Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means if you click on one of my links and make a purchase, I will receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
We had a blast exploring Hocking Hills State Park, which is only an hour and a half southeast of Columbus, Ohio. After living here for five years, we finally checked it out!
This is the perfect park to bring your furry friend along. You will find that most trails are dog friendly except Conkle’s Hollow, a nature preserve. Dogs must be leashed at all times and picked up after. Make sure to have your pet up to date on their vaccines and heartworm, flea and tick prevention for their safety.
We spent most of the day in the park and visited three area: Ash Cave, Old Man’s Cave and Cedar Falls. Make sure to wear proper shoes because a majority of the trails we took were pretty wet and the rocks were slippery from the waterfalls even on a warm, sunny day. Tread carefully!
| Ash Cave
Ash Cave was our first stop of the day. There is a short, paved walk from the parking lot through the gorge to the inside of the cave. This is a great, accessible site for all ages, only taking five to 10 minutes to walk.
At the end of the trail, you’ll reach sandy bottomed Ash Cave! It is a large, horseshoe-shaped cave with a beautiful waterfall cascading down the center of it.
SHOP FOR YOUR TRIP
From this point, you can take a couple of different routes. You can turn back down the paved trail and head back to the parking lot the way you came or you can walk up the back of the cave and behind the waterfall to hike from your choice of a few trails. You can walk up along the rim of the cave for a more forested walk back to the parking lot or take a trail that will take you all the way to Old Man’s Cave.
| Old Man’s Cave
This is probably the most popular spot in Hocking Hills with lots of foot traffic all along this trail. There is a visitor center here with bathrooms and plenty of picnic tables to have a nice lunch.
The entire trail around Old Man’s Cave felt like we were in a fairytale. The gorgeous trees, whimsical waterfalls and bridges — truly like we were walking in another world. Every turn had something new and exciting. We didn’t want it to end!
The dogs loved adventuring through here and climbing over rocks and bridges, through tunnels and leading us along the creeks. Definitely a must do in Hocking Hills!
| Cedar Falls
This was our last stop since it was late in the day and we were beat!
We missed the sign that told us to turn right to go towards the falls and ended up going left. It was okay because we got to adventure over a couple bridges and creeks and explore even more. We ran into the first hikers we saw the entire time on the trail and they told us we were heading back towards Old Man’s Cave. So we turned around and, sure enough, a minute walk to the right from the parking lot was Cedar Falls.
SHOP FOR YOUR TRIP
I loved these falls because there was plenty of space for you to sit and relax. We ended up sitting there and watching the waterfall for about 30 minutes. The dogs loved it!
We found out afterwards there is actually a trail that connects all three of these areas, so we can’t wait to get back and check out everything this park has to offer!
PIN IT FOR LATER!
