Our next stop on our Midwest Tour was visiting our friend Will Jones in Cincinnati. It was the first time I had met his wife, Cassandra. It was so much fun spending time with both of them.
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| Downtown Cincinnati |
We started with a brief afternoon tour of Cincinnati, including crossing the bridge to Covington, Kentucky, to get a good view of the city. Cincinnati, which has undergone a great deal of revitalization lately is a very nice small city. We didn't do much but drive around, so I can't really give any tips or reviews of activities.
The next day, Will took us about two hours northeast of the city to Hocking Hills State Park near Chillicothe. It was very similar in looks to Cuyahoga Valley National Park, but more rural.
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| Hocking Hills State Park |
Hocking Hills State Park has five separate sections: Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls, Ash Cave, Cantwell Cliffs and Rock House.
We took a leisurely photography hike through the Old Man's Creek gorge to Old Man's Cave, each of us going at our own pace (which is code for Will came out of the gorge about two hours after Scott and an hour and half after me). Of course, after that, we didn't have time to visit any other parts of the park.
The name of the area comes from the Delaware Indian word, Hockhocking, which means "bottle." In Shawnee, Wea-tha-Kagh-Qua-sepe means "bottle river," referring to a narrow bottleneck above a waterfall northwest of Lancaster, Ohio.
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| A beautiful ravine |
More than 330 million years ago, the area was under the Atlantic Ocean, where sand and gravel were deposited over millions of years. When the ocean receded, the sandy layers bonded with silica to form the Black Hand Sandstone that underlies the area. It formed like a sandwich, with a hard top and bottom and a soft middle layer. When the Appalachian Mountains uplifted, hills were formed. Then, the melting Wisconsin Glacier buried the area in tons of glacial silt and reversed the direction of the Hocking River.
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| So green |
Water then eroded the soft sandstone sandwiched between the hard layers, leaving long tunnels where gorges are today. Eventually, the weight of the tops caused them to collapse and water carved interesting curves and gouges. Of course, water is still at work today. When we were there, water levels were quite low, just as they had been at Cuyahoga Valley. But, there was ample evidence that sometimes it is much higher.
The trail was nice and level, with bridges and rails where needed. It was damp and occasionally muddy, but generally a very easy walk (except for the oppressive humidity and mosquitoes). There are multiple paths up and out of the gorge to the overlook trail above.
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| Cool caves |
One of the stops along the way was Old Man's Cave, which is named after Richard Rowe, who lived as a hermit in a large recess cave in the gorge. When his family moved to the Ohio River Valley around 1796 from the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee to establish a trading post, Rowe and his two dogs frequently traveled through Ohio to hunt. It was on one of these trips that he found the cave where he would later live. He is buried beneath the ledge of the cave.
Earlier, two brothers, Nathaniel and Pat Rayon, built a cabin 30 feet north of the cave entrance. Both brothers are also buried in or near the cave. Their cabin was later dismantled and relocated on the nearby farm to be used as a tobacco-drying house.
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| Not expected for Ohio |
The native Adena culture is believed to be the first inhabitants of Hocking Hills, The Delaware, Wyandot and Shawnee traveled through and lived in the area in the 1700s. White settlers came in the late 1700s and a powder mill was built 1840. The park was created in the early 1900s.
Because of the light and shade deep in the gorge, photography was a bit tricky. Although all the signs touted lots of birds, I saw very few. But, the greenness and falling water gave the place a very peaceful vibe.
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| Waterfall |
We returned to Cincinnati that evening and ate downtown. Unfortunately, there was a giant salsa-dancing event in the main square, a Bengals game and Hillary Clinton had been in town earlier in the day, so it was pretty crowded. Still, a fun night with good friends. And, a newfound appreciation for Ohio. It's a pretty cool state.
Trip date: August 12-September 5, 2016
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