September 5, 6, & 7–Hocking Hills, Ohio

After a short drive we arrived in Logan, however, finding the campground was another story.  The roads into Hocking Hills are twisty, narrow, 2 lane, blacktop with lots of hills.  Guess that’s why it has the name.  Garmin screwed us up by indicating, “You have reached your destination”,  about 1/2 mile too soon.  Signage for the campground was non-existent.  A road off to the left of the “destination” looked promising, so we took it.  OMG!!!  It was with steeper hills, big ruts for shoulders, and very twisty.  Car and Driver ranks these roads their favorite to drive.  Hey, try it with a 4 ton trailer! 

Couldn’t call for directions; no cell service.  After several a - -  puckering miles, we returned to Hwy 664 to find that had we gone straight 1/2 mile instead of turning left we would have been at the campground entrance.   Ms. Garmin almost became a UFO!! 

The campground is a disappointment.  Sites are tight, paved, but not anywhere near level.  The showers are from the 60s with push button 30 second squirts, with little privacy.  Worst of all, last cleaning appears to have been Memorial Day.  If we return here camping, it will not be in this State Park.  Boy, you don’t appreciate Michigan’s parks until you experience one of these. 

Tuesday - A new day and we are here to hike the trails.  So we laced on out hikers and set off for three trails.  The first is the most popular, Old Man’s Cave.

A significant formation here is the Sphinx Head.  It is the Park’s icon.

 

A big feature in the area are waterfalls, streams, and rapids.  That’s what carved these formations.  Well, the heat and lack of rain has dried everything up.  We supected that would be possible, but the formations nontheless are quite spectacular.  The trails are short, most less than a mile, and in good condition.  The CCC constructed most of the paths, steps, bridges, tunnels, etc. 90 years ago to make it possible to get around here. 

Our second trail was to Ash Cave.  Said to be the largest cave formation in Ohio.  It is a whopper and the acoustics are amazing.  It got its name from ash remnants on the floor left from Indian ceremonial fires.  No sign of it today, too many footprints.

Notice the size of the people for perspective on this cave’s size.

Our last stop today was Rock House.  This very large formation has a huge interior cavern, thus the name.

  

Here are a few odds and ends that show the interesting shape and color in these formations.

We covered a little over 6 miles today, so we should sleep well tonight!

Wednesday - Its getting a bit warm and muggy around here.  The only remaining trail we wanted to hike was the Cantwell Cliffs trail.  Looking at the map it appears to be a doosey.  So off we went this morning and our estimates were not wrong.  Although only a mile in length, half of it is down and the other half up.  These are the steps down into the gorge.

The formations were quite pretty.  There is (was) a river that flows though, but dried up.

This is our last day in Hocking Hills and we have enjoyed our visit (except for the campground).  It was a suprise to us that Ohio has this kind of scenery.  We may want to come back in late spring sometime so we can see these features with water flowing.  It might be pretty cool in the winter also.

Tomorrow we head to Flintsone, MD to begin our tour of the C&O Canal.

September 3 & 4, 2016 – Cavern, Critters, and Trails

The park has filled up completely since Friday; no open sites.  Been experiencing a 4 hour, power blackout from about 2 or 3 AM to 6 or 7 AM every night starting Thursday.  Inquired at office,  reponse was, unknown cause and we are the only ones to complain.  While we are not sure as to the extent, we are quite sure it isn’t just us.  Maybe a state thing to save money? 

On Saturday, we visited the Olentangy  Indian Cavern.  Discovered in the late 1790s and used by the early Indians until the mid 1800s.  It sat unused and pilferred for nearly a hundred years.  The land was bought and tours began.  It changed hands a few times, but tours were the main money maker.  The cave geologically is small and unremarkable, but it’s history is significant.  There are carvings and rock shaping by the Wyandotte Indians who lived in the cave for several years to avoid conflicts with the Iroquois, but little is identified in the cave.  Maybe on the guided tours, not held today, those items are pointed out. All the stalagmites and stalagtites have been stolen, some flow stone and beehive stalagmites do exist.

Since the cavern isn’t very big, to keep people there and spending money, they have a gem “mining” sluice and an animal petting area.  We went to the petting area with the deer, goats, and cows; Lynn was in her element.  The critters were just lying around, so Lynn yanked some weeds through the fence.  She became very popular, very fast, offering them a “snack.”

Even Dan got in on the action.

Sunday we visited one of the metro parks, Highlands Metro Park, located near the campground.  The park was located along a slate ridge along the Olentangy River.  There were several trails we walked, most not that special.  We have just seen so many unusual natural things on trails, it really takes something special to impress us.  The slate walls along the ravine were interesting and weep water after a good rainfall.  Not the case today since up until the past week or so, they too have been in a drought.

There was a really big and interesting mushroom on one of the trails.

 

There was a nice overlook on one trail.

Tomorrow we head for Hocking Hills State Park, near Logan, OH.  Only 75 miles from here. 

The park has several scenic trails that we plan on checking out.