Hueston Woods State Park: Mud Lick Trail (Blog Hike #109)

Trail: Mud Lick Trails

Hike Location: Hueston Woods State Park

Geographic Location: north of Oxford, OH (39.57292, -84.74151)

Length: 1.4 miles

Difficulty: 3/10 (Easy/Moderate)

Dates Hiked: October 2001, June 2015

Overview: A hillside walk through mature forest overlooking Acton Lake.

Park Information: https://ohiodnr.gov/wps/portal/gov/odnr/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/hueston-woods-state-park

Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=940192
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: From downtown Oxford, go north on SR 732 to the entrance to Hueston Woods State Park.  Turn left to enter the park.  Where the main park road forks, bear right then watch for signs directing you to turn left to reach the lodge.  Park in the small, first lodge parking lot on the right.

The hike: For my general comments on Hueston Woods State Park, see the Big Woods Trail description.  The trail described here links the A-frame park lodge to the family cabin area.  Along the way, the trail passes through some nice forest and offers excellent lake views, especially in the leafless month.

Trailhead: Mud Lick Trail

            The trail enters the woods heading directly away from the lodge, treading a wide, level course paralleling the park road.  The second-growth forest is of the maple-beech variety with an understory of honeysuckle.  By-pass the short and middle loops which exit to the left at marked intersections and soon cross an abandoned park service road.

Hiking the Mud Lick Trail

           Across the road, the forest becomes considerably younger and the understory becomes more encumbered.  Where a trail heading to the family cabins heads straight ahead, turn left to remain on the Mud Lick Trails.  In another 0.3 miles the trail comes out a service road leading to the cabins.  Most of the trail is easy to follow, but this is one spot where the purple square blazes come in handy.  The trail actually turns left on the service road and follows the pavement for less than 0.1 miles before turning left again, reentering the woods.  If you reach a maintenance building on the left side of the road, you have missed this turn.

Now heading south through young forest, this portion of the trail is narrower and more difficult to follow.  Again, watch for the purple squares.  After dipping through a pair of shallow ravines, the trail comes to what appears to be an unmarked intersection.  I suggest using the right option here, a side loop trail that leads of a steep bluff overlooking Acton Lake.  From the overlook, one must return inland and pass over a buried waterline to intersect the trail that proceeds straight ahead.

Wooden bridge

            The trail passes through another ravine without the aid of a bridge before intersecting the middle loop from the left.  Turn right here and come to another lake overlook before crossing a long wooden bridge built over the aforementioned waterline.  Now switching back and forth between gravel and dirt, the trail crosses another long wooden bridge to come out at a mown-grass clearing in front of the lodge.  Turn left and climb the grassy hill to return to the trailhead and complete the hike.