Mohican State Park

Mohican State Park, located at 3116 State Route 3 in Loundonville, is only an a bit more than an hour away from Akron, but it feels like the middle of nowhere.  That’s exactly what drew me to spend 2 days there last week. The sights, sounds and smells of fall were a needed de stressing get away. This is a popular spot year around, so I figured the best time to go would be the weekdays.  I was right.  I went Sunday and Monday. The trails on Sunday were far more crowded than Monday. On Sunday, I spent time driving around exploring the small town and surrounding areas of the park. I just love how everyone seems much more happy and friendly in small towns.By the time, I pulled myself away from my driving explorations, I only had a few hours of daylight for hiking and exploring IN the park on that first day.  I ended up being fine with this because the amount of people that were on the trails on Sunday ended up being more than I wanted to deal with.  I needed an escape from people and wanted to take photos…2 things that are hard to do on a busy day.

Before I went on my first trail, I took the short walk to the “Gorge Overlook”. There are 2 different quick pathways leading to an amazing view of the 300-foot deep gorge. What made it a such pretty site, at least for this time of the year, was many of the trees were displaying the gorgeous fall colors.

After that, I went to climb the famous Fire Tower. Now, I am not one that normally has a problem with heights.  I have gone skydiving, I’ve walked crazy high suspension bridges, and I’ve climbed mountains…one of them being Mount Washington. Having said that, I only got about a third of the way up this thing. I watched kids run up it while giggling, but when I started up the steps, I only had a feeling of dread. The kids’ sporadic movements at the top made the entire thing move, then I looked over and saw the rust as I was white knuckling the railing. Nope. I felt no shame going back down and taking photos – looking up.

After taking photos and petting a sweet dog (from a dad that had no intention of following his kids up the fire tower) I made my way to my first trail quickly because I was starting to loose daylight. My first trail was the Lyons Fall Trail.  This trail is marked as moderate to difficult and takes you to 2 waterfalls. I didn’t find it to be too difficult and I was carrying a heavy tripod and camera.

I patiently waited for people to take an insane amount of selfies and cute couple photos in front of the “Big Lyons Waterfall”, clearly the more popular one of the 2. I spent so much time waiting for a photo op that I didn’t get a chance to head further up to the “Little Lyons Fall” today. The sun was setting on me and I had the 2 miles back to my car.

Big Lyons Falls

Path that leads back to the parking lot from Big Lyons Falls

Once I made it back to my car, I drove to the camping area next door to the park. I should have figured out their camping system beforehand because it was super dark and cold and hard to see the numbers for the camp sites and then find them again once you filled out the camping form and took it back. I was happy to stop for the night and settle into  the back seat of my Kia Soul. I had 2 blankets, 2 pillows, snacks and my phone for entertainment (so I thought). I soon realized that I had no cell service or internet there!!! Cell service had been intermittent, even driving in the town around the park, so this was not much of a surprise. I wondered how I would entertain myself when it was not even 7PM! I ended up looking through the photos I took on my phone and editing some of them. I put them in Instagram to upload the moment I got connection to the world back. It’s so funny that we go to parks to get-away, but we are all so addicted. Addicted to being connected that we use our phones obsessively until we are forced to live without it for a moment. I guess I was still feeding the addiction by being on my phone and thinking about uploading these photos, even though I couldn’t…yet!

My home for the night

Sweet little cabins to stay in, if you are not into sleeping in your car or a tent. They look out at the river and Hemlock Grove Trail across from the river.

I ended up falling asleep around 11PM and getting up at 7AM! I was happy for not having a workable phone then! I was a bit bored so I ended up falling asleep way earlier than I’m used too…with the help of my friend, Bennidryl.  I was up several times in the night because I was cold and the last couple times was because I had to pee. I held it for as long as I could, then I started my car to get the heat going and then ran to finally go to the bathroom and to brush my teeth. I grabbed food at McDonnald’s because they are the only thing open then. I ate and watched out the window as a farmer chased a young calf around while it moo-ed at him.  “Wow,  I’m up early!”, I thought, but I was enjoying the morning time.  I ate and booked it back to the park and was on my first trail by just before 8AM! Seeing no cars in the parking lot excited me and I was ready to run into the dense forest to find my solitude. I chose to start with The Lyons Fall Trail again, but I took The Pleasant Hill Trail connection to get there to mix it up. It is only 3/4 of a mile and an easy ramp. I was happy to see the Big Lyons Falls again. Beautiful moss covered the cliffs around the waterfall and the rocks and fallen tress, basically everything. I was completely alone that time and I got into my zen of taking photos. I explored every part of that area. I was in front of the waterfall, to the left and right and even walked behind it. I got sprayed in my face, i got dripped on from above, I listened to the birds, and I watched the morning mist dissipate and the sun come out. That’s when I started to notice less tension in my body. Ahhh This was better than the the day before. I was so happy I chose to come back to see this area when there were no people. I then went on further and saw “Little Lyons Falls”, then took a .2 mile cut off from the Lyons trail to Stage Coach Trail then picked up Pleasant Hill Trail again till that lead to the main Lyons Trail and then popped back out to my car. Waa-La!

Little Lyons Falls

Little Lyons Falls

One of the things I noticed immediately about this park, is that the trails are very well marked. I tend to have little sense of direction and it does not take much for me to get lost even when I’m trying hard not too. This park fixed that by having laminated maps on pedestals all over the park and lots of signs, so even I couldn’t help but to know exactly where I was at at all times EVEN when I was bouncing from trail to trail. This park made me feel comfortable enough to explore the entire area without fear of getting lost and that’s saying a ton! They have this great system of having a letter assigned to different areas in the park on the maps and then every so often a map would say, “You are at W” and shows you various ways to go from there. It’s wonderful.

Boardwalk in between Big Lyons Falls and Little Lyons Falls

Once back at my car, I guzzled some water for hydration, coffee for energy and ate a banana and some other things laying around my car. I did this while watching people walk and drive across the lovely covered bridge at the trail head, or end, depending on where you start. I decided to leave my tripod behind for the next couple of trails. My neck was getting a bit sore from carrying it.

I looked at the map and decided that The Hemlock Grove Trail was next and possibly North Rim Trail if I had time.  I ended up doing both. There is a covered bridge at the trail head, or end, depending on where you start. The moment I started on Hemlock, I knew I’d love it! There was the ethereal misty haze floating through the trees.  I felt like an Elvin Princess frolicking about! Seriously, the Falls trails and that area were beautiful too, and I think they are popular because of the featured waterfalls and cliffs, but this trail was magic. Pure freakin’ magic. Maybe it was just the right day and time of year…just the perfect moment. I can’t say that this trail will look like what I saw if you go…all I can say is that it was perfection when I was there. The only thing I wished for was more daylight, so I could sit and relax and take in all the little intricacies of life all around me in more depth. So many little gems to be seen if you just look closely.  The smell of all the fall leaves was overwhelmingly amazing and then there were all the birds singing and NO road sounds and little scurrying creatures all around.  And moss!  SO.MUCH.MOSS. The misty air made the trees look foggy and washed out and the vibrant green moss and fall leaves stood out so much more against them. So much life on this trail. Many different types of moss growing up every tree, living or dead. So many different types of fungus growing on trees, living or dead. I removed some leaves to photograph one beautiful cluster of mushrooms and was startled by a tiny and shiny sweet little red backed Salamander. Then, further down, Hemlock Grove leads to The North Rim Trail and I look up and a statuesque deer was staring right at me. My actual one-sided conversation with her, “Hey pretty, So I see that you see that I see you. It looks like my path leads me to where you are currently at. How can we do this with me getting over there without getting hooves in the face?”

I scared her away with my camera flash after a 5 minute stair down. She didn’t go far. She was not too scared. She walked away…watching me…then came back after I got a few steps ahead and continued on her path.

The North Rim gets darker and denser into the forest and there is a fairly steady incline. About the middle of the mile trail, I ran into 2 older men. First people I saw in a long while. One of them said, “What possessed you to hike all these miles alone with only your camera and a handful of ‘pretty’ leaves?” Ha!  Then they asked me if I knew where there were. I actually did, so I helped them out, but then asked them if when this trail leads to the road on the map, if I could walk the road back to my car since the sun was starting the set. They lived there, so I thought they would know that much. They recommended that I take the one mile North Rim AND the 2 mile Hemlock Grove trail all the way back instead of the road.

I didn’t listen.

I thought the road would be quicker and safer that the dark, very dense woods. The trails don’t “close” until 11pm and it was only about 5pm, but I was more concerned with the light issue.

Random find when I was walking back on the road

So, I popped out on Rt. 3 and took 97 to go all the way back. That’s when I noticed the street was curving far out away from the direction I wanted to go. Hemlock Grove follows the river the entire trail, but the street can’t. So, basically I realized I made a bad choice, but I had no choice, but to keep trucking. A mile or so later, a park ranger stopped to ask if I was OK and THANKFULLY he gave me a ride ALL the way back to my car. He estimated it would have been about 7 miles. Holy hell! I’m writing this so everyone knows to plan for a return trip through the woods and NOT the street like I did. I would have gladly gone back on both gorgeous trails, but daylight was rushing away so fast. That’s the only problem with Fall hiking.

Obviously Hemlock Grove was by far my favorite trail at Mohican State Park.The sights and smells, the foggy trees, the moss, the fungus, the Salamander, the river…I mean…seriously! North Rim would be second on my list, then the Lyons Falls Trails, pleasant Hill Trail and Stage Coach Trail. I will most defiantly be coming back here very soon. I still have Hog Hollow Trail (2.5 miles) and Shelter House trail left to do. The Shelter House Trail is only .33 miles, but it is very steep according the park ranger dude. I will highly recommend this park to everyone. The well marked trails, the nice park rangers, the amazing views and feeling like an Elf should be enough to at least check it out.

Oh yeah, and people Kayak here too…if you do that.

Goodbye Mohican! Till next time! <3

🦎🍂🍁🧚🏻‍♀️🧝🏻‍♀️🐛

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