One of my top books that I read last year was Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery, a biography of the first woman to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail (at age 67), as well as the first woman to do so multiple times and the first person to hike it three times.
She also hiked the Oregon Trail, from Missouri to Oregon. However, despite the thousands of miles she accumulated on her Keds, her favorite stretch of trail was in her Ohio backyard: a six-mile stretch from Old Man’s Cave to Ash Cave in the Hocking Hills State.
In 1965, an annual winter hike of this stretch of trail led by Grandma Gatewood, herself, began and this year was the 51st annual hike. After reading about this celebration of this woman, relatively close to where I’m currently living, I knew I had to go.
About Hocking Hills State Park and the Winter Hike
Hocking Hills State Park is about an hour’s drive south of Columbus, Ohio and the land was purchased by the state with intentions towards preservation in 1924. Over the years, more purchases were made, and today the park is made up of a few non-contiguous areas surrounded by state forests, state nature preserves, private preserves and metro parks. The main areas of the park are a stretch of land that covers an area from a feature known as Old Man’s Cave to a feature known as Ash Cave, the Rock House Area and the Cantwell Cliffs.
The annual winter hike covers the longest stretch of trail in the park, about 6 miles, from Old Man’s Cave (so names for Richard Rowe who lived in the cave in the 1800s), past Cedar Falls to Ash Cave. The trail winds through the hills and past beautiful sandstone formations.
Geology of the Hocking Hills
The Black Hand Sandstone formation, particular to this area, began its formation 350 million years ago when the area was covered by ocean waters that deposited the sands, which eventually rose into the Appalachian mountains and then were worn away by the rivers and streams.
While much of the Midwest owes its geography to being covered by the enormous glaciers of the ice age from 10,000 years ago, the glaciers stopped just short of the Hocking Hills area. Their melting is what carved out the many gorges and cliffs in the area, and because their presence kept the area cool, it allowed flora that is today more often found further north, such as hemlocks, Canada yew, yellow birch and black birch to flourish in the protected gorges.
Modern History of the Hocking Hills
The Hocking Hills gets its name from the Delaware name of the river, Hockhocking, which means bottle river. Evidence shows that the Adena people lived in the area 7,000 years ago and that American Indians frequently used the area for hunting and gathering through the 1700’s, when white settlers moved to the area and forced most of the American Indian civilizations out.
The caves and natural beauty of the region was well known by the end of the 1800’s, which lead to the protection measures of the 20th century, and the leisurely enjoyment through a variety of activities, like the annual Winter Hike.
Doing the 2016 Winter Hike
This year 5300 hikers came out to enjoy the trails, coming very close to the record 5400 hikers in 2010.
Conkle’s Hollow State Nature Preserve
I also took a trip to Conkle’s Hollow State Nature Preserve, which is situated among the Hocking Hills State Park and State Forest and shares the geology and features of the park. The gorge, which is at times only about 100 feet wide, is considered the deepest point in Ohio as the sandstone cliffs soar to be 200 feet above the creek that helped to carve out the gorge.
Planning Your Visit to the Hocking Hills
To visit the Hocking Hills area, you’ll need a car or some kind of personal vehicle. There’s camping available at the state park, which also has cabins and cottages to rent.
You can also search the area as there are a number of options for renting cabins with full amenities, plus hot tubs. There are a variety of attractions in the area and the park has events happening all the time. It’s definitely worth a trip, especially if you (like me) never thought that Ohio could look like that.