Moonville

Halloween is getting close , so I’d figured I’d go somewhere haunted. Moonville is an old forgotten town near the Hope furnaces and Zaleski state park.  I came across it from forgottenOhio.com when it was posted to youtube.

Instead of the direct route that I found online I decided to try hitting it from Zaleskis Backpacking trail. Taking the south loop about 1/2 mile past campsite C was a ridgeline and a quick bushwack.

This ended up being a quick hike. Originally the plan was to stealth camp (camping only in designated areas in Zaleski).

It was definitely  cool , considering the history of Ohio coal, furnaces, and rail. After milling around for some time , it’s obvious this wouldn’t be a good spot to camp. The rail line eventually leads back to the trail, with the exception of the railroad trestles that are long gone.

Crossing Raccoon Creek. I made the mistake of deciding to forgo the log crossing and bushwack around it. 1/4 mile and 30 minutes later I was exhausted from crawling over and under logs , through dense brush, and around high banks.Next time I’ll crawl on all fours across that log.

Eventually making it to camp I got a chance to test out some new gear. I’ve been pretty hesitant to try a bivy sack , but it was the last piece of gear needed to go Super Ultra Lightweight. I’ll admit I was a little fearful of claustrophobia, condensation , and not being able to get all my stuff into a tent.  My fears were laid to rest, with a great night of sleep……. about 11 hours, with Borah Gears cuben fiber side zip wide bivy. Total weight was 4.5 ounces on my scale. Unfortunately my phone takes terrible pictures in low light and I didn’t get any good shots of my setup.

Gear List Moonville1021