We decided to play tourist on the most beautiful day of the week (we are really loving Spring Break, can you tell?) and drove an hour NW to visit a small part of Hocking Hills State Park called Old Man's Cave. The legend is that in the 1800's there was a man named Richard Rowe who was a hermit and a trapper and when he died (from an unfortunate accident with his musket while breaking the ice on the stream one winter) his trapper buddies wrapped him in oak bark and buried him in sand on a ledge of the cave. Parents in the olden days used to tell their children to stay away from the cave (and more importantly, from the sandstone cliffs at the top of the mile-long gorge) because his ghost lingered behind. Well, I might linger in this spot if I were a ghost (and if I could convince all the tourist to find somewhere else to leave their cigarette butts and styrofoam cups) - it was beautiful, and surrounded by tall hemlocks. Like so many natural awe-spots, photos (well, my photos) don't do it justice, but here are some just the same...
We often play the alphabet game while hiking, so were pleased to find this "A" bridge - and 2 more bridges in the same shot!
From one of the landings on the winding path up under the ledge on the left of the photo
Upper Falls, at the top end of the gorge. It was ch-ch-chilly...
Couldn't resist. She kept saying it was "Paradise"
2 comments:
This looks like an awesomely, beautiful spot! I completely understand why you'd think you were in paradise, Eliza!! What a beautiful picture of you and the falls. I hope I can visit this place when I come visit this summer.
Wow, we are about an an hour and a half SW of Old Man's Cave in Ohio. I have 2 nature lovin' girls as well (7&5). Hocking Hills is such a beautiful place, thanks for this post and showing the world the beauty of Ohio.
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