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My Trip To Hocking Hills



This weekend I took an impromptu trip to Top’O’The Caves campground in the Hocking Hills region of Ohio to meet my friend, Ryan, the inhumane. (Yes, I am a glutton for punishment!) I had an interesting weekend:

After a cold, rainy night, (thank goodness for the little electric tent heater) we took off Saturday at the crack of noon for a two-mile hike to Ash Cave and back. We then came back for some lunch and started what I thought was going to be a 5 mile hike to Cedar Falls and then Old Man’s cave (where we had dropped off my car in the morning.) We proceeded to take an “alternate trail” which Ryan thought might be a more scenic route to Cedar Falls. It ends up we were on a forest road that led us more than 5 miles back to the road on which our campground was located. About half way through I started thinking we were lost and I would have to spend the night in the forest. I was getting so tired climbing up and down hills I didn’t think I would be able to make it out of there! But thanks to Ryan’s GPS (although it was very difficult to get a signal) and his map he knew basically where we were the whole time but didn’t tell me so he wouldn’t have to hear me whine and complain. (This is where the “inhumane” comment comes in.) I did plenty of whining and complaining anyway because I am not exactly the best person to be dragging 5 miles through the forest. At one point, we took a little trail with a very steep decline which he thought would take us to the main trail. It ended up being a dead end so we had to hoof it back up the huge hill. I thought I was going to die. I only “almost” cried once though.

We later ended up driving to the Old Man’s Cave parking lot to pick up my car and walked down to see it. I was exhausted but it was worth it.

On Sunday we drove to Zaleski State Forest which covers 28,000 acres. It was a beautiful drive and we stopped to see the Hope Furnace and also at a cool little shooting range. On my way home I took a short driving tour through the Heritage District in Lancaster, Ohio but it was getting a little too dark to take any pictures of the beautiful old houses there.

Here are some pictures of the sights. I find it absolutely amazing that we have natural treasures like these right here in Ohio.

Kristy

PS…A good word about Ryan: He is an excellent camper and made everything very comfortable and easy for me. He even cooked all the meals including an awesome steak dinner! (He also let me pick a campground with flush toilets and showers!)









Ash Cave from above
Ash Cave from below
The Buckeye Trail through Hocking State Forest
A beautiful waterfall we found close to the forest road
Wesley Chapel (next to the campground) which was built in the 1800’s
“Devil’s Bathtub” at Old Man’s Cave
Hope Furnace in Zaleski State Forest – one of 69 furnaces once used for producing iron in the Ohio/Kentucky region