Trip Report - Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio
We started our trip with an afternoon hike to Ash Cave, then went to our campsite. We cooked hot dogs, vegetables, and s'mores over the fire for dinner, then went to bed, testing our new sleeping bag for the first time.
We tested the stove making eggs for breakfast, then we let the kids play with the kids in the neighboring campsite. It was a family with six kids, plus their two cousins were in the campsite on their other side. Their ages ranged from about eight to fifteen and they had a slackline set up between some trees and our kids loved that. While they were playing, I went to collect firewood so we’d be all set for the second night.
Mid-morning we left to check out the park. Our campsite was really close to Old Man’s Cave, which is a major attraction in Hocking Hills, but there were no parking spots available and it’s a huge lot. So we decided to skip it and the crowds for now and try again on the way back, hoping it wouldn’t be so crowded.
Instead, we drove to Cedar Falls. I’m a huge fan of waterfalls and had heard that it was one of the best in Ohio. It was beautiful and well worth visiting.
We then tried Old Man’s Cave again, but it wasn’t any better. So we just started driving. Our first thought was Conkles Hollow, but there’s no real parking area and there were cars parked up and down each side of the road. There wasn’t really anywhere to stop or indication of what you’d see if you walked. From the car, it just looked like a nice section of forest to walk through, so we skipped it.
We’d had a late and hearty breakfast, and no one wanted a sandwich. So all the bread, ham, cheese, peanut butter, jelly, etc. that I’d brought went unused. Of course, if I hadn’t packed it, everyone would have been starving, so I guess this was better.
Instead, we followed the signs to Rock House, having no idea what it was, and it turned out to be amazing. After Rock House, we returned to our campground and used the stove to make jambalaya for dinner.
We built a big fire and had enough fuel to keep it going for as late as we wanted. We sat around the fire and told stories, sang songs, and ate a lot of marshmallows. Since there was no one at the next campsite and the two are pretty much connected, we were able to use both picnic tables, which was nice. We packed up the stove and a bunch of things we wouldn’t need again and hiked them back to the car to make things easier in the morning.
I got up early and took a load to the car, then we were able to do the rest in one trip with everybody helping and we were on the road home before 9am.
Two days was not nearly enough to really explore Hocking Hills. Next time, we’ll have to see Old Man’s Cave, Whispering Cave, Cantwell Cliffs, and Conkles Hollow. It looks like Old Man’s Cave has both an upper and a lower waterfall. There’s also Broken Rock Falls, a Sphinx Head, Rose Lake, and someplace called Devil’s Bathtub. Hocking Hills is known for cabins with hot tubs, which would also be fun sometime.
