Forked Run Hiking/Camping Report

“My girlfriend and I decided to take the weekend off for some camping and hiking fun at Forked Run State Park, located in Meigs County, Ohio. We arrived at the Park around 11 pm and after setting up the tent and establishing camp we both decided to get some shut eye. The next day we got up fairly early to begin our dayhike on the Lakeview Trail, a 2.6 mile loop trail that skirts the edge of Forked Run Lake. The day was very muggy and hot (typical Ohio Summers!) but it sure felt good just to hit the trail nevertheless. The Lakeview Trail is blazed with neon orange paint blazes. We picked up the Trail at the parking area for the beach and the trail enters the woods at our left. We hiked the well defined pathway, crossing numerous side streams and ravines, climbing up and down ridges. Through the trees we could see Forked Run Lake. Along the Trail I seen many Paw Paw Trees, Suger Maples, White Oaks just to name few trees. The Lakeview Trails comes very close to the campground but swings back into the woods to loop back to the beach parking lot. This turned to be one pleasant dayhike for the both of us and the first hike for my girlfriend since she had her gall bladder taken out. As we got back I decided to take a little nap so Amy decided to get the grill heated for our dinner later that afternoon. Around 5 pm a really nasty thunderstorm hit us! Amy and I flew into our tent as fast as we can! It literally pour buckets of rain which beat upon the tent's rainfly! But thank God, the tent kept us safe and dry! So all in all, our two nights out turned out great!”

“glad it all turned out well for you both.

glad Amy had a good time. I did get her email and I will reply to her.
glad you were able to stay dry.

never heard if a Paw Paw Tree.
what kind is it?”

“thanks hog, are they native to the NE?”

“there is a USDAFS link at the bottom of that page - follow it and there is a further link for the distribution - basically its Western NY down to TX allong the Appalachians”

“Thanks HogOnIce for the link! That's exactly what we saw on the Lakeview Trail! However we didn't see any fruits on the Paw Paw Trees. I really looked. Perhaps they didn't have another tree to "mate" with! Too bad!

We both had a great time Mapleleaf, even though it was a short dayhike for the both of us. There are alot of Paw Paw Trees in southern Ohio, that's my personal obversations from hiking the various trails. Southern Ohio has plenty of mixed Maple/Oak type forest in the Appalachian Plateau. Very nice indeed.”

“you forgot about all the different grasshoppers we saw.and the different spiders we found around the campsite.and the boxer that we feed some burnt hamburger to. 18 ravines and several spider webs that got in our faces.and yes i was a good trooper through the whole hike. cant wait to do it again.”

“You are right kenmorebrat when you mention all those spiderwebs and ravines! Yes, we will hike again I assure you! Over the Labor Day weekend, where would you like to go backpacking? In Pennsylvania perhaps? And by the way, I stopped at UPS after work and picked up my new Cascade Pack!”

“You are right kenmorebrat when you mention all those spiderwebs and ravines! Yes, we will hike again I assure you! Over the Labor Day weekend, where would you like to go backpacking? In Pennsylvania perhaps? And by the way, I stopped at UPS after work and picked up my new Cascade Pack!”

“Why didn't these Paw Paw trees have any fruit on them anyway? If they did, I would of loved to try one! Too bad!”