- Hiking
- Horse Riding
- Bicycling
- Off-Road Motor Vehicles
Southeast Ohio offers trails for hikers, horseback riders, mountain-bike riders, and motorized vehicles.There are three good backpacking trails within our area. The best-known is what we call in this guide the BENCAD Trail. This stands for Buckeye-North Country-American Discovery Trail, because these three long-distance trails are combined in our area. The BENCAD Trail passes through many tracts of public lands in the general area of guide (consecutively from southwest to northeast; areas in this guide are in bold): Shawnee State Forest, Pike State Forest, Pike Lake State Park, Fort Hill State Memorial, Serpent Mound State Memorial, Davis State Memorial, Scioto Trail State Forest, Tar Hollow State Forest, Hocking State Forest/Hocking Hills State Park, Lake Logan State Park, Wayne National Forest (Athens District), Wallace H. O'Dowd State Wildlife Area, Burr Oak State Park, AEP ReCreation Lands, Wayne National Forest (Marietta District).
There is a 40-mile backpacking trail in Shawnee State Forest (page ###) and a 23.5-mile backpacking trail in Zaleski State Forest. In addition, the 37-mile combined trail system of Strouds Run State Park and the Athens Trail system features one backpacking campsite.
BENCAD Trail
The following public open-space areas have trail systems:
- Wayne National Forest
- Athens District: hiking (Wildcat Hollow Trail, 15 miles, BENCAD Trail), horse (Stone Church Trail system, 21 miles, 10 camping sites), motorized (Dorr Run and Long Run)
- Ironton District: hiking, horse (Vesuvius Horse Trails, 46 miles)
- Marietta District: hiking, horse (Kinderhook Horse Trail, 12 miles)
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- State Parks
- Strouds Run State Park: hiking, biking, horse; 37 miles total
- Burr Oak State Park: hiking (including BENCAD Trail), horse; 28 miles total (9 miles horse)
- Lake Hope State Park: hiking, biking; 22 miles total
- Forked Run State Park: hiking; 5 miles
- Hocking Hills State Park: hiking (including BENCAD Trail)
- Lake Logan State Park: hiking (including BENCAD Trail)
- Tar Hollow State Park: hiking
- Shawnee State Park
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- State Forests
- Shawnee State Forest: hiking (including Shawnee Backpacking Trail, BENCAD Trail), horse
- Zaleski State Forest: hiking (including Zaleski Backpacking Trail), horse; 49 miles total
- Tar Hollow State Forest: hiking (including BENCAD Trail), horse
- Hocking State Forest: hiking (including BENCAD Trail), horse, also rock-climbing area
- Perry State Forest: horse, APV
- Dean State Forest: horse
- Richland Furnace State Forest: APV
- Gifford State Forest: hiking
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- State Nature Preserves
- Desonier State Nature Preserve: hiking; 2.4 miles
- Boord State Nature Preserve: hiking; 0.7 mile
- Conkle's Hollow State Nature Preserve: hiking, wheelchair-accessible
- Rockbridge State Nature Preserve: hiking
- Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve: hiking
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- State Wildlife Areas
- Waterloo Wildlife Research Station: hiking
- Fox Lake Wildlife Area: hiking (but trail is less than a mile)
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- Other areas
- Lake Snowden (Hocking College): hiking, horse
- The Ridges (Ohio University): hiking
- Strouds Ridge Preserve (City of Athens): hiking, biking (see Strouds Run for mileage)
There are several class 4-5 trails for foot traffic, bicycling, and in some cases, horse riding.
- Hockhocking-Adena Bikeway
- This bikeway is a fully developed Class 5 bikeway that extends from the City of Nelsonville southeast through the City of Athens, for a total of about 21 miles (there is a section on the Ohio University campus that does not meet the same modern standards as the rest of the bikeway, but is useable). All foot traffic, bicycle traffic, and other non-motorized users are allowed. In addition, motorized wheelchairs are permitted for users with relevant disabilities. Most of this rail-trail is on the former right-of-way of the Hocking Valley Railroad, later the C&O line. The bikeway loops around Athens on the banks of the Hocking River. The bikeway connects with the Athens Trail near the eastern end of both.
The trail may be reached from behind Rocky Boots in Nelsonville, Robbins Crossing at Hocking College, County Road 4 (Glen Ebon Road) at the Hocking River bridge, at the Beaumont parking area (Lemaster Road, 1/4 mi west of OH-682 between The Plains and Chauncey), at Eclipse Village in The Plains, from West State Street Park and East State Street Park in Athens, and from the bikeway trailhead on East State Street in Athens (adjacent to the Pepsi warehouse).
- B&O Railroad Trail
- This is the newest trail, and is still under development. Currently, it parallels Frost Road in Rome and Troy Townships for most of its length but with gaps of private land, and then swings eastward to Torch and the Washington County line. For detailed information on what’s public and what’s private, go to www.athenstrails.org. This trail is open to hikers, bicyclists and horses. No trailheads have yet been created.
- Moonville Rail-Trail
- The Moonville Rail-Trail is the portion of the old B&O Railroad grade that extends from the Diamond Powder Plant in Vinton County to the unincorporated village of Mineral in Athens County. However, many bridges were removed for scrap and the bridges are in the process of being replaced. So far, two bridges have been completed, enabling use of a six-mile section from the village of Zaleski to Hope School, and a third bridge is under construction at Moonville Tunnel. Users may complete the six miles of the finished section then use back roads to reach the Moonville Tunnel area. The Moonville Trail accommodates all muscle-powered users, including equestrians. It has a graveled surface.
To reach the Moonville Tunnel area, take OH-56 west 13 miles into Vinton County, to OH-278. Turn left on OH-278 and go 6 miles to Wheelabout Road (Co-3). Turn left and go about 1/4 mile to the trail. Go farther on Wheelabout to Hope School for parking, about 0.6 mile. Turn right at 0.15 mile to stay on Wheelabout Road.
