Ohio trails · Backpack Main Trail South Loop
Backpack Main Trail South Loop
A 14.6-mile out-and-back in Ohio, with 620 ft of climbing. Reaches Pond Lick Lake. Managed by the state.
Elevation profile
The climbing is spread fairly evenly along the route. It gives back about 2,262 ft along the way, so it rolls rather than climbing steadily.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- Pond Lick Lake (lake)
Heads up
Getting there
Backpack Main Trail North Loop access — parking nearby. 38.72644, -83.15414 · directions
Daylight at the trailhead
On August 31, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 6:33 a.m., the sun rises at 7:00 a.m. and sets at 8:04 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 8:31 p.m. (EDT) — 13 h 04 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 29.3-mile round trip takes roughly 11 h 28 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 6:28 p.m. — 1 h 36 min before sunset.
Loop options
- Backpack Wilderness Side Trail + Backpack Main Trail South Loop — 12.5 mi loop, 3,204 ft gain
Nearby trails
- Backpack Main Trail North Loop — 0.0 mi
- Knighton Nature Trail — 2.6 mi
- Conley'S Run — 4.7 mi
- Buckeye Trail — 12.6 mi