Shawnee State Forest OHV

Shawnee State Forest is Ohio's largest state forest: 63,000 acres of hill country in Scioto County in southern Ohio, approximately 20 miles west of Portsmouth along the Ohio River. The forest is known as Ohio's Little Smokies for the rolling, heavily forested ridge-and-hollow terrain that most closely approximates the Appalachian character of the adjacent Kentucky and West Virginia landscapes across the river, a topography completely unlike the flat agricultural Ohio that most associate with the state. The OHV trail system in Shawnee utilizes designated forest roads and ATV corridors through the forest's interior, providing public-land off-road access to the hill country terrain that private commercial parks charge admission for elsewhere in the region. The landscape character is classic Appalachian foothills: mixed oak-hickory forest on the ridge tops and south-facing slopes, mixed mesophytic forest of tulip poplar, sugar maple, and beech on the north-facing slopes and hollow bottoms, and the stream corridors of the Little Scioto River system that drain the forest's interior. Terrain varies from moderate ridge-road riding to more technical hollow-traversal single-track on the steeper sections. ATVs and off-highway motorcycles are permitted on designated OHV routes; Ohio ATV registration is required. The proximity to the Ohio River and the Kentucky border, the Red River Gorge and Daniel Boone National Forest systems in Kentucky are within 60 miles, makes Shawnee a natural anchor for multi-day Appalachian OHV itineraries combining Ohio and Kentucky public-land riding. The Shawnee State Forest office at Portsmouth (740-858-6685) manages current route designations and seasonal hunting closure schedules.