Hocking Hills State Park--Our Favorite Park II

During the last blog, we were happy to introduce our new favorite state park--Hocking Hills. Because we are camped about 30 miles north of Hocking Hills, we decided to visit all six of the sections in one day. The last blog described the first three sections, so we pick up now with the fourth area--Conkle's Hollow.

We've taken a 1-2 mile hike at each of the other three sections. At Conkle's Hollow, we had the choice of the 2.5 mile rim trail, or the 1-mile inner gorge trail. We decided to go with the shorter (and cooler) walk through the center of one of the greenest gorges we have ever experienced.

This section is actually a state nature reserve, so there are strict rules about staying on the trail. Climbing up on a boulder is a misdemeanor at Conkle's Hollow. That will keep even a climber like Mark on the ground.

It's hard to capture the grand scale of this beautifully green nature reserve, but that didn't keep us from taking more pictures.

Our fifth stop of the day is the Rock House--home of the only true cave in the state park. We were glad to have brought a flashlight with us to explore the dark sections of the cave.

The cave opening is part of a 250-foot-tall rock face, and Mark is sitting at one of the entrances.

The Rock House was a great place to explore!

Continuing down the trail after the cave meant going down into the gorge. Our legs are getting tired with lots of rock steps.

This grotto carved into the side of the cliff made another very green cave opening that we could crawl up into.

The trail continues back up to the rim that overlooks the gorge below. Right now Denisa is standing on the edge of that 250 foot rock wall that houses the Rock House cave.

It was almost 5:00 when we arrived at the sixth and final Hocking Hills park. There was a road detour that took us an extra ten miles, but we persevered to arrive at Cantwell Cliffs. Denisa's preferred name for this park would be "Can-Well-Be-Stairmaster."

There is a person in each of the pictures below, just to give some sort of scale to our majestic surroundings.With every twist and turn of the trail came another set of long steps to go up and then down. We went down into the gorge . . .

then back up to the rim . . .

then down again into the beautiful rock-lined gorge . . .

Speaking  of rocks, we are amazed that the trees manage to sprout and then flourish on top of the rocks. We can see the entire root system, hugging the rocky tops for some stability.

We know that we have wandered into another of His wonders when we see jumbles of roots on top of sheer rock that support tall trees.

By now we have gone up and down another set of steps, admiring the ferns and plants that cling to the vertical rock walls.

One last set of steps through a narrow crevice, and we have conquered the Cantwell Cliffs. We have hiked and climbed our way through over nine miles of beautiful trails and six different settings. We commented that any one of the six would have made for a great day, but we were sixfold blessed this day to wander into more of His wonders.