Hocking Hills (Ohio, 2/12/'17)
Feb 14, 2017 22:48:04 GMT -5
Post by GaliWalker on Feb 14, 2017 22:48:04 GMT -5
Southern Ohio's Hocking Hills State Park is a spectacular place. Enormous caves, shimmering waterfalls, tight gorges, graceful hemlocks (the tallest in the state), house sized boulders and lovely streams, make the area unique, with something for everyone. During winter, the place is a land of ice and snow, the clichéd winter wonderland; not so this year, which is turning out to be an incredibly mild winter. On my first trip back in 4yrs, instead of the white stuff I got treated to a heavy dose of rain, fog and mud…much mud.
Old Man's Cave - Cedar Falls - Ash Cave
Grandma Gatewood Trail
Hocking Hills State Park is comprised of a number of complexes. Tucking in all of these in one trip is almost impossible, especially if one wants to do more than merely check them off a list. Since I'd visited maybe all of the sites on previous visits and was in the mood for some hiking, I decided to (mainly) stick to my favorite parts of the park: the Old Man's Cave complex, Cedar Falls and Ash Cave. These are nicely strung together by the Grandma Gatewood Trail.
The Grandma Gatewood Trail is the section of the Buckeye Trail that lies between Old Man's Cave and Ash Cave. It was named for 'Grandma' Gatewood, who was the first woman to through-hike the Appalachian Trail, at the age of 67(!) - so all you grandmas, get out there. While I'd hiked part of this trail in the past, I'd never hiked the entire length. It was time to fix this.
I left Pittsburgh around 3:15am, but only reached the Old Man's Cave parking lot around 7:00am, slowed by heavy rain on the drive. After a 15min wait for the light to improve, I made a beeline for northern end of the Old Man's Creek gorge, and the beautiful glen of the Upper Falls. The limpid green water of the splash pool and the thick fog lent everything a peaceful and serene atmosphere.
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I worked my way back down the narrow gorge, beside Old Man's Creek, until I reached the magnificent recess in the cliffs that is Old Man's Cave. Lovely views of pretty Middle Falls and the hemlock choked gorge kept me entertained and feeling alive.
4- Devil's Bathtub
5- Middle Falls
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7- Middle Falls
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Around this time the first other people started to arrive, so I continued down the gorge to the southern end of the complex, which is anchored by the glen of Lower Falls. Thankfully, I had the place to myself, which meant that I remained ensconced in the atmosphere of serenity that the elements had been providing.
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The section of the Grandma Gatewood Trail between Old Man's Cave and Cedar Falls ended up being my favorite part of the hike. The hike took me beside the lovely green water of Old Man's Creek, until its confluence with Queer Creek at Rose Hollow. I traded creeks, to work my way up the Queer Creek gorge. Just prior to its end I was treated to the graceful Whispering Falls, named for the echoing sound of falling water, that whisper back at one from the cliffs of the gorge.
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15- Whispering Falls
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The head of Queer Creek gorge is crowned by Cedar Falls, possibly my favorite waterfall in the park. This was absolutely roaring, with more water than I could remember seeing on any of my earlier visits. Right next to it was another beautiful unnamed waterfall, which curiously enough, I'd never noticed before. Quite possibly this one dries up or becomes much less impressive with less water.
17- Unnamed waterfall
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19- Cedar Falls
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The section of trail between Cedar Falls and Ash Cave was one I'd never done before. I have to say that it was the least fun part of the hike. The only saving grace was a fire lookout tower that I came upon, about three quarters of a mile from Ash Cave.
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Ash Cave is possibly the most impressive structure in the park. Clocking in at 700ft long, 100ft deep and 90ft tall, the sight is jaw dropping. The icing on the cake is a balletic waterfall that shimmers down from the heights. One of these days I'm going to spend the entire day there, just soaking in the atmosphere.
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From Ash Cave I retraced my steps to Cedar Falls. From Cedar Falls, instead of hiking the gorge I took the rim trail back to the car. It was mostly quick walking along this section, except for an interlude at pretty Rose Lake.
29- Upstream of Cedar Falls
30- Rose Lake
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Hiking/photography stats: 11mi, 1350ft elevation gain, 8.25hrs
Rockbridge
Rockbridge Nature Preserve lies about a 20min drive north of Old Man's Cave. A 1.75mi trail takes one to a nice little natural bridge. A seasonal waterfall filters down into the cleft, but I'd failed to catch it on my one and only previous visit. With all the recent rain that had fallen I was pretty confident that would be able to remedy that on this trip. Score!
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Hiking/photography stats: 1.75mi, 375ft elevation gain, 1hr
Old Man's Cave - Cedar Falls - Ash Cave
Grandma Gatewood Trail
Hocking Hills State Park is comprised of a number of complexes. Tucking in all of these in one trip is almost impossible, especially if one wants to do more than merely check them off a list. Since I'd visited maybe all of the sites on previous visits and was in the mood for some hiking, I decided to (mainly) stick to my favorite parts of the park: the Old Man's Cave complex, Cedar Falls and Ash Cave. These are nicely strung together by the Grandma Gatewood Trail.
The Grandma Gatewood Trail is the section of the Buckeye Trail that lies between Old Man's Cave and Ash Cave. It was named for 'Grandma' Gatewood, who was the first woman to through-hike the Appalachian Trail, at the age of 67(!) - so all you grandmas, get out there. While I'd hiked part of this trail in the past, I'd never hiked the entire length. It was time to fix this.
I left Pittsburgh around 3:15am, but only reached the Old Man's Cave parking lot around 7:00am, slowed by heavy rain on the drive. After a 15min wait for the light to improve, I made a beeline for northern end of the Old Man's Creek gorge, and the beautiful glen of the Upper Falls. The limpid green water of the splash pool and the thick fog lent everything a peaceful and serene atmosphere.
1
2
3
I worked my way back down the narrow gorge, beside Old Man's Creek, until I reached the magnificent recess in the cliffs that is Old Man's Cave. Lovely views of pretty Middle Falls and the hemlock choked gorge kept me entertained and feeling alive.
4- Devil's Bathtub
5- Middle Falls
6
7- Middle Falls
8
9
Around this time the first other people started to arrive, so I continued down the gorge to the southern end of the complex, which is anchored by the glen of Lower Falls. Thankfully, I had the place to myself, which meant that I remained ensconced in the atmosphere of serenity that the elements had been providing.
10
11
12
The section of the Grandma Gatewood Trail between Old Man's Cave and Cedar Falls ended up being my favorite part of the hike. The hike took me beside the lovely green water of Old Man's Creek, until its confluence with Queer Creek at Rose Hollow. I traded creeks, to work my way up the Queer Creek gorge. Just prior to its end I was treated to the graceful Whispering Falls, named for the echoing sound of falling water, that whisper back at one from the cliffs of the gorge.
13
14
15- Whispering Falls
16
The head of Queer Creek gorge is crowned by Cedar Falls, possibly my favorite waterfall in the park. This was absolutely roaring, with more water than I could remember seeing on any of my earlier visits. Right next to it was another beautiful unnamed waterfall, which curiously enough, I'd never noticed before. Quite possibly this one dries up or becomes much less impressive with less water.
17- Unnamed waterfall
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19- Cedar Falls
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21
The section of trail between Cedar Falls and Ash Cave was one I'd never done before. I have to say that it was the least fun part of the hike. The only saving grace was a fire lookout tower that I came upon, about three quarters of a mile from Ash Cave.
22
23
24
Ash Cave is possibly the most impressive structure in the park. Clocking in at 700ft long, 100ft deep and 90ft tall, the sight is jaw dropping. The icing on the cake is a balletic waterfall that shimmers down from the heights. One of these days I'm going to spend the entire day there, just soaking in the atmosphere.
25
26
27
28
From Ash Cave I retraced my steps to Cedar Falls. From Cedar Falls, instead of hiking the gorge I took the rim trail back to the car. It was mostly quick walking along this section, except for an interlude at pretty Rose Lake.
29- Upstream of Cedar Falls
30- Rose Lake
31
Hiking/photography stats: 11mi, 1350ft elevation gain, 8.25hrs
Rockbridge
Rockbridge Nature Preserve lies about a 20min drive north of Old Man's Cave. A 1.75mi trail takes one to a nice little natural bridge. A seasonal waterfall filters down into the cleft, but I'd failed to catch it on my one and only previous visit. With all the recent rain that had fallen I was pretty confident that would be able to remedy that on this trip. Score!
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Hiking/photography stats: 1.75mi, 375ft elevation gain, 1hr
