Great Seal State Park (Part 1)

In October and November of 2020 Joan and I made four trips to Great Seal State Park, to hike and thus explore this park for the first time, getting outdoors during the pandemic. This post is the first of three, covering the first two hikes.

The park is named "Great Seal" because the hills of the park are a feature of the State Seal of Ohio. They are part of the view from Adena Mansion, the home of Thomas Worthington, Ohio's sixth governor.

Here is an overall map of the trail systems, which curl around and up and down the terrain. Click on the image to enlarge. As you can see from the map, the park is much taller, north-to-south, than wide.

Many of the trails are multi-purpose, with foot, horse, and off-road bicycle traffic allowed. In addition, there is a spider-web of narrow bike trails that are unsuitable for horses and lack the signage of the multi-purpose routes.

October 28
For our first visit Joan and I parked at the southernmost access point, off Lick Run road.

We set off to the right, to begin our exploration with Bunker Hill. The trail signs are maps, each covering a relevant section. This sign shows our starting point today (point "V"), although I actually took the photo at point "I" on our second hike.

Being novices here, we were confused by a bike trail, marked with a small wooden sign nailed to a tree and bearing only a name, and took that route

until it crossed the regular trail again and we recognized where we were.

We quickly noticed that while many of the trees had shed their leaves (sometimes obscuring the lesser trails), the pawpaws were still golden or even green. They will never grow tall enough to form a canopy, preferring the partial shade of other trees, and tend to grow in groves. They reach six to eight feet tall in Great Seal; with a bit more light in our back yard, our two pawpaws are easily twice that. My only photos, however, are of distant or young, short ones:

It's been a wet year, and fungi were common. These were imitating a pair of white gloves.

The Bunker Hill trail, shown in green on the trail sign, has a lower loop around the hill, and from that rises a loop up to and around the ridge top. At the end of the ridge we were not surprised to find a good viewing spot, but Joan and I did not expect a table, chairs, swing, and, on the table, a weather vane.

This was a great place to pause and have a snack. Then Joan and I pushed on, working our way towards the Mt. Ives trails. I should have taken more photos; we were frequently consulting our paper maps and cross-checking them with the trail signs. We passed more than one bike route, and may have been on one for a while reaching the top of Mt. Ives, at or near point"X."

Then we descended to point "W," where there was a long stretch of barbed wire -- note that W is at a park boundary. White plastic flags were attached to the barbed wire every so often to warn the barnstorming bikers. There was also a bench dedicated to Annie Rooney, the guiding light and spark plug for the creation of the bike trails here; she was killed by a drunk driver in 2013.

I don't know why it says '2100'

Across from the bench there was a "bicycle Jesus."

From there it was downhill to point M, and we decided to cross the road and explore the Rocky Knob trail. This route ascends a watershed, but above it along the west side. The trail wiggled because each time it encountered a tributary ravine it would swing away from the main watershed until the obstacle was shallow enough to cross, and then return. Joan and I didn't find a particular knob on the Rocky Knob Trail, but the route was unknown to us and hence intriguing; all sights were new, and we met a congenial mountain biker. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos!

November 4
On our second visit we parked in the same spot, but crossed the road and took two loops on the way north, Annie's Trail and the Rock Garden Loop. The trail early on:

Rock outcrops began to appear.

At the intersection with the Annie's Trail loop.

After Annie's Trail, we picked up the Rock Garden Loop (sorry, no photos) and continued north to intersection I.

Continuing beyod "I," Joan and I came to an obvious high point: two transmitter towers.

As you can see, branches and trunks had fallen on the chain-link fence surrounding the installation. Maintenance is apparently not a high priority.

Beyond the towers was a short descent and the Rocky Road crossing; the way is open to the east but closed to the west.

Joan and I continued north to "H."

There we plunged downhill on Shawnee towards F.

Just before the steep drop.

 Looking back the way we had come.

We stayed on the Shawnee as it cut back and forth, and passed through D, aiming for the un-lettered black trail that takes off from the right -- can you see why we kept checking our map? We encountered two equestrians coming the other way, one riding a horse and one a mule. I had never seen a mule up close before; it was more horse-like than I expected, a bit smaller but of a very different temperament. The horse was quite placid and content to wait while we talked, but the mule was impatient. The riders were looking for the trail to Bald Hill. Not having found it yet ourselves, we couldn't help them. They continued on. In retrospect, to follow the ridge line, they should have picked up the black trail back at C. We soon found the side trail, though not in time to run back and inform the riders. Our trail, we discovered, stayed on the flank of the hill, not the crest, and gained little altitude. The top of Bald Hill would have to wait for another day.

Joan and I passed through E, at a gap in the hills, and then G, to reach Sand Hill, the highest point in the park at 1,296 feet. The numerous switchbacks on the north side made the climb from E an easy if lengthy tromp. We decided to pause here, three hours plus after setting out.

Old foundations still lay near the apex.

A panoramic view.

Other visitors had left a cairn. It seems unnecessary ...

A golden tree and blue sky.

A steep but rapid descent took us back to Rocky Road, and then the antennas. More fungi were along the route.

When we reached intersection I, rather than return the way we came, Joan and I took the Grouse Run Trail, which at one point swings close to the other side of the closed road. There we encountered our equestrians again, and had a pleasant chat, although the mule was watching us closely and would toss his head, eager to move on.

We crossed Lick Road Run at J, and returned to the parking area after a long but rewarding day. Joan and I would be back, for there were still plenty of trails to explore.