Posted in Hiking

Saltpetre Cave State Nature Preserve

For those who enjoy hiking by cliffs, outcroppings and caves, Saltpetre Cave State Nature Preserve is a tiny preserve in Hocking County with an abundance of such features. Although it is only 14 acres in size, it contains four significant recess caves. Two of the caves have 8-foot tall ceilings, mouths that are more than 100 feet wide, and chambers which extend back more than 120 feet into the bedrock. Another cave actually consists of three, vertically stacked recess caves. And a final cave has Read more ➜
Posted in Annual event, Hiking, Southeastern Ohio

53rd Annual Hocking Hills Winter Hike, January 2018

We participated in the 53rd Annual Hocking Hills Winter Hike on Saturday. This was our eighth time participating in this winter hike that runs from Old Man’s Cave to Rose Lake, Cedar Falls, and ends at Ash Cave for a total distance of 6.5 miles. A bus returns participants to the starting point. The weather for the winter hike was perfect, there was a nice base of snow throughout the Hocking Hills. Weather for the prior few weeks had varied above and below freezing creating huge icicles. Read more ➜
Posted in Geology, Hiking, Park review, Southeastern Ohio

Boch Hollow State Nature Preserve: Robinson Falls

We recently visited Robinson Falls (aka "Corkscrew Falls") at Boch Hollow State Nature Preserve. The waterfall is located off-trail at the preserve, so we obtained a free permit from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to visit the falls. Along with the permit, they sent us a map showing the falls, where to park, directions, and preserve rules. The ODNR-provided map directed us to a small pull-off from the road that holds a couple of cars. We located the trail-head across the Read more ➜
Posted in Hiking, Park visit

51st Annual Hocking Hills Winter Hike, January 2016

We participated in the 51st Annual Hocking Hills Winter Hike on Saturday. This was our seventh time participating in this winter hike that runs from Old Man's Cave to Rose Lake, Cedar Falls, and ends at Ash Cave for a total distance of 6.5 miles. A bus returns participants to the starting point. The weather for the hike, like most of this winter, was warmer than usual. There were some small patches of snow here and there, and small icicles. But the temperature was above freezing and Read more ➜
Posted in Hiking, Park visit

Hocking Hills State Park: Old Man’s Cave / Cedar Falls Loop Hike

We are going to describe one of our favorite loop trails in the Hocking Hills State Park. The outbound portion of the the trail follows the Grandma Gatewood Trail, named after the famed Emma Gatewood. The Grandma Gatewood Trail is a segment of the 1,500 mile Buckeye Trail and is marked with blue blazes or blue marker posts. Below is a screenshot of the GPS trace of our hike courtesy of Google's My Tracks app. We started at the red marker near the Upper Falls and traveled counter-clockwise. Read more ➜
Posted in Park visit

The Hocking Hills at Winter’s End

Like a lot of other people, I'm totally ready to leave winter behind at this point. However Bob convinced me to open myself to winter's beauty once more by hiking in the Hocking Hills this past Friday. It was sunny, but cold (around 20° F, -6.7° C), so we had to bundle up. We visited two attractions in the Hocking Hills State Park: Ash Cave and Cedar Falls. Then we hiked the Gorge Trail in the Conkle's Hollow State Nature Preserve. To make things easier for ourselves, we reduced our hiking by parking Read more ➜
Posted in Annual event, Events, Hiking, Past events

50th Annual Hocking Hills Winter Hike, January 2015

On the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary, the Annual Hocking Hills Winter Hike set an attendance record with over 5300 people attending. Five hundred lucky people received a commemorative hiking stick. Bob and I just hiked the Old Man's Cave portion of the hike this year. Officially the hike begins at 9 a.m., but many hikers arrive early. Staff members of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) were on hand to give 500 lucky individuals a commemorative hiking stick. Read more ➜
Posted in Hiking, Park visit

Boch Hollow in May

We visited Boch Hollow Nature Preserve again last week. The weather was just about perfect. Here's a few pictures from our hike. This opossum was slowly wondering up a dry stream bed when he decided to stop and pose for a picture. Additional information TrekOhio: Hocking County Parks & Preserves — This is the county where Boch Hollow is located; check out this page for links to the official site and for information Read more ➜
Posted in Hiking, Park review, Southeastern Ohio

Tar Hollow State Park

We've been going to Tar Hollow for many years. Its a great place for camping. The camp sites are usually not crowded (don't tell anybody), the area is very scenic, and there are many miles of hiking trails. Tar Hollow State Park is a 604 acre park in Ross County. It is surrounded by the 16,354 acre Tar Hollow State Forest located in Ross, Hocking, and Vinton Counties. Traversing the park and state forest is the 21 mile red-blazed Logan Backpack Trail. Built and maintained by the Boy Read more ➜
Posted in Hiking

49th Annual Hocking Hills Winter Hike, January 2014

We participated in the 49th Annual Hocking Hills Winter Hike yesterday. This was our fifth time participating in this winter hike that runs from Old Man's Cave to Rose Lake, Cedar Falls, and ends at Ash Cave for a total distance of 6 miles. A bus returns participants to the starting point. The weather for this hike was grey skies with snow flurries in the morning. Temperatures for nearby Logan, OH were as follows: 7 AM 10 AM 1 PM 11° F (-12° C) 15° F (-9° C) 19° Read more ➜