There’s hiking everywhere!

But if people know anything about hiking in Southeast Ohio, they know about Hocking Hills State Park. This park has caves, rock formations and the Grandma Gatewood trail.

But SE Ohio boasts several other hiking areas. On my latest visit to see my grandchildren – and my son and daughter-in-law – we hiked in two different parks.

Strouds Run State Park is just outside of Athens, OH, home of Ohio University. Its biggest feature is Dow Lake but it also has several miles of trail.

We started at Dow Lake, the furthest point from Athens and walked into Athens and back – 14 miles. It was not flat! First the trail followed the Lake and the Hocking River. Then we were on old farm land with a few artifacts such as an old low wall.

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A turtle was parked in the middle of the trail. One of its legs was broken and extended. The turtle was not happy. Neil, my son, lifted it and put on the side of the trail.

“You don’t want it to be run over by a mountain biker, do you?” Neil said. It will probably survive in the grass.

After several ups and downs through old farm land, we reached Sells Park in the town of Athens. The Sells family donated their land (or some of it) to the National Park Service. But it was such a small parcel that NPS then donated to the city.

Sells Lake is just off a city street. There’s even a wheelchair accessible paved trail to the lake. Now it is covered with water lilies and pond scum.

After 5.5 miles, we were now in town.

So we walked over a mile on a city street to a food store where we bought drinks and pudding for dessert. Then back to Sells Park and back to our car – 14 miles all together.

Lake Hope State Park is in Zaleski State Forest about 30 minutes from Athens. First we visited Hope Furnace (1854-1874), one of many charcoal iron furnaces.

A plaque explained that this was one of the leading iron producing areas in the 19th Century. Unfortunately, that was then; this is now. The area around Zaleski State Forest is quite rural and poor. Who knows if the forest and state park bring any tourists to help the area?

The hike was supposed to be shorter – maybe 10 miles. But when we got to the main parking area, we couldn’t find the trailhead until a backpacker set us straight. Not a good sign.

The circular trail passed by caves, at the beginning and at the end of the circle. Once we found the trail, it was well marked but poorly maintained. So many blowdowns that it made the hike longer and harder than it should have been. Not surprisingly, we met only two groups on the trail: a few women backpacking and a lone man with a dog.

It is hard to tell who maintains the trails in Zaleski State Forest. The trails did not seem conducive to mountain biking. There probably was not an active hiking club in the area.

About halfway through the circle, we reached a pond that was completely filled with water plants. No swimming here. We never did swim in Lake Hope; we were here to hike.

We followed a map we got online and orange blazes. I look for new areas to hike. They don’t have to be perfectly maintained or documented. By the time we finished the circle, we were tired.