Kyla's Hocking Hills Vacation 5

Day 5: Old Man's Cave Upper Falls

On the last day a Hocking Hills, Kyla ventures down to one of the most spectacular waterfalls at the park, Upper Falls at Old Man's Cave.  It is also one of the easiest to get to.  So she decides to bring her easel and paint the waterfall.

The beach is  surrounded by caverns and trees.  A beautiful lake of blue, green water is at the base of the waterfall.  Caves surround the area, some deeper than others.

The water falls over the lip, pools at the base of the caverns surrounding the lake, then falls into the green, blue waters.

Kyla sets up her easel on the beach across from the waterfall.  She sets her paints up, hanging them on the easel's leg.  Picking up her palette, she begins to add colors that she will use.

She studies the waterfall intensely to get all of the details.  She wants her painting to be as beautiful as the real thing.  Starting with the falls she paints the water falling over the edge.

Continually glancing back at the scene, she paints the falls, then she works on the caverns and the surroundings next, detailing the rocks and the vegetation.

When she finally finishes, she steps back from her painting and looks from it to the waterfall.  She nods her head in approval.

After picking up her supplies and returning them to the car, Kyla explores the area a lite more.  Here she can get right next to the walls of the caves.

Unlike some of the other walls that were just the sandstone, these walls are covered in vegetation.  She loves the little plants that carpet the walls of the caverns.   At the back of the area where the waterfall is, a large tree with it's roots exposed canopies most of the pool.

Kyla loves climbing on the roots.  It's fascinating to see how many roots there are and how far out they go.  She figures that the roots are almost as big as the canopy of the tree.   She follows the stream for a little bit to see where it goes, and then turns around, heading back to the blue green lake.  Stopping to take one more photo of herself by the lake before she goes back to the car.  It's time to make the 12 hour trip home.  Thanks Hocking Hills!  It's been fun!

Kyla's Hocking Hill Vacation 4

Day 4: Cantwell Cliffs

Kyla wakes up the next morning to the sun shining with no rain clouds in view.  A combination that makes for a humid morning, but Kyla doesn't mind.  It's still beautiful.  When choosing her next hike the day before she chose the Cantwell Cliffs, one of the more difficult trails.  It seems normal when she first starts, then she gets to a set of stairs.

A narrow, steep staircase with the rock steps only about 2 feet wide and 6 inches deep leads down into the ravine.

Creating a long, steep, narrow path, Kyla has to pay attention to her footing, stopping a few times, to make sure the rock steps are under foot.

Once she gets to the end of the narrow stairway the rocks and woods open up onto a rocky ledge that over look a ravine of trees and rock.  A thin waterfall falls from the lip of the cliffs into the ravine below.

Following the ravine, the trail snakes back and forth to the forest floor, cliffs looming on ether side.

Small runoff waterfalls litter the trail, trickling down from the beautiful rock  cliffs.

At one point in the trail a long fallen pine tree looms over the path, like a bridge for squirrels.  Kyla thinks of walking on it, but decides that standing underneath the bridge is much safer.

Rocks jut from the earth along the trail, covered in green moss.  Kyla can not believe all of the wonderful sights along the trail.

The bright whites and tans of the sand stone contrast with the luscious green of the moss and plants.  Kyla stops for photos often as she walks.

As she nears the end of the trail, she comes to a spot that has a narrow wooden staircase leading to a crack in the rock cliff.  From the bottom of the staircase the crack looks only inches wide.

When she climbs the stairs she realizes that you can walk through the crack.  Sliding through sideways, she comes out at the bottom of the staircase that she began her trek down.

She is so fascinated by the crack that she goes back through to explore.   It is a small crack, no more than 2 feet across at it's widest and closer to a foot wide in the narrowest part.

Such a simple geological structure, but so amazing.   Kyla is very glad that she was able to go through this trail.

Walking back through the crack, she climbs the narrow rock stairs that started the trail.   It was a difficult trail, but beautiful.  She then head back to the cabin to rest, and get ready for the following day.   Her last in Hocking Hills.

Kyla's Hocking Hill Vacation 3

Day 3: Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Kyla makes it back to the cabin just as the rain begins.  It pours!  All night long it rains, and doesn't stop through the next day.  Kyla finds things to do inside the cabin.  First she maps out what else she wants to do in her last two days in the park.

She finds the waterfalls and sights she wants to see and checks the routes.

She is excited to go hiking, if the rain would ever stop!  She looks out the window longingly, but there is no sign that the rain is going to let up.

Kyla takes out some of her art supplies and begins creating.  Her mind wonders as she doodles, imagining unicorns and dragons.  Thinking about her adventures so far.  Her brain is full of thoughts as she draws and hums.

She hopes for a nice day tomorrow, wanting to paint a landscape of one of the waterfalls.  She checks her phone...it looks like tomorrow is going to be beautiful, but today is all rain.

Before she knows it, it's time for bed.  She gets dressed in her monster nightgown, grabs her stuffed unicorn, and mulls around the cabin trying to decide if she should sleep, or draw a few more pictures before bed.

Finally she lies down, excited for tomorrow.  Hoping that the forecast is right.   Clutching her unicorn, she slowly drifts off to sleep.

Kyla's Hocking Hill Vacation 2

Day 2: Kayaking and Whispering Falls

Waking up early, Kyla used part of her second day to go kayaking.  She started at the waterfall she had seen yesterday, in Ash Cave, and paddled along the stream a mile or so.

She made her way through rocks and small rapids.  The water moved quickly is some areas, but slowed considerably when the stream widened out She marveled at all the greenery.

Hocking Hills had rain almost the entire week before she came, so the plant life was extremely lush.  She really enjoyed seeing some of the tree roots that stuck out from the banks.   The earth that surrounded them, washed away over time.

It is a wonderful adventure going down the stream.  The current never goes fast enough that Kyla feels unsafe, but it moves her along so that she only has to steer with her paddle.

After kayaking, Kyla starts on another hike to see a waterfall and the largest cavern in the park.   She hikes along the edge of rock cliffs, always watching where she is stepping.  The path is wide, but rocky.

Walls of sandstone rise on her right side, with layers of different sediment coloring the rock.

Caves, caverns, and rocks are common sites as she trudges along the path.  A few people pass her as she hikes, but not nearly as many as on other trails.

When she gets to the end of the trail she is amazed at the size of the cavern.  It is huge!!!

The waterfall is a trickle, and nothing fantastic, but the cavern is amazing.

She explores the cavern, walking to the end of the path where rocks have fallen over the years.

Climbing on and around them she find a different view of the cavern.   It is amazing.

For a few more minutes she wonders around, exploring the rocks, the wall, and the view from the cavern.

It is an awesome sight.  As she heads back to the cabin, some dark clouds begin to cover the sky.

Kyla's Hocking Hill Vacation

Day 1: Exploring Ash Cave 

Kyla always looks forward to summer vacation.  She loves getting to explore a new place.  This year Kyla took a road trip to Ohio to visit Hocking Hills,  a State Park that is famous for it's waterfalls.  Ohio is a good twelve hour drive from Minnesota if there is no traffic.  So it's decided to stop in Indianapolis for the night before heading to Ohio.

Even though it's only for the night, Kyla finds a place to go for a walk around a man made pond.  It's a pretty little area with places to sit, gardens, and lots of trees.

She sits for awhile under one of the trees, looking out on the pond.   It's a very relaxing area, even with all of the businesses in the background.  Kyla wonders if there are any fish in the pond as she looks over it.

Although it is beautiful here, Kyla is sure that Hocking hills is going to be much prettier.

When she arrives at the park, she settles into the cabin.  It's wonderful, with a deck, and cute decorations.  Once she is unpacked, she is off to explore.  She heads out to one of the closest waterfalls at Ash Cave.

Most of the area in the park is made of sandstone.  Because of that the water and wind have eroded it, making waterfalls, and caves.   This waterfall is in a huge cavern that explorers used to get out of the elements.

There is not a lot of water running over the waterfall, but it plunges almost 100 ft from the ledge above, forming a pristine pool of water below.

Kyla loves that she can walk behind the fall and look out at the huge cavern it adorns.

She wonders what this looked like when the first explores came through, or when the Native Americans found it before them.

It must have looked very different then. It is such a calm area with the waterfall making noise and it echoing off the cavern walls.

People are swimming in the water hole, but Kyla did not bring her suit with today, so she decides just to dip her feet in the water.

It's wonderfully cool, and refreshing as the temperature is in the 90's with a dew point in the 80's.   She stays in the water for a few minutes, then explores the rest of the cavern.

Sandstone always amazes Kyla, because it can be very hard, but is also very fragile.  It can easily crumble, especially after heavy rains.

The colors in the stone are beautiful.  So many shades of tans, offset by the green of the moss growing on the surface of the rock.  She brushes her hand against the rough surface of the rock.   What an amazing area.  She marvels at the waterfall once again before heading back to the cabin.