Lengthy Archer’s Fork Loop

*This post contains affiliate links.  We earn a small percentage of qualifying sales at no extra cost to you.

The beauty about hiking is that everyone has differing levels and those levels can be adapted on any trail, push your limits as you see fit. After driving in the car for 3 days and not getting too much exercise, we felt it was time to push our limits and do a longer hike.

We hiked Archer’s Fork Loop in the Wayne National Forest.  This trail is located in the Marietta area of the Athens Ranger District.  We parked at the trailhead and originally were ready to do the hike with no map. This is not recommended, but we felt confident since we’ve hiked in areas like this many times before and the trail was pretty well marked.  It was also a sporadic decision so didn’t have lengthy research done like we normally do. Luckily we pulled up to the trailhead at the same time that the only two National Forest Park rangers in this section pulled in too. They gave us a trail map and shared helpful trail tips with us.

We were in for the long haul, longer than we expected. The trail map told us it was 11 miles and a forest ranger at the trailhead told us 13 miles.  In the end, our GPS showed we went a total of 16 miles. To be fair, we did hike a bit too far at one of the trails so we figured the end total was roughly 14.  The frustration kicked in hard when we were at what we thought was “the end of the trail” for about the last 2 hours. The park ranger mentioned, “the final hill is a tough one, especially without water!”  As we kept referring to our map, it felt like the “last hills” were never-ending.

We are used to hikes with heavy backpacks on but don’t do much over 10 miles in a day.  We aren’t used to 16-mile hikes, even with minimal weight. It was also 90 and humid during this hike.  We, well Sarah more than Andy, were continually questioning how thru-hikers do so many miles on a daily basis for about 6 or more months at a time. The 16 miles took us 7 hours to hike.  The trail was pretty challenging towards the end, and the heat didn’t help. We can definitely see why thru-hikers get voices in their heads and start talking to themselves while on the trail!

*The trail is very slippery in certain areas to hike with caution. Hike with extra caution when going near the natural bridge.  Sarah slipped on some green moss on a rock near the edge of the cliff. Be very cautious in this area!

*There are water sources along the way but the best one in isn’t for roughly 4 miles so bring plenty of water to last, along with a water filter system to refill.

*The trail is shared between hikers and mountain bikers, and in some areas horses, so be safe. We always need to be extra cautious of this when hiking with a dog.

*You can do the loop in 2 or more days if you’d rather.  There are a few campsites along the trail you can backpack to.

At mile 12 the exhaustion was kicking in hard.  Andy kept telling Sarah this is the last hill the ranger was talking about.  Four hills later and approaching another one, Sarah wasn’t having it and realized Andy was just talking some nonsense.  Bodies aching, sweat dripping, Sarah felt very challenged and depleted. We sat down at the top of a hill for a break and Sarah gave herself a mini pep talk while Andy wiped the neverending stream of sweat from his face and Daisy took nap.  This was a true test of getting over some mental barriers.

Once we finally got back to the trailhead after what seemed like an eternity, we just sat in relief that we didn’t have just one more hill to climb.  Andy cracked a beer from the cooler while we sat and recovered. A beer is so much tastier and goes down so much smoother after hiking 16 miles in the heat.  We changed clothes and left the trailhead at dusk. The air conditioned car never felt so good.

Archer’s Fork Loop was beautiful and challenging.  We highly recommend this trail if you are near southeast Ohio.

Peace, love, and hike thru life!