The Great Seal State Park is located outside of Chillicothe, Ohio; which was our State’s first capital before it was moved to Columbus. On this trip I was lucky to have my friend Jeannette, who traveled all the way from Canada to hike with me. We were training for the Camino de Santiago in Spain at the time, so we picked a challenging hike; the Shawnee Ridge Loop.
The Shawnee is a 12.1-mile trek through the woods, and up and down very step ridges. It was a challenge indeed! You can find the trail head at the first parking/camping lot, right behind the bathrooms (I love a trailhead with a bathroom!). You have to look for a little bit, but you will see the sign. The trail is definitely rustic, sometimes very overgrown, and hard to follow. I would definitely recommend using All Trails for this one.
You are pretty much in the woods for the whole hike, and the hills keep you on your toes! It felt like we climbed forever, only to find we just reached a plateau and had more to climb to reach the top! I definitely recommend doing this hike when conditions are dry because the hills are both high and steep, so wet conditions would make this an exceedingly difficult hike. We did run into a few fellow hikers, but for the most part we felt pretty isolated on this trail.
Some strange highlights, we found the frame of an old truck randomly in the middle of the forest and I cannot image how that got there. But the creepiest thing we found was at the top of one very steep hill, these doll heads!
We have no idea why these were placed in this very remote location, but we decided to keep walking, and maybe pick up our pace a little. I did some Googling when we got home, but never did find any reference to the doll heads, or any explanation why they were there. Just a nice creepy mystery to add to our list of adventures!
Here is my itinerary for the day:
Note, the trail was much more challenging than we anticipated, so we did end up lobbing off the last portion and just hit the loop back to the parking lot. I was on the back loop that we found the doll heads, just for your reference.
If you decide to take this trip for yourself, please share your experiences. I look forward to hearing from you!
As you can see by this post’s header, I covered a lot of ground on this one. It was the weekend before Halloween and I wanted to pack in as much spooky fun as possible, so I planned an ambitious itinerary.
My first stop, The Battletown Witch Festival. I travelled four hours from Columbus, Ohio to Brandenburg, Kentucky to attend a festival that was created to commemorate the life and murder of Leah Smoch. This poor young woman was labeled a witch and burned to death by her neighbors in her own family’s smokehouse. Her ghost is rumored to haunt the area ever since.
I attended the festival last year (2023), and I enjoyed it immensely. They had speakers and events, great vendors, and food trucks. This year they moved the festival to a new larger venue at the YMCA Camp Piomingo (still in Brandenburg, KY). I was surprised there was no signage for the event, even at the festival itself. And I did not see any event itineraries on the website, and I did not see any speakers or events at this year’s festival. Parking was problematic as well. They utilized a field that had been mowed but not leveled. I am sure some lower to the ground vehicles had some issues maneuvering. Also, the parking lot was a mile away from the actual event. There was a bus to shuttle people, but there appeared to be only one and the line was long. But for a hiker, that was great! Once I figured out what direction to go, I enjoyed the walk there and back.
The YMCA Camp was nice, but I do not think it is open to the public. The only thing I could find on the website was for group event registration. I could not find any trail maps on Park’s website, or even on my beloved AllTrails app. But there are other hikes nearby that would be fun to explore if you have the time.
I was frustrated by the inconvenience of the new venue and disappointed in the lack of festival events and food options (not as many food trucks this year, I ended up finding food after I left the event). I hope they work out the kinks for next year’s festival because the legend and the concept of the festival are wonderful! This should not just be a vendor event. After I hiked back to my car, I was ready to move on.
I hit the road again and headed to Louisville, Kentucky. My next stop was the Waverly Hills Sanitorium. Waverly Hills was opened in 1910 for tuberculosis patients. It is estimated that over 50,000 unfortunate souls died within its walls. And you guessed, it is haunted.
Being the weekend before Halloween, the Sanitorium was decked out for the annual haunted event. I bought the RIP ticket that included an abbreviated paranormal/history tour and admission to the haunted sanitorium. This was well worth the money in my opinion. The guided paranormal tour took us through all five floors of the facility, and naturally, in the dark. The guides were wonderful, providing a history of the facility and giving us highlights of the some of the people who lived and died there, and of the ghosts! And we got to see the most haunted location in the building, Room 502.
After the paranormal tour we were taken directly to the front of the line for the haunted sanitorium event. I have not been to a haunted house in years, so I was both a little nervous and excited to see it. It did not disappoint. They provided 3D glasses to be worn for the first portion of the haunt and the effects were great! The scariest parts for me though, were the rooms that were in complete darkness, and you had to find your way out! I thought the whole thing was very well done.
Finding Waverly Hills was a little challenging though. The address on the website leads you to the back gate, which was closed for the haunted sanitorium event. I was not the only one confused, there was a group of us parked and trying to figure out where to go. I finally found the correct address on the Event Brite ticket website. And again, no signage! Even when we found the right gate! So, double check where you need to be before you go.
I spent the night in Louisville and headed home the next morning. But I had one more stop before I went home. I did a slight detour and visited Cincinnati’s Findlay Market.
The Findlay Market has been in operation since 1855 and provides an amazing variety of foods and other treasures. The place is chuck full of fresh produce straight from the farm, spices, meats, and prepared foods. I had a delicious Nutella crepe for breakfast and a wonderful cup of chia tea. Both were delicious. Findlay Market is a perfect excursion for a beautiful autumn Sunday morning. I arrived a little before 10:00 a.m. and found plenty of parking. But the lot was pretty filled up by the time I left a little over an hour later. I know they have more than one lot, so I am sure parking can be found.
All and all, I had a very enjoyable road trip. I would recommend checking out the Kentucky After Dark site, for more spooky places to visit in the state. A miss on my part was not picking up the Kentucky After Dark passport! I was too distracted at both the festival and the sanitorium to look for it. But I will find it eventually and hopefully hit some more of the locations.
Here is my itinerary for this trip:
If you decide to take this trip for yourself, please share your experiences. I look forward to hearing from you!
