Why this ride
225 km from Lebanon to Lebanon, about 3 h 52 of riding. It goes by way of Seip Earthworks, Hopewell Mound Group and back through Seip Earthworks.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Fort Ancient and Hopewell Mound Group
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 225 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 52
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fort Ancient
Fort Ancient is not a fort in the military sense, and it is not as old as its name might suggest. It is a huge earthwork built by the Hopewell people about two thousand years ago on a bluff above the Little Miami River, in the Ohio hill country between Cincinnati and Dayton. Its walls run for roughly three and a half miles, and they enclose about a hundred acres of high ground. Gaps in the walls, called gateways, appear to align with the movement of the sun and moon, which suggests a ceremonial rather than a defensive purpose.
Read the complete Fort Ancient write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort Ancient is where the day begins. Next is Seip Earthworks.
2. Seip Earthworks
The Hopewell people built in earth the way others build in stone. About two thousand years ago, in the valleys of southern Ohio, they raised enormous banks, circles, squares and octagons, some enclosing many hectares, and aligned them to the sun and moon. Seip Earthworks, in the valley of Paint Creek in Ross County, is part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, which were inscribed as a World Heritage site in 2023, and the group also includes the Octagon Earthworks at Newark and the High Bank Works near Chillicothe. They were not forts or farms, but meeting places for gatherings, feasts and funerals.
Read the complete Seip Earthworks write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Seip Earthworks comes up about 91 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hopewell Mound Group.
3. Hopewell Mound Group
Among the fields of the Paint Creek valley in southern Ohio, a few kilometres from Chillicothe, lies a patchwork of low grassy ridges that once formed one of the largest earthwork enclosures in North America. The Hopewell Mound Group is the site that gave its name to the whole Hopewell culture, which flourished in the Ohio valley from about 200 BC to AD 500. It was named after Mordecai Cloud Hopewell, on whose farm it stood in the nineteenth century. The enclosure originally surrounded about a hundred hectares, with walls and many mounds, and archaeologists have found rich deposits of ceremonial objects within.
Read the complete Hopewell Mound Group write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 111 km into the recorded legs you reach Hopewell Mound Group. Next is back through Seip Earthworks.
4. back through Seip Earthworks
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Seip Earthworks write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Seip Earthworks, late in the day. Next is Fort Ancient.
5. Fort Ancient
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort Ancient write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Fort Ancient. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Fort Ancient to Seip Earthworks
Fort Ancient → Seip Earthworks is 91 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Seip Earthworks to Hopewell Mound Group
Seip Earthworks → Hopewell Mound Group is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hopewell Mound Group to back through Seip Earthworks
Hopewell Mound Group → back through Seip Earthworks is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Seip Earthworks to Fort Ancient
back through Seip Earthworks → Fort Ancient is 91 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.