One of Ohio’s most popular backpacking areas is the Zaleski State Forest.  The forest, about two hours SE of Columbus, offers a 20+ mile backpacking loop and many additional miles of trail on roughly 26,000 acres of hilly, wild terrain.

This past week, the State of Ohio has announced successful acquisition of 15,000+ additional adjoining acres in the Raccoon Ecological Management Area and Vinton Furnace Experimental Forest.  The result is a 40,000+ acre block of land that represented the largest forest area that had, up until last week, been unprotected.

Area hikers should keep this area in mind when planning a long weekend in the outdoors.  Links:

http://www.ohiodnr.com/Default.aspx?tabid=18276&EntryID=1390

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/tabid/5171/Default.aspx

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/wild_resourcessubhomepage/WildlifeAreaMaps/SoutheastOhioWildlifeAreaMaps/RaccoonEcologicalManagementAreaMap/tabid/20370/Default.aspx

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