At 26,827 acres, Zaleski State Forest is the second only to Shawnee State Forest in size. Located in Ohio within Vinton and Athens counties, this region was in the vanguard of the industrial revolution in the 19th century. Besides mining coal and iron ore, local residents cut down huge swaths of forest to produce charcoal for the region's many furnaces where iron workers cast pig iron.
Today, the area is sparsely populated. Once a thriving industrial area, Zaleski forest is now quiet Read more ➜ Zaleski State Forest
At 26,827 acres, Zaleski State Forest is the second only to Shawnee State Forest in size. Located in Ohio within Vinton and Athens counties, this region was in the vanguard of the industrial revolution in the 19th century. Besides mining coal and iron ore, local residents cut down huge swaths of forest to produce charcoal for the region's many furnaces where iron workers cast pig iron.
Today, the area is sparsely populated. Once a thriving industrial area, Zaleski forest is now quiet Read more ➜ 
The parks and preserves in the Hocking Hills area are great destinations for the outdoor enthusiast. We've hiked them all - Hocking State Park, Conkle's Hollow, Rock Bridge, Wahkeena, Boch Hollow. Wait ... Boch Hollow?
Boch Hollow is a 570 acre preserve located north of Logan, Ohio. Like Rhododendron Cove and Christmas Rocks, Boch Hollow used to be a permit only preserve, but it is now open to the public. We've provided directions to the preserve at the end of this article.
Boch 
In early September we visited and stayed overnight at a 60 acre private park in Pike County. According to legend we were just a few hundred feet away from the lair of a spectral wolf named Old Raridan.
The area is known as 'Big Rock' after the rocky peak that towers 200 feet above the surrounding country side. A small cave high on the side of the peak was also reputedly the home of the wolf Old Raridan who legend says was killed in an epic battle with local settlers at the end of the 
We visited Boord nature preserve on a rainy afternoon in early September. Boord is a small 127 acre preserve in Washington county. The preserve is a few miles down a gravel one lane township road (TR-69). A brown sign identifies it as "Boord State Nature Preserve" and there is a small gravel parking lot and kiosk adjacent to the road.
The preserve has a 3/4 mile loop trail. A light rain had begun and we donned our ponchos and started down the trail. A mown path through some 
The forested hills of Shawnee State Park are located at Ohio's southernmost tip. The park is large at 1,095 acres, but it's dwarfed by the surrounding Shawnee State Forest. At 63,000 acres, Shawnee State Forest is Ohio's largest state forest. The combined park and forest have 72 miles of trails including the 60 mile Shawnee State Forest backpack trail. The area also features more than 75 miles of bridle trails.
There are two lakes Roosevelt and Turkey Creek which offer fishing, boating, 
Chapel Cave is a large chapel-shaped, recess cave located off a bridle trail in the Hocking State Forest. The cave is also known as Twenty One Horses Cave because it is reputed to be big enough to hold 21 horses (with their riders).
This posting is the last of a series of hikes we took starting at the parking lot for the Rock climbing and Rappelling Area of the Hocking State Forest. The trailhead for Chapel Cave is located on the north end of this parking lot. It's a bridle trail marked 
On our visit to Balanced Rock we accidentally ended up in the Rock Climbing and Rappelling Area of Hocking State Forest. This 99-acre region of the Hocking State Forest contains a mile long escarpment of Blackhand sandstone varying in height, topping out at 100 feet. It is the only place on state land in Hocking County that is available for use by rock climbers and rappellers.
That day we saw three groups of climbers using the cliff face. I'm not a rock climber, but the climbers seemed 
One sunny day this summer we decided to visit Balanced Rock (also known as "Table Top Rock"). I'd seen pictures of it many times, but had never been there.
We parked at the gravel lot in Hocking State Forest, just up Big Pine Road from Conkle's Hollow. We'd parked here the previous week on our visit to Airplane Rock. We crossed the street and came to a footbridge across Big Pine Creek that consisted of an I-beam with boards across it. Then we took the wrong turn off and ended up in 
It was a sunny Sunday afternoon. We stood on top of a rock outcropping shaped like an airplane overlooking Crane Hollow far below. From our vantage point, we had a magnificent view of the forest valley and hillsides miles away.
The outcropping is known as Airplane Rock. The trailhead leading to Airplane Rock is just up the road from Conkles Hollow State Nature Preserve. The trail itself is a bridle trail which hikers are allowed to share. Surprisingly there is no signage that might 
Conkle's Hollow is a narrow gorge with breathtaking cliffs rising on either side; the cliffs are made of Blackhand sandstone and are quite sheer in places, the taller ones reaching up to 200 feet in height. Seasonal waterfalls flow from the cliffs at many sites, their streams joining to form Pine Creek on the valley floor.
Conkle's Hollow State Nature Preserve has two main trails. The Rim Trail is on the plateau above and leads you around the upper border of the gorge.