Great Seal State Park

Great Seal State Park: Half Marathon - Over 2400 ft elevation change (In Central Ohio?)

228 feet. / mile elevation Change: Great Seal State Park

Great Seal 10 miles. -180 ft / mile

230 Ft / Mile elevation at Great Seal state Park!

What a nice day to run.  Sugar Loaf, Bald Hill, and Sand Hill in a 5.5 mile run.  Almost 1,300 feet of elevation change!  That is 230 ft / mile.  That is about 50% more than Mohican or Zaleski.  No wonder I was so slow.  Or could be  - just out of shape.

Almost 10 miles and 1850 ft elevation at Great Seal State Park

Another terrific day of trail running at Great Seal State Park in Chillicothe.  A nice 10 mile loop that included Sand Hill and Mt. Ives.   A slow hill run. 

Tar hollow HILLS: 145 feet of elevation per mile on south loop of Logan Trail

Not quite up to the levels of Great Seal State Park (185 ft per mile) but up there with Mohican and Zaleski.  For me, it is the hills that make trail running fun.  It gives the variety in terrain and difficulty that keeps things interesting.  I would not run if it was just a road or flat asphalt trail - or worse yet a treadmill every time.  Of course those are all important parts of a training program.  it is hard to build speed with just hills but it sure build strength.

Great Seal State Park . -Snowy Winter Run

Taken from the ODNR website:


Great Seal State Park is located just north of the town of Chillicothe and dedicated to the wilderness spirit of Ohio. The history of the Shawnee nation and Ohio's early statehood is centered in these rugged hills. Challenging trails through the 1,862-acre park take visitors to scenic vistas of distant ridgetops and the Scioto Valley below. These very hills are depicted on the Great Seal of the State of Ohio, from which the park gets its name. First depicted in 1803, the seal was often reconfigured until the present image was sanctioned by the Ohio General Assemble in 1967 and modified in 1996. In 1803, the law prescribed the sheaf of wheat to represent Ohio’s agricultural roots and the bundle of seventeen arrows to symbolize Ohio’s place as the seventeenth state in the Union. The range of hills seen in the background of the seal, include Mount Logan, as viewed from Thomas Worthington’s estate, Adena, now a state memorial.

Great Seal State Park - Winter Run - Part 3 of 3

Great Seal State Park Winter Run - Part 2 of 3

Great Seal State Park - Winter Run- Par 1 of 3

Great Seal Park - Mt. Ives and Sand Hill

It was like spring in February today and I took advantage and did about 10 nice miles at the Great Seal State Park in Chillicothe.  I followed the Shawnee Trail and ran Mt. Ives and Sand Hill.  About 1700 feet of elevation change.

Trail Running in Central Ohio

In the 12 plus years I have been trail running I have been surprised at finding nearby trails that I had not experienced.  Most recently this was at Great Seal State Park in Chillicothe.  I cannot believe that I have been missing out on this terrific location for so many years!.  Even in the wet sloppy snow it instantly became one of my favorites.  It has many challenging hills but also some nice rolling portions where I can stretch out.  The scenery was enough by itself to recommend it.  No wonder it is on the Seal of Ohio!

I have been to neighboring Tar Hollow a number of times and it is very nice but it is much rougher than Great Seal and not any more challenging. It would be fun to camp at one or the other and do a twofer - one on Saturday and the other on Sunday  -What a workout!