My wife and I recently vacationed at Mohican State Park in Perrysville, Ohio. we stayed at the Lodge, which I recommend, and spent our time walking, hiking, and exploring the area. I enjoyed getting to see the Pleasant Hill Dam close up. We saw eagles (including juvenile bald eagles), hawks, vultures, woodchucks, deer, prairie-dogs, dragonflies, and butterflies.
On our last day, we hiked the Pleasant Hill Trail to the Lyons Falls Trail and visited “Big Lyons Falls” and “Little Lyons Falls” (PDF):
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
So the water flowing over the falls was not exactly dramatic, but they were still fun to visit, and it’s clear from the height, size and dampness of the falls that there is often a heck of a lot more water cascading over them.
Here I am standing underneath the water flowing over Big Lyons Falls (you might be able to see the water droplets if you click to see the full-size image):
And here I am at the bottom of Little Lyons Falls:
The story of Little Lyons Falls is actually a bit more complicated and interesting than you can see from the picture above. While the hiking trail takes you directly into Big Lyons Falls — and as you can see from the photo above, there’s a constructed stairway leading either into or out of the Falls depending on the direction in which you hike the trail — the trail takes you to the top of Little Lyons Falls, and it takes some fun climbing to get to the bottom. Here’s the top of Little Lyons Falls as seen from the trail (again, if you view the full image, you might be able to see the water trickling over the moss):
To get all the way to the bottom, you first need to climb down these roots (photo taken from the bottom, having already climbed down):
Then walk across this log:
(Of course, it’s entirely possible that this log won’t be there when you go to the falls!) Then walk across another log (alas no photo), and then you arrive at the shaded cavern beneath the falls:
It’s an easy, fun climb down and back up, assuming that the water flow is as low as it was when we were there. I can’t vouch for how safe it is to climb down into the falls when it’s more active!
And now, an entirely unrelated but nevertheless interesting aside… On your way to Mohican State Park, its Lodge, or Pleasant Hill Dam, you may see this sign on State Route 1027:
If you ignore the sign and drive past it, you will see this:
They’re not kidding about this. Really:
To the right of where this photo was taken is an uphill grade. To the left is a downhill grade and then Pleasant Hill Lake. I suspect when they repair this road, they’re going to want to put some drainage pipes underneath it so runoff goes through the pipes rather than washing away the road’s foundation and causing it to collapse again. Judging from Google Maps, this may not be the first time this segment of road has collapsed:
