We had heard good things about Hocking Hills State Park and our stay in Lancaster was designed, in part, to allow us to check it out. We both thoroughly enjoyed our visit! The park was pet-friendly so Sam hiked along with us. Today we explored the area around Old Man Cave. There were so many features along the trail and seeing everything probably was no more than a two-mile hike.
Not understanding the map very well, we started our tour in the middle of the trail and backtracked a bit, but it only added maybe a quarter mile. The cascades below did not even have a name. The Upper Falls Loop trail encompassed both this and the falls below the bathtub, so maybe they just refer to this as one of the upper falls.
The water was amazingly still in this little grotto. The tiniest ripples sent shimmering reflections to the rock overhead which were poorly captured in any of our pictures.
Below is "The Devil's Bathtub". I don't think it was very deep and it actually looked like it might be a lot of fun to splash around in on a really hot summer day - not that I ever would since swimming and wading were prohibited.
This falls did not seem to have a name - it was just below the bathtub. There were a lot of folks on the trail, but with a little patience, I was able to snap a picture that made it look we were all alone.
I should have used a tripod for a long exposure to give the illusion of moving water but this handheld 0.3-second exposure was all I was able to get. I guess it worked pretty well.
The trees were often situated on top of solid rock, so they had to send roots down any way they could to reach a little dirt. This tree reminded me of Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (the pirate with the face that looked like an octopus).
We crossed the water on one unique bridge I named the "Stepping Stone" bridge since it didn't seem to have an official name. Each step was separated from the others and there was no railing. It seemed more like modern art instead of just a practical way to get to the other side of the stream.
This view of Stepping Stone bridge taken from 30 feet overhead might show better the individual steps.
Probably the most picturesque was the Lower Falls. It was also where we started our trip back to the car. We could have continued on a spur trail another 2 miles to Cedar Falls, but we opted to see that another day.
Another try at a long exposure - I think I was leaning against a tree.
To get back to the top of the gorge the trail included steps, but sometimes the steps were engineered steel in a winding arc instead of simple carved stone.
Throughout most of our hiking we were never far from a class field trip. It was pretty easy to pinpoint their location in the gorge by the noise that two school bus loads of Elementary kids make as they enjoyed their day away from classwork.
When there was finally no other way around, they just tunneled through the rock and put in a staircase. I was happy most of the climbing was near the end of our hike.
We could not have asked for any better weather than we experienced today making our visit all the more memorable. With so many features within such a short distance in the gorge it was no wonder this park is one of Ohio's most popular State Parks.
