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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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

Tar Hollow State Forest

Laurelville · Ross, Hocking & Vinton Counties · Southern Ohio
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
16,400acres
18.7trail miles
1939established

Visiting information you can trust

Check before driving — this site is seasonal, approximate, privately run, or otherwise uncertain. Confirm hours and access with the official source above.
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
Approximate — boundary or exact point not confirmed
Tar Hollow State Forest, Laurelville (representative point)
Check current conditions
Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets
ReserveOhio — camping and cabin bookings
Hunting or permits
Tar Hollow is a public hunting forest with a designated Grouse Management Area, and the area is known for squirrel, deer, grouse and turkey. Shooting is prohibited within 400 feet of any building, facility or recreation area and from or across any road or driveway. Wear blaze orange during hunting seasons if you hike. A valid Ohio hunting license is required and rules are set by the Division of Wildlife.

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

Long before it was a state forest, this was the Shawnee and Mingo hunting ground, and both peoples called it the badlands because of how rugged the ridges are. When settlers arrived they cut pitch and shortleaf pine on the ridges and boiled them down for pine tar, which is how Tar Hollow got its name.

The forest itself grew out of the Ross-Hocking Land Utilization project of the 1930s, a federal program that bought worn-out hill farms and moved families onto better ground. When that ended, the land was leased to the Division of Forestry, and in 1958 it was transferred to the state. The Depression-era crews also built Pine Lake and the group camp that became Tar Hollow State Park in 1949.

The Logan Trail has its own story. Boy Scout Troop 195 first opened it in 1928 along public roads. It closed for a time and reopened in 1965 on a new route off the roads, and in 2019 the Division of Forestry formally designated it a backpacking trail. It is named for Chief Logan, the Mingo leader whose family was killed in 1774 at Yellow Creek, which helped set off Dunmore's War. The peace treaty that ended that war, the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, was signed nearby in the Scioto Valley, and Logan's famous speech, known as Logan's Lament, is tied to the spot now called Logan Elm.

In their own words
John Gibson, Lord Dunmore's envoy and Logan's brother-in-law
Autumn 1774

Gibson later recalled that Logan led him 'into a Copse of Woods,' where he wept and delivered the speech Gibson carried back to Dunmore. Other tellings, including ODNR's forest brochure, have Simon Girty voicing the words at the peace council, so even the messenger is disputed.

Gibson's recollection, as quoted in Colonial Williamsburg, 'Who Was Logan?'
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia
Printed 1780s; appendix of 1800

Jefferson remembered the speech circulating in Williamsburg as 'so fine a morsel of eloquence.' He printed it and blamed Michael Cresap for the killings. Cresap's family fought back, Maryland's Luther Martin attacked Jefferson in print in 1797, and Jefferson gathered depositions and published a corrected account in 1800.

Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia and its Appendix; see Wythepedia and ExplorePAhistory
Logan, as recorded and printed
1774; Virginia Gazette, 1775

The line everyone remembers closes the speech: 'Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one.' It was printed in the Virginia Gazette in 1775 and then in newspapers and schoolbooks for a century.

Virginia Gazette, 1775; see Colonial Williamsburg, 'Who Was Logan?' and Wikipedia's 'Logan's War'

Things to do in the park

  • Backpack the Logan Trail loops, with a camp at the Brush Ridge Fire Tower
  • Climb the Brush Ridge Fire Tower
  • Ride the bridle trails from the 46-site horse camp
  • Hunt grouse, deer and turkey in season
  • Drive 30 miles of paved and gravel forest roads for a scenic tour

Trails

Maps, reviews and recent trail reports for Tar Hollow State Forest.

Find trails on AllTrails →

Things to do nearby

  • Tar Hollow State Park, inside the forest, with Pine Lake, a campground and cabins
  • Hocking Hills State Park and its gorges, about 25 minutes east
  • Logan Elm State Memorial near Circleville, site of the Camp Charlotte treaty meeting
  • Chillicothe and Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, about 30 minutes west

Hiking trails

The Logan Backpack Trail is a figure eight of about 18.7 miles by ODNR's forestry map (north loop 8.9 mi, south loop 8.2 mi, Dullen loop 2.1 mi), though the state park lists it as about 21 miles. It is blazed red and shares a stretch with the Buckeye Trail. ODNR's state forest guide also lists about 25 miles of horse-and-hiking trail and about 30 miles of hiking trail across the forest.

Wildlife you might see

  • White-tailed deer, ruffed grouse and wild turkey
  • Songbirds and other wildlife that thrive with the forest's mix of cuts and mature timber
  • Spring wildflowers and morel mushrooms, a local backpacker favorite
  • Pitch and shortleaf pine on the ridges, oak, hickory, maple and tulip on the slopes
  • Venomous snakes: watch where you sit or put your hands, especially in rocky areas

Fishing

  • The forest has little fishing of its own. Pine Lake (15 acres) in Tar Hollow State Park next door has fishing, swimming and boating.

Hunting

Tar Hollow is a public hunting forest with a designated Grouse Management Area, and the area is known for squirrel, deer, grouse and turkey. Shooting is prohibited within 400 feet of any building, facility or recreation area and from or across any road or driveway. Wear blaze orange during hunting seasons if you hike. A valid Ohio hunting license is required and rules are set by the Division of Wildlife.

Logan's Lament

The trail through this forest is named for a man whose grief changed a war. Logan was a Mingo chief and a friend to settlers, and so was his father, Shikellimus. In 1774, at the mouth of Yellow Creek on the Ohio, a group of colonists led by Daniel Greathouse ambushed and killed a party of Native people, and Logan's own family were among the dead. Logan took his revenge on the frontier, and Lord Dunmore, the governor of Virginia, marched an army against the Shawnee, Delaware and Mingo. A battle at Point Pleasant broke the tribes. Peace was made at the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, in the Scioto Valley just north of here, and the Ohio River became the boundary of Indian land.

Logan refused to come to the council. What he gave instead was a speech, later known as Logan's Lament. In the version most historians favor, Dunmore sent Logan's brother-in-law John Gibson to find him. Logan led Gibson into a stand of woods, wept, and dictated it. ODNR's forest brochure tells it another way, with Simon Girty speaking the words at the council under a great elm. Thomas Jefferson printed it, and it became one of the best-known pieces of oratory in early America.

Behind the legend

The events are well documented; the words and the blame are argued about. The speech reached the world second-hand, carried by another man and printed years later, and historians have long debated how closely the text matches what Logan said. It also named the wrong man. Logan blamed Michael Cresap, and Jefferson repeated the charge, but the killings at Yellow Creek were almost certainly done by Daniel Greathouse's party, and Jefferson later published an amended account. What no one doubts is that Dunmore's War ended with the Ohio River as a line between settlers and Native nations, a line that would not hold for long.

The Logan Trail itself is younger. Boy Scout Troop 195 opened it in 1928 along public roads, it reopened in 1965 on a new route off the roads, and in 2019 the Division of Forestry formally designated it a backpacking trail. The elm where the council was held, at what is now Logan Elm Park near Circleville, stood until 1965 and was once thought to be the largest elm in the United States. In 2014 soil from the site was sent to the National Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.

If you go

Hike a loop of the Logan Trail and camp at the Brush Ridge Fire Tower, and read the story before you go: it changes how the ridges feel. Logan Elm State Memorial near Circleville is about half an hour away.

Mounds & earthworks near Tar Hollow State Forest

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

George Deffenbaugh Mound

Laurelville · Hocking County · Southeast Ohio
A small Adena mound on a ridge in Tar Hollow country, with a much younger stone mound nearby.
National Register of Historic Places
About 10 miles from this park · Adena period

The Buckeye Trail at Tar Hollow State Forest

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

11 Scioto Trail Section

61 miles · Vinton, Hocking, Ross, Pike
Fire-tower backpack camp on the ridge
4 parks

Campsites

Backpack camp at Brush Ridge Fire Tower
5 sites at the center of the Logan Trail · register at the state park general store (seasonal) or park office · first-come · restrooms, no water
$4/adult, $1/youth per night
Dullen backpack camp
On the Dullen Loop · reported free with no permit; confirm with the park
Free
Horse camp
46 sites for riders with horses · self-registration booth · first-come, first-served
See ODNR

On site

  • Restrooms at the fire-tower backpack camp (no water)
  • Horse camp with self-registration booth
  • Tar Hollow State Park campground, cabins and Pine Lake nearby
  • Trail markers and mileage posted at each junction of the Logan Trail
Tar Hollow State Forest details (ODNR) →
Tar Hollow's forest camps run first-come, first-served, so there is nothing to book online. Backpackers self-register for the free trail permit at the trailhead and register the fire-tower camp at the state park. The park number above is the closest office. Tar Hollow State Park has its own campground and Sherman cabins, listed separately on ReserveOhio.
Prefer the phone?740-887-4818

Backpack camping in the forest is limited to the fire-tower camp (and the Dullen camp). The Logan Trail is rugged, and water is only at Tar Hollow State Park and streams, so carry a filter. Fire danger runs March through May and October through November, so watch campfires. State park campground rates vary by site type and season; check ReserveOhio for current pricing.

Restaurants nearby

The Ridge Inn Restaurant
Scratch-made breakfast and dinner, homemade doughnuts; closed Tuesday
Directions
Mam's Rusted Skillet
Burgers and fried snacks, playing cards on every table; closed Mon and Tue
Directions
Laurelville Pizza
Fresh pizza and ice cream; closed Sun and Mon
Directions

Gas stations nearby

Sunoco
Closes early, so fill up in the afternoon
Directions
Young's Family Market
Grocery with a meat counter for camp supplies
Directions

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