Why this ride
A 397 km round trip from Heath - roughly 6 h 19 in the saddle. On the way it passes Hopeton Earthworks, Seip Earthworks, Hopewell Mound Group and High Bank Works. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Octagon Earthworks and High Bank Works
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 397 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 19
- 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. Octagon Earthworks
Two thousand years ago, a people we now call the Hopewell built a precise geometry in the fields of Licking County, Ohio, and this is where the best of it survives. The Octagon Earthworks sits on the edge of Newark, close to Heath, a neat eight-sided enclosure with walls about a metre high, opening onto a perfect circle some three hundred metres across. No one knows what the Hopewell called it, but they certainly knew what they were doing. The alignments of the walls track the extreme points of the moon's rising over an 18.6-year cycle, and the whole thing was surveyed to a remarkable accuracy, without metal tools or writing.
Read the complete Octagon Earthworks write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Octagon Earthworks is where the day begins. Next is Hopeton Earthworks.
2. Hopeton Earthworks
Ohio is not the place you expect to find ancient geometry, but the Hopewell people built it here. Hopeton Earthworks lies on a terrace above the Scioto River just north of Chillicothe, and it is one of the sites listed by UNESCO in 2023 as the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks. These mounds and enclosures were built roughly two thousand years ago, and the scale is hard to grasp from the ground because many of the walls are low and softened by farm fields and time. The shapes were circles, squares and octagons, set out with a precision that suggests careful planning.
Read the complete Hopeton Earthworks write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hopeton Earthworks comes up about 118 km into the recorded legs. Next is Seip Earthworks.
3. 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
At least about 154 km into the recorded legs you reach Seip Earthworks. Next is Hopewell Mound Group.
4. 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
Hopewell Mound Group, about halfway. Next is High Bank Works.
5. High Bank Works
Most people expect an ancient monument to be made of stone. High Bank Works is made of earth, and it asks you to do a little more of the work yourself. It sits in the Scioto Valley a few miles south of Chillicothe, Ohio, on flat bottomland that looks like any other farm field until you notice the low grassy banks drawing a perfect circle joined to a perfect octagon. The Hopewell people raised these walls roughly two thousand years ago, with baskets of soil, no draft animals and no metal tools.
Read the complete High Bank Works write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
High Bank Works sits at 200 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hopewell Mound Group.
6. back through Hopewell Mound Group
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Hopewell Mound Group comes up about 222 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Seip Earthworks.
7. 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
about 246 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Seip Earthworks. Next is back through Hopeton Earthworks.
8. back through Hopeton Earthworks
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hopeton Earthworks write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hopeton Earthworks, late in the day. Next is Octagon Earthworks.
9. Octagon Earthworks
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Octagon Earthworks write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 397 km.
Leg by leg
Octagon Earthworks to Hopeton Earthworks
Octagon Earthworks → Hopeton Earthworks is 118 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Hopeton Earthworks to Seip Earthworks
Hopeton Earthworks → Seip Earthworks is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Seip Earthworks to Hopewell Mound Group
Seip Earthworks → Hopewell Mound Group is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hopewell Mound Group to High Bank Works
Hopewell Mound Group → High Bank Works is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High Bank Works to back through Hopewell Mound Group
High Bank Works → back through Hopewell Mound Group is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hopewell Mound Group to back through Seip Earthworks
back through Hopewell Mound Group → back through Seip Earthworks is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Seip Earthworks to back through Hopeton Earthworks
back through Seip Earthworks → back through Hopeton Earthworks is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hopeton Earthworks to Octagon Earthworks
back through Hopeton Earthworks → Octagon Earthworks is 118 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.