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

Waterfalls

34 falls you can walk to, from the Cuyahoga Valley to the Hocking Hills
Plunges, cascades and seasonal falls on public land

Ohio's waterfalls come in three main kinds. In the northeast, creeks drop over a hard cap of Berea sandstone onto soft shale, which wears away underneath until the ledge breaks off and the falls moves upstream. In the southeast, streams pour over the rims of Blackhand sandstone gorges cut after the last glaciers melted. In the southwest, water spills over dolomite and limestone, as at Clifton Gorge on the Little Miami and Charleston Falls near Tipp City. This guide lists only falls on public land or with a public viewing area.

Stay behind railings and on marked trails. Wet rock at the top and base of a falls is slick in every season, and most Ohio falls do not allow swimming, wading or climbing. Flow depends on rain: many falls are a trickle in late summer and at their best after a wet spell, in spring, or frozen in a hard winter.

Map of the waterfalls →
34 waterfalls
Northeast

Brandywine Falls

Sagamore Hills · Summit County
The tallest waterfall in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, reached by an easy boardwalk with a wheelchair accessible upper overlook.
60 to 65 ftEasy walkAccessible overlook

Blue Hen Falls

Boston Township · Summit County
A small, photogenic shale ledge waterfall in a quiet Cuyahoga Valley ravine, reached by an easy to moderate hike on the Buckeye Trail.
15 ftModerate hikeLegend

Bridal Veil Falls

Walton Hills · Cuyahoga County
A short, family friendly boardwalk walk to a tiered cascade in Bedford Reservation, one of the most photographed waterfalls near Cleveland.
20 ftEasy walk

Great Falls of Tinkers Creek

Bedford · Cuyahoga County
A wide sandstone ledge waterfall in Viaduct Park, set among the ruins of old mills, a dam, and a 19th century railroad arch.
15 to 20 ftModerate hike

Buttermilk Falls (North Chagrin Reservation)

Willoughby Hills · Cuyahoga County
An easy, family friendly cascade in North Chagrin Reservation, with a wooded overlook deck that highlights the exposed shale geology.
10 to 15 ftEasy walk

Chagrin Falls

Chagrin Falls · Cuyahoga County
A wide river waterfall in the heart of downtown Chagrin Falls, viewable from a bridge and streamside park just steps from Main Street shops.
20 ftEasy walkAccessible overlook

Berea Falls

Berea · Cuyahoga County
A small urban waterfall tucked beneath three bridges in Rocky River Reservation, easy to reach from a small trailside parking area.
25 ftEasy walk

Paine Falls

Leroy Township · Lake County
A 25 foot waterfall on Paine Creek viewed from a rim trail in a quiet Lake Metroparks preserve east of Painesville.
25 ftEasy walk

Lanterman's Falls

Youngstown · Mahoning County
A 20 foot waterfall beside the historic, still operating Lanterman's Mill in Mill Creek Park, one of Youngstown's best known landmarks.
20 ftEasy walk

Falls of Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park

Garrettsville · Portage County
Waterfalls tucked among towering conglomerate rock walls and slot like crevices, including a new glass walkway overlook, in a small state park near Garrettsville.
10 to 50 ftModerate hikeAccessible overlook

Affelder Falls

Russell Township · Geauga County
A 20 foot sandstone cascade on a cold water trout stream in The West Woods, reached by a 1.5 mile trail from the nature center.
20 ftModerate hike
North central

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

Big Lyons Falls

Perrysville · Ashland County
An 80 foot waterfall you can walk behind in the sandstone Clear Fork Gorge, reached on a 2 mile loop hike from Mohican State Park's covered bridge.
80 ftModerate hikeLegend

Little Lyons Falls

Perrysville · Ashland County
A narrow 25 foot cascade a short walk past Big Lyons Falls, tumbling into a partly collapsed slot of the Clear Fork Gorge.
25 ftModerate hike
Central

Hayden Falls

Columbus · Franklin County
A limestone plunge waterfall in a Scioto River gorge in west Columbus, reached by a stairway and boardwalk or a stair free overlook above.
25 to 35 ftEasy walkAccessible overlook

Indian Run Falls

Dublin · Franklin County
A pair of small cascades in a limestone ravine in the middle of Dublin, once home to the Wyandot people, now reached by boardwalk and footbridge.
22 ftEasy walk
Southwest

Charleston Falls

Tipp City · Miami County
A 37 foot horseshoe cascade over dolomite ledges in a 216 acre preserve near Tipp City, often called Ohio's miniature Niagara Falls.
37 ftEasy walk

Cedar Cliff Falls

Cedarville · Greene County
A 25 foot cascade over limestone cliffs on Massies Creek, framed by an early 1800s log cabin and an ancient Adena burial mound nearby.
25 ftEasy walk

Clifton Gorge (Amphitheater Falls and the Blue Hole)

Clifton · Greene County
A dolomite gorge on the Little Miami River carved by glacial floodwaters, with a seasonal plunge waterfall, rapids, and the deep, legend haunted Blue Hole pool.
25 ftModerate hikeLegend

The Cascades at Glen Helen

Yellow Springs · Greene County
A small limestone cascade in the roughly 1,000 acre Glen Helen Nature Preserve, near the iron rich Yellow Spring that gave the village its name.
10 ftModerate hike

Englewood MetroPark Falls (Martindale, Patty, and Oak Falls)

Englewood · Montgomery County
Three small waterfalls, Martindale, Patty, and Oak Falls, tucked into a 1,900 acre Five Rivers MetroPark along the Stillwater River northwest of Dayton.
Low fallsModerate hike

Horseshoe Falls

Waynesville · Warren County
A wide, low horseshoe falls on Caesar Creek, reached by a lakeshore hike and a 103 foot suspension bridge inside a 3,741 acre state park.
3 ftModerate hikeLegend

Cedar Falls

College Corner · Preble County
A short, quiet trail past small limestone cascades in Hueston Woods State Park, next to one of Ohio's last stands of uncut beech maple forest.
Low fallsModerate hike
Southeast and Hocking Hills

Cedar Falls

Logan · Hocking County
Hocking Hills' broadest waterfall, a wide sandstone cascade with the biggest year round flow of any falls in the park.
50 ftModerate hikeLegend

Ash Cave Falls

South Bloomingville · Hocking County
Ohio's largest recess cave, with a thin seasonal waterfall spilling 90 feet from its rim.
90 ftEasy walkAccessible overlook

Upper Falls at Old Man's Cave

Logan · Hocking County
The first waterfall in the gorge, viewable from an accessible ramp and deck just steps from the parking lot.
15 ftEasy walkAccessible overlook

Lower Falls at Old Man's Cave

Logan · Hocking County
A deep plunge pool at the far end of the Old Man's Cave gorge, reached down a steep stone stairway.
25 ftModerate hike

Whispering Falls

Logan · Hocking County
Reported as the tallest falls in Hocking Hills at around 100 feet, reached on a newer, five mile loop trail past a swinging bridge.
100 to 105 ftStrenuous hike

Buck Run Falls at Cantwell Cliffs

Rockbridge · Hocking County
A seasonal curtain of water that can spill more than 100 feet down the cliff face at Hocking Hills' most remote, least crowded unit.
Up to 150 ftStrenuous hikeLegend

Conkle's Hollow Falls

Rockbridge · Hocking County
A narrow waterfall at the head of a gorge with cliffs nearly 200 feet high, reached on a mostly flat, partly paved trail.
20 to 25 ftEasy walkAccessible overlookLegend

Robinson Falls

Logan · Hocking County
A tucked away canyon waterfall, also called Corkscrew Falls, that can only be visited with a free access permit from the state.
12 ftEasy walk

Rockbridge Falls

Rockbridge · Hocking County
A little known seasonal waterfall that drops beneath Ohio's longest natural stone bridge, away from Hocking Hills' crowds.
40 ftEasy walk

Cedar Falls at Edge of Appalachia

West Union · Adams County
A 15 foot limestone cascade in the Edge of Appalachia preserve, on a trail opened to hikers in 2020.
15 ftModerate hike

Rock Run Falls

Jackson · Jackson County
A quiet cascade fed by Lake Katharine's spillway, crossed by a footbridge on the Pine Ridge Trail.
Small cascadeModerate hike

Take the stops with you

Load the waterfalls into your maps app to plan a trip.

There are too many stops for one Google Maps route, so use the file or the list.

The file holds 34 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.