Guides ·Day trips

Getting there and when to leave

From Upper Arlington, take Lane Avenue or Fifth Avenue east to SR-315, drop south to I-70 and I-71, then pick up US-33 southeast toward Lancaster and Logan. It is roughly 60 to 70 miles depending on which trailhead you target, and 75 to 90 minutes without traffic. Fill the tank before you leave, because gas in the hills runs 20 to 30 cents a gallon more than in Franklin County. Budget $18 to $25 in fuel for the round trip in a normal car and keep a phone mount handy, since signal drops in the gorges.

Leave Upper Arlington by 7:30 am on a summer or October weekend. That is not caution, it is arithmetic: the Old Man's Cave lot fills by 10 am on peak days and the overflow parking adds a 15-minute walk. Weekdays are dramatically calmer, and a Tuesday in June feels like a different park from a Saturday in October. Winter visits are underrated, with frozen falls at Cedar Falls and Ash Cave and almost empty trails, though ice cleats are genuinely necessary on the stone stairways between December and February.

The six gorges and how to choose

Hocking Hills State Park is a scattered collection rather than one entrance. Old Man's Cave, on SR-664 south of Logan, is the headline: a half-mile gorge of Blackhand sandstone with the Upper Falls, Devil's Bathtub and Lower Falls, plus a modern visitor center with restrooms and rangers. Ash Cave, further south on SR-56, is the largest recess cave in Ohio at about 700 feet across, and its main approach is a paved, accessible quarter-mile that suits strollers and wheelchairs. Cedar Falls, between them, has the most reliable water flow in the whole park.

The other three are quieter. Rock House on SR-374 is the only true cave in the park, a corridor cut through the cliff face with windows out to the valley. Conkle's Hollow, a state nature preserve rather than a state park, has a flat gorge trail that is one of the deepest in Ohio and a separate rim trail with genuine drop-offs and no railings. Cantwell Cliffs, at the northern end, sees the fewest visitors and has the tightest squeeze on the descent. Pick three, not six, or you will spend the day in a car.

A realistic one-day route

The efficient loop is Old Man's Cave first at around 9 am, then the Grandma Gatewood Trail south to Cedar Falls if you have the legs, roughly two miles one way through the gorge with a shuttle or a car swap at the far end. Otherwise drive between them, about 10 minutes. Then Ash Cave in the early afternoon, which takes 45 minutes at a stroll. That is three of the best sites, four to five hours of walking, and lunch in the middle, and it leaves the drive home in daylight even in November.

If you have already seen the main three, substitute Conkle's Hollow gorge trail plus Rock House for a much less crowded day. Add Lake Logan State Park for a flat walk and a picnic, or Hocking Hills State Park's dam area for swimming in summer. Serious walkers can do the six-mile Grandma Gatewood Trail from Old Man's Cave through Cedar Falls to Ash Cave and arrange a pickup, which is the best single hike in southern Ohio and takes three to four hours at a steady pace.

What it costs

The good news is that Ohio State Parks charge no entry fee and no parking fee, so Old Man's Cave, Ash Cave, Cedar Falls, Rock House and Cantwell Cliffs are all free. Conkle's Hollow, as a state nature preserve, is likewise free. Your entire day can cost gas plus food. Restrooms are free at the Old Man's Cave visitor center and at Ash Cave, and there are water bottle fillers at the main center. This is the cheapest big-scenery day trip available from Upper Arlington by a wide margin.

Paid add-ons exist if you want them. Hocking Hills Canopy Tours near Rockbridge runs zipline courses generally in the $90 to $135 range and books out on weekends. Horseback rides and guided rappelling operate around Logan at similar prices. Cabin rentals dominate the local lodging market at $150 to $350 a night, though for a day trip you do not need one. Lunch in Logan runs $12 to $18 a head at a diner or barbecue counter, and a full sit-down dinner is rarely more than $25.

Eating and the town of Logan

Logan, the Hocking County seat about 10 minutes north of Old Man's Cave, is where you eat and refuel. The town has a small walkable center on Main Street with barbecue, pizza, a brewery and coffee, and the Hocking Hills Regional Welcome Center on East Main Street stocks free maps and trail conditions and has clean restrooms. Expect counter service rather than reservations. Portions are generous and prices are low: a barbecue plate with two sides is typically $15 to $18, and a sandwich lunch under $12.

Inside the park, food options are limited to seasonal snack service at the Old Man's Cave area, so pack a cooler. Picnic tables sit at every major trailhead and there are shelters at Ash Cave and Old Man's Cave. If you want a proper meal on the way home, Lancaster on US-33 has a genuinely handsome downtown of Federal and Greek Revival buildings and a couple of solid restaurants, and it adds only 10 minutes to the drive back to Upper Arlington.

Practicalities and safety

Wear real shoes. The sandstone stairways and gorge floors stay damp year round and the moss on stone is slick even in dry weather. Every year people are injured going over railings for photographs at the Upper Falls and on the Conkle's Hollow rim trail, which has unfenced drops of well over 100 feet. Keep children within arm's reach at the falls, stay on marked trails, and treat the rim trail as a serious hike rather than a stroll. Cell coverage is patchy in the gorges, so download offline maps before you leave the highway.

Bring more water than you think you need in summer, plus insect repellent from June through August. Dogs are allowed on leash in the state park but not in the nature preserve at Conkle's Hollow. Drones are prohibited. Restrooms exist only at the main areas, so plan accordingly. Sunset comes early in the gorges because of the cliff walls, so aim to be off the trails an hour before official sunset in late autumn, which in November can mean starting your last walk by 3:30 pm.

Frequently asked questions

What people ask before they set off on this one.

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