Events Calendar
Get Your Hike On!
Take a hike in Athens County and you'll see jutting boulders on hillsides, stony bluffs, rock houses, and an abundance of spring wildflowers.
Quick, Easy & Close to Campus
Sells Park
Strouds Run State Park
Looking for a Challenge?
The Athens Trail
Slated to be a major trail system looping around the City of Athens, the Athens Trail passes through Strouds Run State Park. The Strouds Run section of the trail currently extends 3.2 miles from Sells
Park to Hope Drive, with another 0.3 mile on the bikeway. A quarter of a mile is
finished at The Ridges, and the rest of The Ridges section is currently
under construction.
Soon, a complete loop route will be marked. However, much of
this will be on streets and the bike path for the time being. As soon
as possible, various segments will be relocated off-road onto dedicated
trail. When finished, the trail will be blazed with white arrowhead blazes on a red background. A backpacking campsite is in the future plans for the trail within the park. This is a moderate trail.
Strouds Run Trail System
If you're hiking in Athens County there's a good chance you'll enter Strouds Run State Park at some point along the way. With seven major trail heads in the park including the Pioneer Cemetery Trail Head, Beaver Pond Trail Head and the Dow Lake Dam Trail Head, there are miles and miles of hiking opportunities. Some of the trails are usually clear while the less trodden trails are more rough. For a Strouds Run Trail map, click here.
The Ridges Cemetery Nature Walk
Nature lovers and history buffs unite on the Ridges Cemetery Nature Walk. Recently restored, the 1.3 mile nature walk winds through the grounds of the old Athens Lunatic Asylum (now known as the Ridges). In 2000, the conditions of the grounds and the patient cemeteries were in disarray due to vandals and neglect. A local and state mental health task force formed to address the issue. By 2006, with the support of public and private funding, the cemeteries were largely restored, the old pond was rebuilt, and a path was created to link the cemeteries. Visitors are encouraged to see the cemeteries not as haunted grounds, but as places of contemplative beauty.
Complete Athens County Trail Listing
Get There!
To Sells Park: From US 33, take the E. State St. exit. Turn right if coming from the south and left if coming from the north. Take E. State St. for approx. 1 mile, then take a left onto Avon Place. Follow Avon Place until it dead ends at the entrance to Sells Park.
To The Ridges: From US 33, take the SR 682/Ohio University Exit. Turn left onto Richland Avenue. Take the first right onto Dairy Barn Lane, then turn right into The Ridges.
Featured
Moonville Tunnel Trail
Located deep in Zaleski Forest in Ohio near Lake Hope State Park, the Moonville Tunnel is all that remains from a small mining town that existed in the late 1850s.
Best of Three Park and Campground
A unique and secluded 20 acre Rent-a-Park and campground tucked down in Zaleski State Forest.
Touch the Earth Adventures
Touch the Earth Adventures is an outdoor adventure experience created to inspire people to be in tune with our Earth through hiking, kayaking and cycling expeditions. Make new friends and lifetime memories through guided day- and weekend-long trips.
Wayne National Forest's Explore the Outdoors Program
Explore the Outdoors is an exciting, hands-on family program that gives Ohio children the opportunity to reunite with nature, improve their physical and emotional health, and discover the rewards of becoming environmental stewards.
