I’ve been asking my family to go visit Dundee Falls with me for more than two years.
It took a while to get them to say yes. That may be because they’re not quite as waterfall-crazy as I am. In their defense, it’s quite a drive – more than 1.5 hours from our home.
But when we found ourselves with a free day over the long Independence Day weekend, I was quick to suggest a road trip up into Amish country with a short hike at Dundee Falls.
To my delight, this time they agreed!
Dundee Falls is in a very rural area North of central Ohio comprised mostly of gently rolling hills, farms and Amish homesteads.
We passed more horse-drawn buggies on our drive here than we could count. As always, drive safely.
We read online that Dundee Falls is part of the 1,912-acre Beach City Wildlife Area. That sounds a whole lot more official than it actually is. We parked in a gravel parking lot with minimal to no signage and just sort of found our way along dirt trails.
There are two places to park for Dundee Falls – one is a bit more official with a small Beach City Wildlife Area sign, but that one involves a longer hike that can be very muddy and quite steep.
Instead, we went to an even less official parking lot with zero signage. A fellow hiker told us to walk along beside a corn field, then enter the woods. We did just that and soon heard the waterfall once we entered the forest. Then, we simply followed the sound of water falling.
We visited on a rainy day so it was pretty muddy. I would like to go back sometime when it’s drier and take the longer route which leads you down to the bottom of Dundee Falls. Our route took us in the top way and we only got the birds-eye view of the falls; I would have liked to do the other trail but it was just too slippery on the day we went.
Overall, Dundee Falls is a bit remote and that means you’re likely to have it all to yourselves. I’m glad we made the trip and got to see a natural waterfall in a wild and muddy wood. I’d really love to go back again when it’s not quite so muddy!
Thanks to my family for taking the trek to Dundee Falls, the waterfall I longed to see for years. If you love waterfalls as much as I do, be sure to check out my Ohio waterfalls trail post!
What’s your favorite waterfall in Ohio? I’d love to hear in the comments below or over on Facebook or Instagram.
