🥾 ActiveLong weekend · from Columbus, OH
Wayne National Forest & the Athens Hills — Lakes, Forest Trails & the Bikeway
Three days in the deep, folded hill country of southeastern Ohio, where the state's only national forest spreads across ridges and hollows around the college town of Athens — the true Appalachian foothills, minus the crowds of Hocking Hills proper. Day one settles into Lake Hope State Park inside the wild Zaleski State Forest, all quiet lake coves and iron-furnace history under a dense hardwood canopy. Day two bases in Nelsonville and Athens to ride the paved Hockhocking Adena Bikeway along the river and hike the Wayne National Forest's backcountry trails. Day three closes at Burr Oak State Park, a remote reservoir ringed by 28 miles of forest trail, before the return to Columbus. About 90 minutes southeast to the first trailhead, with overnights near Athens and Nelsonville.
Day 1 — Lake Hope State Park & Zaleski State ForestDay 2 — Nelsonville, Wayne NF trails & the Hockhocking Adena BikewayDay 3 — Burr Oak State Park
Day 1 — Lake Hope State Park, OH
Day 1 — Lake Hope State Park, OH
🚗 2 hr driving📍 4 stops
🌅
Morning
🚗
Drive
Columbus, OH → Lake Hope State Park
1 hr 30 min8:00 AM → 9:30 AM
Lake Hope State Park — Zaleski Loop Trails
★ 4.6Lake Hope sits entirely within the 28,000-acre Zaleski State Forest, one of the most remote and heavily wooded corners of Ohio, its 120-acre lake tucked into a steep hardwood valley threaded with hiking trails. Day-loop trails from the lodge and dam climb through mature oak and beech forest to ridgetops and past the ruins of the Hope Furnace, a towering sandstone iron-smelting furnace from the 1850s when this valley roared with the charcoal-iron industry. The forest has long since reclaimed the hills, and the trails are quiet, shaded, and genuinely wild — this is black-bear and bobcat country. Start with a moderate loop from the dam to the furnace to get the lay of the valley. Pick up a trail map at the park office; cell service is spotty.
9:30 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
🍽️ Lunch10:30 AM
Lake Hope State Park Dining Lodge
The rustic dining lodge at Lake Hope, a handsome timber-and-stone building overlooking the lake, is the only real restaurant deep in the Zaleski forest and the obvious midday base. The kitchen turns out hearty, from-scratch American fare — the lodge is well regarded regionally for its comfort cooking — served on a porch with a view over the water. After a morning on the trails it is a welcome and scenic pause. Hours are seasonal and the lodge can close on certain weekdays, so confirm before counting on it.
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Afternoon
Hope Furnace & Lakeshore Paddle
★ 4.7The afternoon splits between history and water. The Hope Furnace ruin — a massive sandstone stack that once smelted iron ore dug from these very hills, some of it used in Civil War ironclads — stands beside the lake as the region's most evocative relic of the vanished Hanging Rock iron district. From the nearby boathouse, rent a kayak or canoe and paddle Lake Hope's quiet coves beneath the forested ridges, where the water is calm and motorboats are limited, making for exceptionally peaceful flatwater. Ospreys and herons work the shoreline. It's an easy, restorative afternoon that pairs the human and natural histories of the valley before settling in near Athens.
12:00 PM📍 See location
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Evening
🚗
Drive
Lake Hope State Park → Nelsonville / Athens, OH
30 min5:00 PM → 5:30 PM
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Nelsonville / Athens Lodging
Base the middle nights near Athens or Nelsonville, the small cities at the center of the Wayne National Forest region. Nelsonville's historic Stuart's Opera House square and the surrounding brick town make a charming small-town base, while Athens — home of Ohio University — offers a wider range of hotels, inns, and a lively restaurant scene along Court Street. Either puts you close to tomorrow's bikeway and forest trails. Book Athens lodging early during university event weekends, when rooms across the whole region fill up. Chain hotels cluster near the US-33 corridor between the two towns as a reliable fallback.
Day 2 — Nelsonville & Athens, OH
Day 2 — Nelsonville & Athens, OH
🚗 15 min driving📍 4 stops
🌅
Morning
🚗
Drive
Athens, OH → Hockhocking Adena Bikeway Trailhead
15 min8:00 AM → 8:15 AM
Hockhocking Adena Bikeway
The Hockhocking Adena Bikeway is a 21-mile paved rail-trail running along the Hocking River between Athens and Nelsonville, one of the finest cycling paths in southeastern Ohio. The route glides past river bottoms, farm fields, ancient Adena earthworks that give the trail its name, and the campus of Ohio University, largely flat and shaded and ideal for an out-and-back of whatever length suits you. Rent bikes in Athens if you didn't bring your own. The morning air off the river and the near-total separation from traffic make this a superb way to cover ground under your own power. Ride toward Nelsonville for the more scenic river and forest stretches.
8:15 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
🍽️ Lunch9:15 AM
Casa Nueva / Court Street, Athens
Athens punches far above its size for food thanks to the university, and Casa Nueva — a beloved worker-owned cooperative cantina on West State Street — is an institution, serving inventive Latin-inspired plates built around local farm ingredients. It anchors a walkable downtown of independent restaurants, cafes, and bakeries along Court Street that makes Athens the culinary high point of the trip. After a morning on the bikeway it is the natural place to refuel. Vegetarian and vegan options abound; the cantina is popular, so expect a wait at peak lunch.
2 options · tap to switch
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Afternoon
Wayne National Forest — Wildcat Hollow Trail
★ 4.6Wayne National Forest, Ohio's only national forest, blankets the ridges around Athens and Nelsonville, and the Wildcat Hollow Trail north of town is one of its best backcountry footpaths — a rugged loop through deep hardwood forest, past old homestead sites, oil-and-gas heritage, and quiet hollows reclaimed by second-growth timber. The full loop runs long, but a shorter out-and-back captures the forest's remote character: dense canopy, ravine crossings, and the near-certain solitude of a national forest trail on a weekday afternoon. This is genuine foothills wilderness within a short drive of a college town. Wear sturdy boots — the trail can be muddy and rooty — and carry water.
12:00 PM📍 See location
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Evening
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Nelsonville / Athens Lodging
A second night near Athens or Nelsonville keeps you positioned between the day's forest trails and tomorrow's drive to Burr Oak. Consider an evening on Nelsonville's restored public square, where Stuart's Opera House often hosts live music, or back on Athens' Court Street for the college-town nightlife and late dinners. Either base is comfortable and central to the region's trails. The same US-33 corridor hotels between the towns remain the dependable fallback if the in-town inns are booked.
Day 3 — Burr Oak State Park, OH
Day 3 — Burr Oak State Park, OH
🚗 2 hr 20 min driving📍 3 stops
🌅
Morning
🚗
Drive
Athens / Nelsonville, OH → Burr Oak State Park
40 min8:00 AM → 8:40 AM
Burr Oak State Park — Backpack Trail Section
★ 4.8Burr Oak is among the most remote and least-crowded state parks in Ohio, a 664-acre reservoir wrapped in the wooded hills of the Wayne National Forest and encircled by a 28-mile backpacking trail. A day-hike section of that trail from the lodge or dam leads along the wooded shoreline and up onto quiet ridges with lake views through the trees, the water fingering into secluded coves below. Deer, wild turkey, and pileated woodpeckers are common; the sense of isolation is the park's defining quality. Choose a lakeside out-and-back matched to the energy left after two days of hiking and riding. The park's remoteness is its great reward — solitude comes easily here.
8:40 AM📍 See location
🍽️
Lunch
🍽️ Lunch9:40 AM
Burr Oak Lodge Restaurant
The dining room at Burr Oak Lodge overlooks the reservoir from a wooded bluff and is the natural spot for a final midday meal before the drive north — casual American fare in a relaxed lodge setting with wide lake views. After a morning on the backpack trail it is an easy, scenic place to rest and refuel. As with the other remote lodges on this route, hours can be seasonal, so confirm before relying on it; a packed lunch by the lake is the reliable backup.
2 options · tap to switch
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Afternoon
Tom Jenkins Dam & Lakeshore Overlook
★ 4.9The Tom Jenkins Dam at the north end of Burr Oak Lake offers an open overlook across the full length of the reservoir and its forested shoreline — a fitting, expansive final vista before the return to Columbus. A short walk along the dam and the adjacent shoreline lets you stretch out the last of the day's mileage without committing to a long trail, with the water and wooded ridges spread out below. Watch for waterfowl and soaring raptors over the lake. It's an easy, low-key capstone to three days in the Athens hills before the drive home.
12:00 PM📍 See location
🌙
Evening
🚗
Drive
Burr Oak State Park, OH → Columbus, OH
1 hr 40 min5:00 PM → 6:40 PM
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