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Ohio
The North Country Trail enters Ohio through the farm country of the Great Black Swamp and Oak Openings regions, battlegrounds on the western front of the War of 1812. Hikers’ get their first off-road taste of the state on The Wabash Cannonball Trail, under construction by the Northwestern Ohio Rails-to-Trails Association. In the small city of Napoleon, the North Country Trail meets the Buckeye Trail, which it continues to overlap throughout much of the state.
Heading south, hikers can check out the locks, aqueducts and boats that dot the historic Miami and Erie Canal Towpath, which will one day include more than 100 miles of off-road trail.
The trail weaves through growing, green urban infrastructure in Dayton to the doorstep of the Aviation Heritage National Historic Park Museum.
From Yellow Springs, the trail continues south to Cincinnati, following the path of the Littlie Miami State and National Scenic River. The trail parts with the river in Milford, home of the growing Junction Trail Fest held in September to celebrate the village’s place as the convergence point for more than 22,000 miles of trail.
From here, the trail turns east for a winding journey through the forested foothills of the Appalachians, where hikers will encounter the world-renowned works of the region’s mound builders, including Serpent Mount and Fort Hill.
The Hocking Hills region offers awe-inspiring recess caves, intricate rock formations and hemlock coves. Passing through Wayne National Forest, the trail leads hikers through Marietta, the first settlement of the Northwest Territory, at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers.
Following the Muskingum north, the trail brings hikers to the historic town of Zoar, where it departs from the Buckeye Trail and goes east toward Pennsylvania, passing through Lisbon and moving along scenic Little Beaver Creek.
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