc of Appalachia
About 10 miles from this park · About 1,600 to 2,000 years ago

Junction Earthworks

Bainbridge · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A field of low Hopewell walls and ditches that was nearly lost to farming and was bought back by a coalition.
Can visitPreserved by the Arc of Appalachia
About 10 miles from this park · About 200 BCE to 400 CE

Great Serpent Mound

Peebles · Adams County · Southern Ohio
A gigantic earthen snake on a hilltop over Ohio Brush Creek, built by a people whose name is still argued over.
Can visitNational Historic Landmark
About 15 miles from this park · About 300 BCE or about 1070 CE

Mound City Group

Chillicothe · Ross County · Southern Ohio
A city of mounds along the Scioto, buried under an army camp and then put back.
Can visitHopewell Culture National Historical Park
About 19 miles from this park · About 200 BCE to 500 CE

The Buckeye Trail at Pike Lake 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.

12 Sinking Spring Section

54 miles · Pike, Highland, Adams
Pike State Park and Forest are on the route
2 parksMoundsTrail towns

Campsites

Electric site
Family campground in the wooded hills
$29–33/night

Cabins

Seasonal cabin
Several cabins in the park, plus a group lodge
$110–160/night

On site

  • Showers and flush toilets
  • Nature center
  • Shelter houses
  • Swim beach
  • Disc golf
  • Kayak launch
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 "Pike Lake State Park" there to finish reserving.
Prefer the phone?740-493-2212

Restaurants nearby

The Paxton Restaurant
The closest proper sit-down meal, opens 6 a.m. Closed Sundays
Directions
Country Crust Bakery
Amish bakery on the way in. Cash only, closed Sundays
Directions
FredNecks Pizza
Pizza in Bainbridge. Closed Mondays
Directions

Gas stations nearby

Bainbridge 1st Stop
Opens 5 a.m. — fuel up here, options thin out fast toward the park
Directions
Sunoco
Second Bainbridge option; no public restroom
Directions

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