Thursday, July 14, 2011

Hocking Hills State Park

Last week my family and many of my wife's relatives vacationed in SE Ohio, in a region called "Hocking Hills." Among the activities in which we engaged was a trip to Hocking Hills State Park.

The state park contains quite a few "things to see and do" (check out the link above), but my family focused on three of the obvious ones: Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls, and Ash Cave.



Old Man's Cave is not a subterranean cavern, but rather the result of erosion of softer rock beneath harder rock, resulting in very large overhangs above hollowed out areas. This part of the state park has a variety of features and is very picturesque. The stream that moves through the area also flows over multiple waterfalls.


About two miles away on foot is Cedar Falls. This is a large and beautiful waterfall that also features some of the same erosional rock features as the two caves.


At this point our family got adventurous and, instead of driving three miles to Ash Cave, found the Buckeye Trail and hiked there. This was a pretty easy trail to hike, though we were getting weary on the return, mostly uphill, trip. Along the way, there is a fire tower, which I and various others took the opportunity to climb.


Ash Cave is enormous. Its upper lip sticks out roughly 100 feet above the bottom, and a small stream sends a long fall of water into a pond below. It is easy to see why it was a site of Indian encampments, since it provides a great deal of shelter against the elements. Once again, erosion accounts for the unusual rock formation.

If you ever get a chance to visit Hocking Hills State Park, I encourage you to do so.

1 comment:

formatie nunti said...

I was there two years ago and i was impressed. Unfortunately i had no time to visit it very well because i was there for only two days, but i hope to visit it again very soon. I recommend this place, it is very nice.