I've heard people say you rarely visit places, even "famous" ones, in your own backyard. Parisians don't go to the Eiffel Tower. New Yorkers by and large don't visit the Statue of Liberty. I once lived down the street from Sea World Ohio and never went once. Also, I found the performing aquatic animals to be sad. U felt bad staring at them. Okay... I digress...
So I've lived in Ohio since I was 16 and I had never visited Hocking Hills State Park. This is a little shocking if you're from Ohio. Hocking Hills is located in Southeastern Ohio with 25 miles of trails, rock formations, water falls and caves. It is simply breathtakingly gorgeous. There are a ton of activities available in and around the park, from boating and canoeing to hunting and fishing. We were so excited to arrive!
Hocking Hills Lodge is about 2 hours from our house so it was an easy drive through farm land to get there. The Lodge was rebuilt after a fire destroyed the dining lodge in 2016. The new Lodge features 81 hotel rooms, the Rock House Restaurant with local cuisine, a coffee shop, outdoor fire pits and a gigantic outdoor pool. I thought the rocking chairs lining the front entrance was a nice touch! The fountain is a great photo op when you first walk in the lobby, as is the large metal sculpture out back.
It is very easy to situate yourself to the trails of the park. Immediately after leaving the exterior of the Lodge, there is a giant trail map featuring the directions and mileage throughout Hocking Hills. There are 7 major hiking trials to choose from. We settled on a hike to Old Man’s Cave, named after a hermit (Richard Rowe) who lived in the recessed area of the cave in the 1800’s. It’s is a little over a mile hike from the Lodge so we were able to make our way through the wooded area to see some beautiful wildlife along the way. We really appreciated how easy the path was to follow. We made our way to Old Man’s Cave with ease.
The pictures don’t do the park justice. It’s is truly a beautiful sight. The sandstone is 150 feet thick and you are able to see where the creek carved through the gorge. Millions of years ago Ohio was covered by an ocean so I was on the lookout for any aquatic fossils. We crossed a few bridges to get further into the canyon and came upon a small cave before we found ourselves in the middle of Old Man’s Cave. Since it was a Saturday it was quite busy but just an unbelievably beautiful place to be. The girls loved jumping from rock to rock! Then we made our way to the creepily titled Devil’s Bathtub. We crossed the rock bridge and took some fun pictures. It was a bright, sunny day and we were enjoying some outdoor life.
We spent around 3 hours hiking and made about a 4 mile loop back to the Lodge. The girls were pretty tired so we grabbed a table and ordered some drinks and snacks. There was a man staffing the information desk so Jess chatted him up and we got some info on the John Glenn Astronomy Park just up the road from the Lodge. Well worth the short drive over, it’s a free 24 hour, 7 day a week site to learn about and view the sky. They have a gigantic telescope, featuring a 28” mirror, to enable visitors to catch the night sky. It’s really cool!
Our next trip to Hocking Hills will be this Summer as I want to hang by the pool and see a few of the other trails. We will update after our next visit.
Until next time!
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