Posted in Annual event, Events, Hiking, Past events

50th Annual Hocking Hills Winter Hike, January 2015

Posted on by Deb Platt

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.

Looking out from Old Man’s Cave


Officially the hike begins at 9 a.m., but many hikers arrive early.

Hikers waiting to begin the hike

Staff members of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) were on hand to give 500 lucky individuals a commemorative hiking stick. There was a new kiosk at the beginning of the hike, plus a relatively new boardwalk at the trail head.

From the new boardwalk, we had a good view of the small falls that is upstream from the Upper Falls. I guess that makes it the Upper Upper Falls. 🙂
Hikers on the bridge above the Upper Falls
Hikers passing by the swirling pool known was the “Devil’s Bathtub”
Hiker’s going by an icy rim
Ice hanging from the rim of the cliff
Hikers on ledge
The brand new A-frame bridge leading across the gorge
Hiker crossing bridge
View of icy cliff wall from the bridge
This is one of the tunnels leading to Old Man’s Cave. It was made during the Great Depression by individuals in the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC), one of the era’s programs to employ young men.
The bridge leading to Old Man’s Cave
Entering another tunnel — This one leads to Old Man’s Cave
Everybody going up
Old Man’s Cave
Old Man’s Cave
Old Man’s Cave
The trail passing through Old Man’s Cave
Hiker’s looking out from Old Man’s Cave
From Old Man’s Cave, looking back at the bridge

After climbing back up to the rim, Bob and I ended our hike. During the Annual Hikes that we’ve attended previously, we always did the entire hike. However in this case I had just started taking blood pressure medicine, and I was having some difficulties that I believe were associated with that. Bummer. Anyway it was great getting out and seeing Old Man’s Cave. If you’d like to see what the rest of the hike is like, check out our report on one of the hikes from other years.

The Annual Hocking Hills Winter Hike for Other Years





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© Deborah Platt, Robert Platt and TrekOhio.com 2012 to 2021


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2 thoughts on “50th Annual Hocking Hills Winter Hike, January 2015”

  1. Thanks for taking such great photos.

    My son and I participated that day and received a white ash hiking stick. Others around us got different hardwood hiking sticks such as black cherry and sassafras.

    We had ideal hiking conditions: below freezing the week before to preserve ice formations and a warming trend during the hike.

    Reply

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