Wayne National Forest, often known as “The Wayne”, is a forest that spans greater than 240,000 acres in southeastern Ohio. As the state’s solely National Forest, it’s an excellent vacation spot for Ohioans and guests who need to spend time within the nice open air.
If you’re planning a Wayne National Forest tenting journey or go to, you’ve come to the best place. Keep studying for the entire information!
What to Expect at Wayne National Forest
Located within the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Wayne National Forest options rolling hills, lakes, streams, and, in fact, forests. This panorama implies that the Wayne provides an abundance of issues to see and do, together with mountaineering, biking, horseback driving, looking, historic websites, boating, fishing, and a lot extra.
Wayne National Forest is residence to wildlife together with beavers, otters, wild turkeys, deer, foxes, and extra. If you’re fortunate, you might be able to spot a few of these animals throughout your journey!
If you go to the forest, you’ll most likely discover that the huge space is fragmented with three separate items throughout cities and counties. Roads move via the realm, too, making a lot of it simply accessible.
Wayne National Forest Camping
Camping is a good way to immerse your self within the nationwide forest, giving your self loads of time to discover the realm and benefit from the pure panorama.
If you’re planning a Wayne National Forest Camping Trip, right here’s every little thing it’s essential know.
Types of Camping
Wayne National Forest provides varied tenting choices, so there’s one thing for nearly everybody! Whether you favor backpacking, tenting in an RV, or must accommodate a big group, The Wayne has you coated.
Read on to be taught extra concerning the completely different Wayne National Forest tenting choices.
- Campground tenting – Wayne National Forest provides basic campground tenting, with quite a lot of campgrounds to select from. Options vary from primitive campgrounds to developed ones that supply bogs, electrical energy, ingesting water, and extra.
- Dispersed tenting – For those that would favor backpacking in Wayne National Forest, dispersed campgrounds can be found. Visitors can hike to their campgrounds or camp alongside trailheads whereas on the transfer. Just don’t count on many facilities at your campsite.
- Group tenting – For bigger teams, Wayne National Forest provides a number of group campgrounds. Some, like Oak Hill and Two Point, can match as much as 50 folks, whereas others, like Lake Vesuvius, can accommodate as much as 100 folks.
- RV tenting – If you favor to camp in an RV, Wayne National Forest has you coated, too. Depending on the campground you select, many have area for RVs, plus options like water and electrical hookups.
- Off-highway car (OHV) tenting – Wayne National Forest boasts high OHV trails and loads of campgrounds for OHV riders. Riders can camp at OHV trailheads and designated areas, the place every little thing is definitely accessible
- Equestrian tenting – The Wayne additionally provides equestrian tenting on lots of its horse trails and designated horse campgrounds. Just needless to say there aren’t any stables, and you must convey your personal horse.
Campgrounds
Given the scale of the nationwide forest and the number of tenting choices accessible, Wayne National Forest has tons of campgrounds to select from. Below are just a few in style choices with completely different options and facilities.
- Iron Ridge Campground – Located on the east facet of Lake Vesuvius, Iron Ridge Campground provides easy accessibility to the lake and close by mountaineering trails. It’s one of many nationwide forest’s most developed campsites, with water, electrical energy, and flush bogs. It has 21 RV campsites and 11 tent websites.
- Oak Hill Campground – Oak Hill is one in every of Wayne National Forest’s latest campgrounds, situated on the western facet of Lake Vesuvius. Each of its 27 campsites has water and electrical hookups, plus entry to restrooms with flush bogs and showers. The campground additionally has a ship dock, and it’s close to a number of mountaineering trails.
- Stone Church Horse Camp – If horseback driving is your factor, Stone Church Horse Camp is for you. From April 15 to December 15, this campground is open and provides entry to over 20 miles of scenic equestrian trails. This campground is situated exterior of Shawnee, Ohio.
- Leith Run Recreation Area – The Leith Run Campground is situated on the Ohio River. It options 21 grassy campsites for tent tenting and 18 for RV tenting, and it has trendy facilities corresponding to picnic areas, ingesting water, flush bogs, and electrical energy.
- Burr Oak Cove Campground – Burr Oak Cove Campground is a quieter campground in Wayne National Forest that’s situated close to the cities of Gloucester and Corning. It provides 19 websites for each tent and RV tenting, in addition to facilities like ingesting water, bogs, and picnic tables.
Things to do at Wayne National Forest
Hiking
Wayne National Forest provides over 300 miles of mountaineering trails. These trails vary from brief day hikes to lengthy backpacking trails that stretch over 15 miles. They additionally range in degree of problem, so there are mountaineering trails appropriate for a lot of completely different wants.
Just a few in style trails embrace Archers Fork Trail, the Wayne National Forest Scenic River Loop, the Covered Bridge Trail, and Paddle Creek Loop.
Off-Highway Vehicle Riding
The Wayne National Forest is well-known for its off-highway car (OHV) path system, which occurs to be the biggest OHV path system within the state. With trails starting from beginner-friendly to these extra appropriate for knowledgeable riders, it provides loads of choices for everybody.
OHV trails are closed within the winter however open the remainder of the yr, as are a lot of the nationwide forest’s campgrounds. So in case you get pleasure from driving off-highway automobiles like ATVs (or need to strive it out), don’t miss the chance whereas tenting at Wayne National Forest.
Horseback Riding
In addition to trails for mountaineering and OHVs, Wayne National Forest has 79 miles of horse trails. These trails span all completely different areas of the forest, together with Lake Vesuvius, the Old Stone Church space, and extra.
Unfortunately, the park doesn’t supply horses for lease, so that you’ll must convey your personal horse if you wish to get pleasure from this a part of the forest (although horse trails are open for hikers, too).
Water Recreation
The lakes, rivers, and streams all through Wayne National Forest supply an abundance of alternatives for water actions like boating and fishing.
Motorized boating is allowed in just a few areas, with boat ramps accessible at Timber Ridge Lake, Leith Run Recreation Area, and the Frontier Boat Launch on the Ohio River. Alternatively, in case you favor canoeing or kayaking, there are further locations the place non-motorized boating is allowed.
And in case you’re excited about fishing, there are greater than 130 fishable lakes and ponds within the forest. Just a few kinds of fish it’s possible you’ll encounter are bass, bluegill, and catfish.
What to Pack
Your packing listing will largely depend upon while you go to Wayne National Forest, the climate, and what you select to do.
For instance, visiting in early spring or late fall will doubtless be colder than {the summertime}, so that you’ll must plan accordingly. Additionally, if you wish to benefit from the water, it’s possible you’ll select to convey issues like fishing gear and kayaks, or in case you favor mountaineering, then you definitely’ll want some mountaineering boots.
For extra steering on what to pack (and what to not pack), go to our information on What to Bring Camping and be sure you don’t overlook any necessities.
Wrapping Up Wayne National Forest Camping
As you may see, a Wayne National Forest tenting journey provides a lot to see and do! From enjoyable on the water to thrilling OHV rides, there’s one thing for everybody.
If you’re trying to go tenting in Ohio, this vacation spot ought to be in your listing.
Want to discover extra nationwide parks and forests? Check out our nationwide park tenting web page for extra tenting guides and suggestions!
