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Tar Hollow State Park gives campers, hikers a peek at how state used to look
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Sunday, Nov 15, 2009
LAURELVILLE, OHIO:
Tar Hollow State Park is not big: 619 acres, but it is surrounded by more than 16,120 acres of state forest. Tar Hollow State Forest, the third largest in Ohio, lies 10 miles east of Chillicothe.
The state park and the surrounding forests provide a glimpse of what Ohio was like when the first pioneers came into Ohio.
It is a less busy, less crowded, more natural park. It offers camping, hiking and lots of nature.
Oaks, hickories and shortleaf and pitch pine prefer the dry ridge tops, while sycamores, black willows, buckeyes and silver maples thrive along streams.
It is a land of wild turkey, ruffed grouse, bobcats, timber rattlesnakes and rare salamanders.
It is a land of long, steep hillsides, narrow valleys and dense woodlands. The flat-topped ridges rise 300 to 400 feet above the surrounding countryside.
It is an outdoor playground, a popular camping destination with three public campgrounds.
Springtime brings its edible mushroom, the morel; spring wildflowers in late April and early May; and migrating songbirds.
It is famed for its seclusion and its up-high vistas when leaves are not on the trees.
The wild region is in the rugged sandstone foothills of the Appalachian Plateau in Ross, Hocking and Vinton counties. But Tar Hollow gets overshadowed by other nearby parks like Hocking Hills. It gets about 128,000 visitors a year, far less than Ohio's big-name parks.
The biggest attraction at Tar Hollow is a rugged figure-8 hiking trail that was designed and built in the 1950s by Columbus Boy Scouts. The red-blazed Logan Trail is still maintained by Scouts from Troop 104 from Dayton and Troop 195 in Columbus.
The trail features a northern loop of 10.5 miles and a southern loop of 11 miles, with a 1.1-mile one-way trail spur to an adjoining camp for Scouts only.
The two main loops connect at the park's Brush Ridge Fire Tower, one of the park's biggest attractions off Forest Road No. 3. It is five miles by road from the state park entrance off state Route 327 to the tower off South Ridge Road.
You can also hop on the Logan Trail at the trailhead near Pine Lake and the main park access road.
Hikers can do a loop in four to six hours, both loops in two days. Or you can do an in-and-out hike from park trailheads. It is for serious hikers.
The trail lies in the state park and in the surrounding state forest. It was named after Chief Logan, head of the Mingo tribe in the early 1800s. It's well-marked, but it is only blazed to be hiked in one direction: counterclockwise.
The trail initially opened in 1958 using park and forest roads. It was not popular with Scout groups. It was then rerouted off the roads and onto trails, reopening in 1965, and is known as a nature-filled trail. A badge is available to Scouts who complete the hike.
The trail generally follows the ridge tops and the stream beds to minimize the steep ascents and descents.
Trail users should not be shocked to come across clear-cut sections of forest on state forest lands.
Be careful to follow the red blazes, because other trails are found along the way. There is no camping and no drinking water along the trail.
In all, the state park features 24 miles of hiking trails, 25 miles of bridle trails and 2.5 miles of mountain bike trails. A section of the blue-blazed Buckeye Trail runs through the park as it circles Ohio.
The park offers five backpacking campsites and seven overnight log shelters.
The yellow-blazed Ross Hollow Trail stretches 4.9 miles in a loop, starting near the park's campground.
The Pine Run mountain bike trail begins near the park's general store, a log cabin near 15-acre Pine Lake and the swimming beach. The cabin — it also serves as park office and a nature center — was moved in 1995 from Great Seal State Park in Chillicothe.
The Tar Hollow region got its name from the pine tar derived from the knots and heartwood of the abundant pitch pine trees.
Pine tar was commonly used in pioneer households as the primary ingredient in soothing balms and animal liniments, as well as a lubricant for farm wagons and equipment. The resins were used to make axle grease and turpentine.
Groves of pitch pines are still found in the state park and the surrounding forests.
The first settlers to the region settled in the valleys where the soils were rich. They avoided the steep slopes. In time, those slopes were cleared and marginal farms popped up on the thin, poor soils on the ridges. The region was heavily logged, too.
In the 1930s, the Tar Hollow region became public property.
At the height of the Great Depression, the federal government under President Franklin D. Roosevelt purchased the impoverished farms in southeast Ohio, under a New Deal program designed to give farmers a financial windfall and enable them to move to more productive farms or to nearby cities.
Most of the farmers and the moonshiners who were moved off the land by the federal program simply bought more poor land that was outside the park and continued living the way they had been.
Later another federal program, the Works Progress Administration, built 15-acre Pine Lake at what would later become Tar Hollow State Park. It also built a lodge and 28 cabins for group camping.
In 1939, the area was leased to the Ohio Division of Forestry as Tar Hollow Forest-Park. In 1949, the newly created Ohio Division of Parks took over control of 540 acres, and the remaining 16,000 acres continued to be managed as state forest.
The state park has eight picnic shelters and 99 campsites.
Electric motors are allowed on Pine Lake. There is a swimming beach, bike and boat rentals, volleyball and basketball courts, horseshoe pits and miniature golf.
Other nearby state parks and attractions include Great Seal, Scioto Trail and Hocking Hills state parks, the Mound City Group National Monument with its mounds, the Adena State Memorial and the historical play Tecumseh, a look at the life of the Shawnee chief.
For state park information, contact Tar Hollow State park at 16396 Tar Hollow Road, Laurelville, OH 43135, 740-887-4818, http://www.ohiostateparks.org.
For state forest information, contact Tar Hollow State Forest, 2731 Stoney Creek Road, Chillicothe, OH 45601, 740-663-2538 or 877-248-TREE, http://www.ohiodnr.com/forestry.
For tourist information, contact the Ross-Chillicothe Convention & Visitors Bureau at 45 E. Main St., Chillicothe, OH 45601, 740-702-7677 or 800-413-4118, http://www.visitchillicotheohio.com.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
LAURELVILLE, OHIO:
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