It’s located about a half hour or so southeast of Columbus in Hocking County, near Logan, Ohio. I took Tammie for a long weekend there in late March, 2001.

I got the idea from my co-worker who’s a photographer. While admiring a beautiful photograph he took of a waterfall, I asked him (like everyone else does) where he took it. He told me all about Hocking Hills and I knew I had to take my wife there. We really spent only one day hiking, since we’re not in tip-top hiking shape. But we plan to return someday and will make sure we’re in better shape to do even more hiking.

But rather than ramble on and on in an introduction, I scanned about a dozen photos that I took I’d like to share. Then afterwards, I have some Hocking Hills Links in case you’d like to visit this beautiful scenic park.

Where we stayed

We didn’t stay in Hocking Hills itself. Thanks to the Hocking Hills website, I found a beautiful and very reasonably priced Bed & Breakfast in Armada. It’s about a half hour away from the Hocking Hills State Park, but you get treated very well. The breakfasts are very delicious! It’s called the Dum-Ford Bed & Breakfast and I can’t recommend it enough. Now Armada itself has nothing to do, but it’s central to a lot of fun things including the cities of Lancaster (only 10 minutes away) and Columbus (about 20 minutes away).

Hocking Hills State Park

Hocking Hills State Park consists of many scenic areas, as you can see on the sign above. We started with Old Man’s Cave. This photo was taken at the entrance.

Old Man’s Cave

This was the first area we explored in the Hocking Hills State Park. There were a few waterfalls here and a lot of beautiful hiking.

This was my favorite waterfall on the whole trip. The rock formations, the arched bridge, the waterfall itself, the pool, and the surrounding trees all combine for a picturesque setting. And this is before there were any leaves on the trees!

The water from the first waterfall flows downstream to this set of small falls and rapids.

There was still some pieces of ice on the ground. I can only imagine what it looks like in the dead of winter.

The water continues to this very tall waterfall. You can’t tell from the photo, but the cave ceiling in the back is at least 15 feet or so.

There’s lots of climbing involved. We probably didn’t know what we were getting into when we started exploring Old Man’s Cave. We enjoyed it so much, we decided to not drive to every scenic area if possible.

Cedar Falls

The next stop was Cedar Falls. Although we could have hiked there from Old Man’s Cave, we drove instead stopping to pick up a brown bag lunch at the Cedar Falls Inn. We ate it at picnic tables at the falls, then proceeded to hike the rest of the day.

Here’s Tammie relaxing on a stone island that sits in front of the falls. Thanks to complex and clever photographic trickery, it looks like the water’s pouring directly on her. Aren’t you impressed?

Ash Cave

Rather than drive to Ash Cave, we decided to just hike there on the trail that connects the three falls. Why not? It was only two miles. This was one huge and beautiful cave. Now when I talk about caves, for the most part they’re really just open areas with a large rock ceiling that angles inward into a wall. It’s not a tunnel into a cliff like you might expect. And, like the other areas we explored, Ash Cave also has a waterfall.

To get a sense of scale, there’s Tammie sitting on the left of the photo above inside the cave.

One perceptive hiker there pointed out a sleeping bat. Isn’t it adorable? We saw a couple more sleeping in crevices, but not as close to us like this one. I assume there’s many bats sleeping there in the daytime.

Here’s Tammie relaxing from another angle. The hike to Ash Cave was very strenuous since the first mile was mostly uphill.

The hike back

Luckily the second mile was level, giving us a much easier hike on the way back, with a mile of it downhill. Thank goodness. We were exhausted by the time we returned to our Bed & Breakfast. There were some attractions we missed this trip like Conkle’s Hollow, but that will be remedied when we return.

Hocking Hills Links

Admit it. You’re dying to visit this beautiful area you never knew existed. Here’s some links to help get you started.

Hocking Hills Internet Guide — the perfect place to start. Here you can read the Visitor’s Guide or even download it in PDF format. There’s a lot of information and links on everything you need to know to have a good time including tours, events, lodging, and restaurants.

Dum-Ford House Bed & Breakfast — This is the wonderful place where we stayed. Ann Ford will take great care of you. Her breakfasts will blow you away! If you stay there, tell her where you found out about her bed & breakfast.

Frank Andreae — He’s the photographer who introduced me to Hocking Hills. His web site has a beautiful photo of Cedar Falls in the waterfalls section and a lovely photograph from Ash Cave in the nature section.

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