In early September we visited Highlands Nature Sanctuary near Bainbridge, Ohio. The sanctuary is operated by the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System. The sanctuary consists of over 2000 acres of land between Rocky Fork State Park and Paint Creek State Park. The main location contains a museum, three hiking trails, and several cabins that visitors can rent. We stayed at a cabin perched on a ledge overlooking the Rocky Creek gorge.
“The Three Sisters” are three slump blocks that lie beyond it on the other of the creek.
The preserve has roughly 14 miles of trails scattered over multiple locations. On our first day at the preserve, we spent all of our time hiking on the three trails adjacent to the Appalachian Forest Museum. The trails are a quarter mile each. You’d think that we could cover that in under an hour. You’d be wrong for a couple of reasons. Since the gorge is deep, it takes a while to go up and down its sides. But the main reason is that every time we turned a corner, we discovered a new wonder and had to stop for several photographs. It was slow going.
The first trail we hiked was the Etawah Woods Trail. It proceeded east along the rim of the Rocky Creek gorge and then descended into the gorge itself. It ended with a view of the creek traversing through a set of slump blocks beautifully carved by swiftly moving water known as The Three Sisters.
The second trail we hiked was the Valley of the Ancients Trail. This descended into the gorge to the west of the museum and featured tall dolomite cliffs, mazes of slump blocks, several side canyons including a narrow canyon with mysterious caves embedded in the cliff walls. This section was very slow going indeed, but we took a lot of pictures.
The final segment of the hike was the Beech Woods Trail, which featured a hike through a forest of towering mature beech trees. Here we found another large fungus, perhaps another variety of chicken of the woods? Beechdrops (another plant without chlorophyll) were in bloom here, but Deb plans on featuring them in a future post.
Additional information
- Highlands Nature Sanctuary: Appalachian Forest Museum & Hiking Trails
- TrekOhio: Highland County Parks & Nature Preserves
Location
The address for the preserve is: 7660 Cave Road, Bainbridge, OH 45612
Highland Sanctuary is located on US-50 west of the town of Bainbridge, OH. From US-50, turn onto Cave Road. Follow the road for several miles and it will lead you directly to the Appalachian Forest Museum. Check-in at the museum to obtain a hiking permit and a trail map. Parking is up the hill on the side road opposite the museum.
More on Highland County
Fort Hill
Fort Hill in Autumn
Miller Nature Sanctuary
Fort Hill: Canby’s Mountain Lover Trail and Keyhole Arch
http://arcofappalachia.org/highlands-nature-sanctuary/
Here is the new website for the Highlands Nature Sanctuary.
We have updated the links. Thanks for letting us know it had changed!
Would like to visit Highlands this Sunday. Is the Musieum open to get a permit?
Their web site says they are open April – October. But you could try calling them.
Thanks Bob! Was there years ago as Seven Caves.
If you’re in the area nearby Miller Nature Sanctuary is worth a visit too.
You can still go inner tubing in the Rocky Fork, but access is denied to the caves because they are full of healthy bats who are under attack by a very contagious fungus right now. The fungus is transmitted by people walking in and out of caves, among other ways.
The trails are enough to write home about though– some of the most stunning in Ohio– and the open trails have plenty of caves anyhow.
My favorite times to visit are in the spring for the amazing wildflower displays and in the fall when the leaves turn. Sublime!
Beautiful!
It’s too bad you can no longer go into the caves. When I was a kid we went there every summer, back when it was knows as Seven Caves. We also floated down Rocky Fork Creek on inner tubes and sometimes stopped at that gravel bar near Battleship Rock area for a picnic lunch. While i understand the mission of the ARC, I do feel they should allow more access.