Why this ride
A 302 km round trip from Frankfort - roughly 4 h 15 in the saddle. It goes by way of Hopeton Earthworks, Great Circle Earthworks and back through Hopeton Earthworks. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Seip Earthworks and Great Circle Earthworks
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 302 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 15
- 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. 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 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 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Great Circle Earthworks.
3. Great Circle Earthworks
Where the Hopewell builders wanted to impress, they built big, and the Great Circle at Heath is the proof. The enclosure is a ring of earth about three hundred and sixty metres across, with walls that still rise to around four metres, inside a ditch that makes them look even taller. It is the largest circular earthwork in the Americas that survives, and standing at the entrance, you see the bank curve away into the trees on both sides. Nobody knows how many baskets of soil it took, but it must have been millions.
Read the complete Great Circle Earthworks write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 151 km into the recorded legs you reach Great Circle Earthworks. Next is back through Hopeton Earthworks.
4. 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 Seip Earthworks.
5. 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 at Seip Earthworks. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Seip Earthworks to Hopeton Earthworks
Seip Earthworks → Hopeton Earthworks is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hopeton Earthworks to Great Circle Earthworks
Hopeton Earthworks → Great Circle Earthworks is 118 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Great Circle Earthworks to back through Hopeton Earthworks
Great Circle Earthworks → back through Hopeton Earthworks is 118 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Hopeton Earthworks to Seip Earthworks
back through Hopeton Earthworks → Seip Earthworks is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.