Zaleski State Forest

A candid photo after setting up camp on the
first day of hiking, looking rough already.

Here is a map of the main trail at Zaleski.
We completed the bottom two loops.

Our camp set up on the second night of our trip. 

     Zaleski State Forest is the second largest state forest in the Unites States, and is located in Vinton and Athens county in southern Ohio. The 26,827 acre state forest consists of many miles of hiking, backpacking, and bridle trails, and many different camps and sites to offer.
     My dad and I discovered Zaleski State Forest when we were searching for a place to go on a backpacking trip. During the summer of 2014, we decided to go on our very first 3 day, 2 night backpack/hiking trip. As we were beginners in the whole backpacking world, we wanted to choose a place that wouldn't be too harsh on newbies, yet would still challenge us. Zaleski's trails have designated camping grounds for tents that include basic outhouses, and necessary water faucets.
     We set off on the trail in the morning, heading north. We hiked until around 4pm, and totaling 8 miles when we realized we were done for the day and set up camp. Throughout the trip, we hiked a total of 18.9 miles. My dad and I are absolutely terrible with directions, so it was only natural that we took a wrong turn on one of the trails, adding another couple miles and adventure to our trip. Altogether we did not see too many other hikers, as it was during one of the hottest times in the summer. I imagine that you would see an exponentially greater amount of people later in the fall, when the trees are changing and being a more comfortable temperature to hike in.
     When packing for this trip, we aimed to load our backpacks with 20% of our body weight. Our bags included, our own tents, blankets, clothes, water bottles, food, hats, first aid kit, a knife, rope, a tarp, toothbrushes, and toilet paper. What we learned about packing is that we did not pack enough solid food. As the trails that we took here at Zaleski were a figure 8 shape, and our car being in the center, we actually stopped back at our car after half way through our trip, and drove out to eat (it was my dad's birthday, so we had to celebrate of course). At the car, we also swapped shoes for a fresh dry pair, along with dropping off any supplies we no longer needed. Another thing we learned about packing is that a good backpack is definitely necessary. One of our backpacks was just a cheaper military style bag, with only one big pocket. This turned out to be painful to carry, and a more adequate backpack would be the more proficient for longer hikes. A proper map was a necessity because without ours that we purchased from the state of Ohio, we would not have found our way through the forest.
      Overall, our experience at Zaleski was definitely good and we wanted to go back in the future. We wanted to go on another trip especially after learning so much about what to bring and where to hike at. After our experience we absolutely exhausted and beat, but proud about our accomplishment.

**An interesting fact about Zaleski State Forest is that one of the trails, Moonville Tunnel and Lake Hope Furnace, is said to be one of the most haunted places in Ohio.