Hocking Hills State Park

The rock at the heart of Hocking Hills is Black Hand sandstone, laid down some 350 million years ago as sand along the edge of an ancient sea. In places this sandstone is loosely cemented and crumbly, and in others it is hard and resistant. Over vast stretches of time, streams cut down through the layers, and water working into the softer bands hollowed out the deep alcoves, or recess caves, that give the park its drama.

Ash Cave, the largest recess cave east of the Mississippi, is a single enormous overhang where a slender waterfall spills from the rim into a shallow pool far below. Old Man's Cave winds along a gorge past waterfalls, pools, and a tunnel bored through solid rock. The whole landscape is a lesson in patience, written by water into stone, and it is still slowly changing to this day.

This corner of Ohio is part of the ancestral homeland of the Shawnee and other nations who lived in and traveled through these hills, hunting the forests and sheltering in the recess caves long before European settlement. These peoples were forcibly removed from Ohio in the 1800s, and their descendant communities continue today, largely in Oklahoma. The rock shelters here still hold evidence of that long human presence.

In later times the caves drew hermits, hunters, and travelers seeking shelter. Old Man's Cave takes its name from a recluse said to have lived out his final years in the gorge in the 1800s. By the early 1900s the beauty of the area was widely known, and Ohio began protecting the land, with much of the trail work, stone stairways, and bridges built during the Great Depression by young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

The gorges create a cool, damp world that is unusual for Ohio, sheltering eastern hemlock, Canada yew, and mosses and ferns that are relics of colder times. On the ridgetops above, the forest shifts to oak, hickory, and pine, and in spring wildflowers carpet the slopes. This mix of habitats packs remarkable variety into a small area.

Wildlife thrives in the folds of the land. White-tailed deer are common, and the woods hold foxes, wild turkeys, and a rich birdlife, from warblers in the treetops to owls calling at dusk. Salamanders and frogs live in the wet gorges, and the region is known for its dark night skies, which draw stargazers to its overlooks and open ridges after sundown.

The classic way to see Hocking Hills is on foot, following trails that link the gorges with stone stairways, footbridges, and stretches carved right into the rock. Some walks are short and family-friendly, others string together the major features on longer hikes. The most-loved routes connect Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls, and Ash Cave along the winding creek.

Every season transforms the park. Spring runs high with waterfalls and wildflowers, summer offers cool shade deep in the gorges, and fall lights the hills in some of the finest color in the state. Winter can be the most striking of all, when the waterfalls freeze into columns of ice and the quiet gorges lie hushed under snow, though icy trails then demand care.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.