Sylvan Deep

Preserving a hidden valley in Jackson County. Sylvan Deep’s landscape is absolutely breathtaking! Sandstone cliffs span the preserve on slopes presided over by ancient hemlocks. Deep, dark ravines are blanketed with myriad ferns, the largest ones waist-high, and stunning rock features appear around every bend. Cliff faces are sometimes polished and exposed, or alternately blanketed in mosses, lichens, and liverworts. The largest rock shelter is on a scale and magnificence that rivals, if not surpasses, any landscape we’ve encountered in Hocking Hills. A small but well-established colony of great rhododendron inhabit the preserve, a state-endangered species at the northern boundary of its range.

A sparkling stream known as Spencer Run dissects the heart of the preserve. The stream is uncommonly rich with fish-flashing riffles, alternating with quieter pools. The waterway supports rosyside dace, southern redbelly dace, and fantail darters - all signature species of clean, well-shaded streams with fast-moving, well-oxygenated water. Partially submerged slabs of sandstone conceal salamanders and crayfish, while the water’s surface ripples with fast-skating water striders. The main perennial stream feeds Sour Run and Spencer Run, eventually draining into Salt Lick Creek.

Sylvan Deep’s outstanding geological features. The preserve is less than a mile, as the crow flies, from Leo Petroglyphs, a prehistoric cultural site owned by Ohio History Connection. Leo Petroglyphs Memorial protects a flat shelf of sandstone that was carved with artistic figures at least 1,000 years ago by indigenous peoples. Both the memorial and Sylvan Deep Preserve share the same Sharon Conglomerate sandstone bedrock. Some of the most dramatic layers bear the formation’s signature large, pearl-white, quartz pebbles. The exposed cliff faces at Leo and Sylvan Deep are tangible reminders of the high-velocity rivers that once crossed this region over 300 million years ago, surging off the western flanks of the Appalachian Mountains. Here in this corner of Jackson County, the waterways dropped vast amounts of sand and quartz pebbles when their velocities slowed down in their journey to the great saltwater sea that occupied what is now the center of our country.

Sylvan Deep boasts impressive botanical diversity. The preserve is densely covered with mature hemlocks, some of them up to 36 inches in diameter, as well as black birch, a fairly tree species in Ohio that is found only in unusually cool and well-protected ravines. Moist soils in the riparian lowlands of the preserve support the curled bronze bark of river birches, mottled sycamores, gnarled box elders, and fruit-laden spicebush and pawpaw shrubs. Two species of walnuts can be found at Sylvan Deep – black walnut and the rarer white walnut, also known as butternut. A wide variety of classic hardwoods share the upper elevations and ridgetops, including red oak, white oak, chestnut oak, sugar maple, hickory, tulip tree, American beech, and wild black cherry. Rare botanical species include the state-threatened great rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum), round-leaf catchfly (Silene rotundifolia) and fairy-wand (Chamaelirium luteum). Sylvan Deep is definitely among the “best of the best” landscapes remaining in our state. The Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves has already deemed the property worthy of receiving extra protection as an Arc-owned Ohio-designated state nature preserve - a status we expect to have bestowed on the property in the near future.

Visitor Services planned for Sylvan Deep. Arc of Appalachia staff member look forward to developing a hiking trail that will enable us to share this gem of a preserve in Jackson County with the greater world. The only issue that needed to be resolved before this big job of trail installation could commence was finding a suitable location for a trailhead parking lot. Thanks to our neighbors who were willing to carve off 2 acres from their property to sell to the Arc, we now have a level entrance to our planned trailhead. We are now fundraising to help cover the cost of this acquisition, and trail installation will soon be in progress.