Hocking Hills Ohio, A three day Itinerary

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Hocking Hills State Park has steep drop offs in certain areas, please follow signage and assume all risk

Ohio, located in the midwest part of the United States is known mostly for sports, open fields, and of course not much elevation gain. However! there’s actually a number of cool outdoor places if you’re willing to seek them out. Hocking Hills state park is a southern Ohio Gem with a number of cool trails that will take you through rock formations, caves, cliffs, and even waterfalls. It’s an amazing place that I’ve been going to since I was a kid. It’s a perfect spot for families, couples, and even older people, to take a day trip or spend a long weekend. Even my 91 year old Grandmother made the trek down to this unique spot.

To get the most out of a 3 day trip in this unique part of Ohio I’ll be going over where to stay, what to pack, and where to go. Alright lets do thissss.

Where is the Hocking Hills

Located in South East Ohio in Hocking County with the closest towns/cities being Athens, Chillicothe, and Logan. There’s a lot of outdoor activities that you can do in the area such as hiking, camping, kayaking, zip-lining, and canoeing.

There’s three roads surrounding Hocking Hills state park, with main parking lot next to Old Man’s Cave, off of state route OH-664. Below I’ve listed the mileage, time, and distance from major cities to Hocking Hills.

Columbus: US 33/57 miles/1 hour

Cincinnati: I 71/135 miles/2 hours 20 min

Dayton: US 35/108 miles/1 hour 55 min

Mansfield: I 71 -> US 33/120 miles/2 hours

Where to Stay

There’s a number of places to stay from Cabins, to the new lodge, Boxhop, and even camping. Below I’ve listed a handful of lodging options in the area.

Camping- A perfect way to save money, but still experience this awesome place. Check out campground details through Explore Hocking Hills or Reserve Ohio

Cabins- Lots of cabin options, I stayed in this newly built cabin booked through VRBO that was close to all of the the trails and parks. A lot of cabins will have a hot tub or fire pit as well.

Boxhop- A really creative way to create housing the Box Hop uses old shipping containers to create one of a kind units that range from a studio all the way to a five bedroom place. A little more expensive, but these properties look pretty awesome.

The State Park Lodge- New to the Hocking Hills, these units are going to be like a hotel room with the lodge having amenities such as a pool/hot tub, restaurant, and gift shop. They also offer cabins on-site with pet friendly options. To check availability head over to their website, Hocking Hills Park Lodge.

Best time to Visit

April through October and if you can swing it, go on the weekdays! The fall can be a very busy time on the weekends in the Hocking Hills, so make sure to book a place ahead of time and plan for more people on the trails.

What to Pack

A few items that I would make sure to bring are

• A rain jacket for spring, summer and fall months. We hit some rain while we were hiking and it was kind of nice because not many people were around. I like Burton Rain Jackets because I stay dry and Burton has plenty of cool designs for Men and Women.

• Proper Footwear- You’ll want to have some good hiking shoes or trail shoes because certain areas are rocky or muddy. Proper footwear will help give you good support and traction!

• Sunscreen- A lot of the areas are shaded, however I would still make sure to have this for your trip. I like SunBum because it doesn’t feel greasy.

• Water Bottle- Gotta stay Hydrated, I like Hydroflask

What’s the story behind the Hocking Hills

Millions of years ago (350 million) Ohio was closer to the equator and covered by the ocean. Black Hand Sandstone was deposited from rivers running through the state as well as during the Glacier melt era. This Black Sandstone is what you see today with the all the rock formations and gorges. Over millions of years water eroded and carved out the Hocking Hills that you see today. If you look closely at the rocks, you’ll notice different rock layers and honey comb carve outs.

Dating as far back as 13,000 B.C. there were a number of different native people that lived in the Ohio Area, including Paleo Indian, Archaic, Woodland, and Fort Ancient people. Disease and war between European settlers along with wars between tribes started to drive out many of the last Native American Tribes in Ohio including Wyandot, Shawnee, Delaware, Miami, and Ottawa. Sadly by the mid 1800’s the last Native Americans in Ohio were forced to live on reservations in Kansas and Oklahoma.

The first settlers in the Hocking Hills arrived in the late 1790’s and by 1820 Iron and other natural resources had brought more then 2,000 residents to live in Hocking County permanently. The park itself was established in 1924 and by the 1930’s the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) created trails and steps to improve access to the rock formations. The CCC and department of forestry helped with planting many of the trees seen today at the park. Today reforestation and Forest Stewardship practices help maintain and preserve Hocking Hills State park, making sure the habitat stays intact for everyone to enjoy!

Hocking Hills Itinerary Day 1

Whether you’ve checked in to your accommodations or set up camp, its a good idea to get familiar with the area and what you’d like to do. I recommend going to the visitor center first.

Stop in at the Visitor Center

If you’ve never been to the Hocking Hills before, it’s a good to stop by the Visitor Center first to get some info on the area and possibly where you’d like to go. Opening in 2019 the building is pretty awesome with a handful of exhibits, a gift shop, and a front desk to answer any questions you might have. The visitor Center is also right next to the trailhead for Old Mans Cave if you feel like checking that out on the first day as well.

Ash Cave

There’s 6 main hikes in the Hocking Hills and I feel like Ash Cave is a perfect one to do first. You can either do the loop or go out and back on the paved path. The path takes you through green forests and then you’ll eventually reach a 700 foot wide and 100 foot high Rock Overhang with a waterfall! The name Ash Cave comes from a pile of ashes discovered by early settlers. Although no one knows what the ashes are from, Archeologists suspect it to be from Campfires from Native Americans for centuries. This hike in my opinion is one of coolest in the area.

Trail Stats

• Free Parking

• Restrooms on site

• Dogs allowed, but on leash

• .5 mIles

• April-October is the best time to visit.

Conkles Hollow

End your first day at this awesome hike. There’s two different trails the upper rim trail and the lower gorge trail. For families with young kids I recommend doing the lower trail because there are steep drop offs on the upper trail. You can either start on the east side of the trail or the west side. I like doing this hike in the evening because you get golden hour views at the top. I’m sure it’s also a good sunrise hike too!

If you start on the east side of the trail, you’ll get to the lookout area first. There’s a little bit of elevation gain with this trail and I recommend having a good pair of hiking boots when doing it as the trail can get muddy as well as rocky. You’ll walk through green forests (depending on the time of year) until you reach the tallest part of the trail, overlooking the Hocking Forest along with Conkels Hollow. Birch and Hemlock are a couple of the types of trees you will come across as you hike. The trail itself is a loop around the entire gorge area and your close to 200 feet above the valley floor in areas.

The name is derived from W.J. Conkle who carved his name into the West Wall along with with the date 1797.

Trail Stats

• Free Parking

• April through October are the best times to hike

• Loop

• 2.1 Miles with 387 feet of elevation gain

• No pets allowed

• No bathrooms

Hocking Hills Day 2 Itinerary

Now that you’ve settled in, for day two I recommend starting it off at Old’s Man’s Cave. This area will be the most popular spot in the State Park. The name comes from a settler who live in the cave in the mid 1700’s and eventually passed away in the cave.

Old Man’s Cave

This trail has 5 different sections; upper falls, middle gorge, middle falls, Lower Falls and Lower Gorge. This area also connects to a newish trail, Whispering Cave. So if you want to hike to that, it is a little over two miles. Just follow the signage when you reach the end of Old man’s cave. Make sure to stay on the trail at all times!

Start at the Buckeye Trail, near the visitor center and the upper falls will be your first stop. You’ll get a look of the waterfall from above before walking down to the lower part of the falls. This is a good area to grab a photo. As you continue walking you’ll notice Devils Bath Tub on your left. It was shaped from weak layers of black sandstone being eroded over a long time and is only a few feet deep. The tub continues to get larger from erosion.

As you walk by Devil’s Bathtub you are now walking through the Black Sandstone Gorge, which in total is about 3/4 of a mile. You’ll walk past a small group of waterfalls right before the stairs up to Old Man’s cave. The Cave is 200 feet long and 50 feet high! You can take the stairs back to the visitor center or turn around and keep walking towards the Sphinx head (I recommend this!) The Sphinx head is where the Gorge really opens up. Look to the right and you’ll see a cut out in the Blackstone that looks like a face, this is the Sphinx head.

The last part to end your hike at Old Man’s cave is the Lower Falls. The best time to see these waterfalls is in the spring when there typically is more rain in Ohio. Follow the stairs back up to the nature center to eat lunch!

Trail Stats

• .6 Miles

• Dogs welcome, but must be on a leash

• Out and back trail

• Restrooms in the Visitor Center

• Free Parking

Pack a lunch and eat outside near the Nature Center

There’s a good amount of areas where you can eat a packed lunch either on the top deck of the Nature center (great for if it rains) or at one of the picnic tables near the parking lot.

Cedar Fall’s

The last hike that I would recommend doing at the end of your second day as it’s a pretty easy loop that will take you to the most abundant waterfall in the entire state park. Especially if you’re starting to get tired as it’s a pretty relaxing trail.

You’ll walk down some steps and walk through tall Oak Trees as well as Eastern Hemlock until you reach the waterfall. Again, you’ll walk through a black sandstone gorge when going back to the parking lot. Lot’s of green and cool lighting in this area, perfect for photography!

Trail Stats

• .4 miles

• Dogs welcome, but on leash

• Loop

• Free Parking

• Bathrooms at the trailhead

Dinner at Kindred Spirits

End your evening at this awesome restaurant right up the road from Cedar Falls. The menu options are simple and the food has a home cooked flavor to it. It’s a popular spot and books up quick for its size, so make sure to book a reservation way ahead of time. They are also open for breakfast and seasonally for lunch.

Hocking Hills Day 3 Itinerary

Butterfly Ridge

Admission is $6 and they are open everyday except Tuesday. If you have kids, this is a cool activity as well. The walk is unguided and you’ll walk through a forest area that then opens up into a small field. Summer will be the best time for this when the flowers are in full bloom. However, we still saw a number of butterflies (Mid May) as we walked the path, especially towards the end in the field. If you’re lucky you might even see a Monarch or a Tiger Swallow Tail.

Rockhouse

This is the only true cave in the park standing at 25 feet tall, 200 feet long and 20-30 feet wide. Carved out steps will allow you to step into this tunnel like structure. Evidence shows that people inhabited the cave for 1000’s of years, including Native Americans would would cook food with ovens built into the rock walls. In the 1800’s Bank Robbers would hide out in the cave and you can see carvings on the walls from these time periods.

The trail will lead you back to the parking lot and there is also a small area of picnic tables and a shelter for eating lunch. This is also where the Rockhouse Hotel use to be. A 16 room hotel that was built in the Mid 1800’s that was torn down.

Trail Stats

• .8 Miles

• Loop

• Dogs allowed, but on leash

• Parking at the trailhead

• Restrooms at the trailhead

Jack Pines Glass Blowing

On the way to Cantwell Cliffs, stop by Jack Pines glass blowing facility and art gallery. Inside you’ll be able to witness employees blowing glass, that sells as artwork once finished. It’s free to watch, but the studio also offers workshops where you can learn how to blow glass and create a piece of your own artwork.

Make sure to walk through the art studio as well as there is a number of cool art pieces for sale.

Cantwell Cliffs

A little farther away, 17 miles from Old Man’s Cave, this trail tends to be less crowded! The starting point will be Fat Woman’s Squeeze at the beginning of the trail and then you can either stay up top on the rim trail or take the gorge trail. I recommend going through the gorge to see all the cliffs from below! The beginning part is really cool in the afternoon when the light starts to get that golden color and shines on the black sandstone walls. We followed the valley floor part of the trail that loops back up to the top of the gorge and then the parking lot, But you can also do the valley floor and entire rim trail (top part).

Trail Stats

• .9 Mile Loop

• 249 Feet of elevation gain

• Dogs allowed, but on leash

• Free parking

• Bathrooms at the trailhead

More restaurants to check out

• Millstone BBQ

• Oasis Coffee Shop

• Ridge Inn Restaurant

Looking for more activities? Check out these below

• Moonshine tour

• Canoe/Kayak rentals

• Boch Hollow State Nature Preserve

• Ziplining

That’s it for a trip to the Hocking Hills, if you have and questions or any information to add for a trip to this unique Ohio destination, leave a comment below! Thanks for checking out the blog and I’ll see you on the next post.