Scioto County High Point Trip Report

Date: June 22, 2002
Author: Bob Schwab

From the intersection of Ohio Routes 32 and 73, drive south on Route 73 for 6.7 miles to the small town of Rarden. Turn northeast onto Route 772 and continue for another 3.2 miles to the intersection with Bear Lake Road (there is a small convenience store located there on the corner). Drive east on Bear Lake Road for 1.9 miles through Mt. Joy to the Mt. Hope Road intersection. Turn right and continue south on Mt. Hope Road for 1.6 miles to Crabtree Cemetery Road. Turn left on this dirt road and drive 1 mile to a gated road on your left that ascends to a tower.

Park here and hike up the road to the old lookout tower site (nice views here) where the road makes a hairpin turn as it continues southeast toward a radio tower. Leave the road at the lookout site and head north. You will see a hole in the bushes where an ATV trail begins to head down the north ridge. Follow the ATV trail for only a few hundred feet to where a trail breaks off to the left and descends rather steeply. Follow this "trail" as it descends, then ascends the adjacent hill where the highpoint is located. The trail crests just northeast of the true highpoint. When I originally approached this site, I came in via another ATV trail that circles this hill to the left and then I had to bushwhack cross-country through a lot of green briars (not recommended). There are no views at the highpoint and the bugs can be very persistent.