Old Man Cave in Ohio was not on my list of places to visit. My family usually goes away on the 4th of July, most of the time it’s a road trip. This year my wife chose Ohio. Of course my first reaction was, “Why Ohio?” Her reasons were: we had never been there and she wanted to go to the Columbus Zoo. Okay… So it was set – we would make the 5 hour drive from Maryland.
No Zoo
Since my son and I had no interest in going to the zoo, we looked to see what else we could do for our Ohio experience. He likes hiking moderate to hard trails, and I love waterfalls. As it turns out, Hocking Hills State Park satisfied both of those.
Cedar Falls
The trip started out with a short hike downhill to Cedar Falls, scaling some man-made a man-made stairwell. When we reached the bottom, we could hear the fall. So, it was close. We arrived to find a beautiful waterfall and quite a few people in and around the pool. Because there were so many people, getting my shots was going to take some patience.
4 Miles
After waiting to get clear shots of Cedar Falls, we set off on the 2 mile (one-way) hike to Old Man cave. The reviews I read of the trail were correct. Even though it was a holiday, it was a very popular trail – for people of all ages. It rained the day before so there was quite a bit of mud, and there were some tricky spots. But, for the most part the terrain wasn’t very difficult. However, the scenery along the trail was beautiful. Most of the time we were following along a stream, having to cross it once or twice.There were even a few single stream waterfalls, that seemed to drop water out of nowhere.
That Was It
Finally after hiking 2 miles, we reached Old Man Cave, or at least what we think was it. We saw a waterfall, a lot of people, and what could be considered a cave. Even though we’re not sure, the trail was not disappointing.
