Strouds Run State Park

Strouds Run State Park is an Ohio state park located primarily in Canaan Township, Athens County, Ohio, with a small part in Ames Township. It comprises 2,606acre, and includes Dow Lake, a 161acre artificial lake. The lake is stocked on an annual basis with several kinds of fish, including rainbow trout, which cannot survive the winters. The park is almost entirely within the Strouds Run watershed, although it does not include the entire watershed. The park is on the fringes of the city of Athens, Ohio, with park boundaries coinciding with city limits in several places.Adjacent public landsThe park borders on the city's 325acre Strouds Ridge Preserve Project, which includes the Riddle State Nature Preserve, and with the Athens Conservancy's 75 acre (0.3 km²) Blair Preserve.In addition, the 264acre Baker Tract, managed by the Athens Conservancy, is a short drive away, with a public access trailhead on Ohio State Route 690.Facilities and usageFacilities include a campground, swimming beach, boat dock, boat and canoe rentals, pistol, picnic grounds and shelters, and hiking trails. Hunting is permitted in season. Shooting ranges are no longer available for the public.Significant areas of the park are pine plantations from the mid-twentieth century, when the land was purchased, originally as the Athens State Forest. There is also one small baldcypress plantation within the park. However, most of the area is mature hardwood forest. The park features many bluffs and rock outcrops of sandstone. Several beaver ponds are within the park boundaries.