On Election Day, Nov. 6, Cool Guy, Annie Oakley, and I drove to Hocking Hills State Park to hike Old Man's Cave. It's about 1 1/2 hours to drive there, and we arrived around 10:30. What really stood out to me was that the parking lot was almost empty. Old Man's Cave is one of the most popular hiking spots in Ohio, and Columbus is about as close to it as we are. Every time we have gone there before, it has been a weekend, and the parking lots are full, and we have people in our sight at all times. This mid-week hiking after the leaves have fallen was a brilliant plan.
One thing about Old Man's Cave is that it really doesn't matter what time of year to hike it. There is so much beauty and wonder, that one doesn't need fall leaves or spring wildflowers to enhance it, though those are nice bonuses. But any time of year, it is worth the drive.
We began at Upper Falls and mainly stayed on the gorge trail which allowed us up close views of the falls, pools, and caves, or really, just enormous rock overhangs. Hiking down the stairs to the gorge, we were struck by all the work that had gone into making this such a hikable place. My guess is that it was WPA at work in the 30's, building stone walls, hewing steps out of the rocks. Cool Guy's favorite part was the tunnels through the rocks that the trail took us through. We did that part twice.
After doing that part twice, we went on down to the Lower Falls, which were even more spectacular, I think. One scene I think we'll always remember is the family of either Middle Eastern or Pakistani origin. Two of the men in the group wore swim trunks and actually stood under the falls. Now, it was a nice day, sunny and 50's, but not a whole lot of sunlight gets to the gorge, and the water was freezing. It was fun to watch their fun.
After spending some time in the gorge part of Lower Falls, we went up steps and hiked along the rim of it. Cool Guy found a rock overhang that he could scramble up, with a little help from Annie, and he liked perching on that ledge, just hanging out. The inside of it, sandstone, was carved with names and initials going back hundreds of years, I think. It's neat to look at the etchings.
We left Lower Falls and followed the path, thinking we might be heading to Cedar Falls, but we were on the wrong path. Instead, we found a new area to us, Broken Rock Falls. It's exactly as it sounds. Enormous, ENORMOUS rocks lie about as if some giant child had flung them. They are house size and covered with moss, lying at odd angles. At the end of the trail, way up top, there was a small stream of water falling down onto the rocks.
The rest was just backtracking, finding another tunnel with stairs leading up to the top and back to the parking lot.
In some ways, this was an easy hike. To see all these wonders, one really only need hike about a mile. We kindof did everything twice, sometimes on the rim, sometimes in the gorge, and sometimes going back for a second view, so my guess is that we covered between two and three miles. The paths are very clear and well-worn. No getting lost, no scrambling over trees, roots, rocks. But there are a lot of stairs, some steep and narrow carved into the rocks, others easy and wide. I would say in general it is an easy hike, and that is obvious by the number of people who are able to bring their children and the number of people with dogs. But it can be made as challenging or as easy as you'd like. Cool Guy certainly exerted himself more than the average hiker, walking ahead of us, coming back to hurry us up, climbing all over the place.
Hocking Hills SP is always worth the drive. Next time, we will do Cedar Falls and Ash Cave, hopefully all in one outing.
One thing about Old Man's Cave is that it really doesn't matter what time of year to hike it. There is so much beauty and wonder, that one doesn't need fall leaves or spring wildflowers to enhance it, though those are nice bonuses. But any time of year, it is worth the drive.
We began at Upper Falls and mainly stayed on the gorge trail which allowed us up close views of the falls, pools, and caves, or really, just enormous rock overhangs. Hiking down the stairs to the gorge, we were struck by all the work that had gone into making this such a hikable place. My guess is that it was WPA at work in the 30's, building stone walls, hewing steps out of the rocks. Cool Guy's favorite part was the tunnels through the rocks that the trail took us through. We did that part twice.
After doing that part twice, we went on down to the Lower Falls, which were even more spectacular, I think. One scene I think we'll always remember is the family of either Middle Eastern or Pakistani origin. Two of the men in the group wore swim trunks and actually stood under the falls. Now, it was a nice day, sunny and 50's, but not a whole lot of sunlight gets to the gorge, and the water was freezing. It was fun to watch their fun.
After spending some time in the gorge part of Lower Falls, we went up steps and hiked along the rim of it. Cool Guy found a rock overhang that he could scramble up, with a little help from Annie, and he liked perching on that ledge, just hanging out. The inside of it, sandstone, was carved with names and initials going back hundreds of years, I think. It's neat to look at the etchings.
We left Lower Falls and followed the path, thinking we might be heading to Cedar Falls, but we were on the wrong path. Instead, we found a new area to us, Broken Rock Falls. It's exactly as it sounds. Enormous, ENORMOUS rocks lie about as if some giant child had flung them. They are house size and covered with moss, lying at odd angles. At the end of the trail, way up top, there was a small stream of water falling down onto the rocks.
The rest was just backtracking, finding another tunnel with stairs leading up to the top and back to the parking lot.
In some ways, this was an easy hike. To see all these wonders, one really only need hike about a mile. We kindof did everything twice, sometimes on the rim, sometimes in the gorge, and sometimes going back for a second view, so my guess is that we covered between two and three miles. The paths are very clear and well-worn. No getting lost, no scrambling over trees, roots, rocks. But there are a lot of stairs, some steep and narrow carved into the rocks, others easy and wide. I would say in general it is an easy hike, and that is obvious by the number of people who are able to bring their children and the number of people with dogs. But it can be made as challenging or as easy as you'd like. Cool Guy certainly exerted himself more than the average hiker, walking ahead of us, coming back to hurry us up, climbing all over the place.
Hocking Hills SP is always worth the drive. Next time, we will do Cedar Falls and Ash Cave, hopefully all in one outing.
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