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.
Popular:
  • 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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Open the mapAll 365 places on one map. Filter by cabins, campsites, hunting, beaches and more.Explore the map → Browse by countyPick any of Ohio's 88 counties and see its parks, mounds, waterfalls and historic sites.Find your county → Build a tripSave places as you browse, then line them up into a weekend. Kept in your browser, nothing to sign up for.Start a trip →

Explore Ohio

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

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

Maumee Valley Scenic Byway

Northwest Ohio
Scenic byway · Defiance to Maumee, at Fort Miamis
59miles
5stops

A 59-mile drive down the Maumee River from Defiance to Toledo, past forts and battlefields.

Length
59 miles by the state list; one guide gives nearly 90 miles counting both banks
Designated
2000
Route
On the north bank from SR 15 and River Drive in Defiance east through Napoleon, Waterville and Maumee to the site of Fort Miamis; on the south bank from Napoleon on SR 110 and SR 65 through Grand Rapids, Perrysburg and Rossford to I-75
History
Fort Defiance, Fort Meigs and the Fallen Timbers battlefield
Best for
A day of frontier history along a river

The story

The Maumee River was the main route between Lake Erie and the Ohio country, and its rapids were the hinge of the War of 1812 and the Northwest Indian War. Fort Defiance stood where the Auglaize joins the Maumee at Defiance. Near the foot of the rapids the British built Fort Miamis in 1794 and Anthony Wayne defeated the Native confederation at Fallen Timbers, and in 1813 Fort Meigs held out against two sieges.

The byway follows the river through a string of small towns and parks, and it is also the route the Buckeye Trail's Defiance Section takes along the Maumee.

Stops along the way

1 Defiance
Where the Auglaize joins the Maumee, and a Buckeye Trail Town.
2 Independence Dam State Park
A dam and park on the Maumee. Independence Dam State Park.
Open
3 Mary Jane Thurston State Park
Camping and a river beach at Grand Rapids. Mary Jane Thurston State Park.
Open
4 Fort Meigs, Perrysburg
A reconstructed War of 1812 fort. See the Fort Meigs entry.
Open
5 Fallen Timbers and Fort Miamis
The 1794 battlefield and the British fort. See the Fallen Timbers entry.
Open

Take the stops with you

Load the 5 stops into your maps app to drive between them.

Google Maps: stops 1 to 5

The file holds 5 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.

Where to camp nearby

Independence Dam State Park
A small camping park near Defiance.
Open
Mary Jane Thurston State Park
Camping on the river.
Open
Maumee Bay State Park
A lakeshore park near the byway's end.
Open

Tips

  • Plan a day with Fort Meigs and Fallen Timbers together.
  • Independence Dam camping has no drinking water.

Distances are the route lengths given by the sources. Confirm road conditions, closures and seasonal hours before you go.

Ohio scenic byways list →

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.