"Hocking Hills State Park, Logan area of... " a Hocking Hills State Park Travel Page by butterflykizzez04

Today, Shari and I (my cousin) took our children hiking at Hocking Hills State Park. My dau., Noel age 9, and her two kids, Tayler age 7 and Cullen age 5 really enjoyed it.

We visited Old Man's Cave, Upper and Lower Falls were also there. Then we went to Cedar Falls about 3 miles away, and then over to Ash Cave, which was another 3 miles away. Then we drove over to the Hocking Hills State Park lodge and had lunch. Then, we drove about 8 miles over to the Rock House cave.

It was a nice trip and the kids as well us enjoyed it. The caves were only about 1.5 hrs from where we live so it was a nice drive.

Hocking Hills provides a variety of recreational opportunities in a splendid natural setting. Towering cliffs, waterfalls and deep hemlock-shaded gorges lure the hiker and naturalist and serve as a backdrop to popular facilities and accommodations.

The natural history of this region is as fascinating as the caves are beautiful. Here, in these sandstones and shales, one can read Ohio's history from the rocks. The scenic features of the six areas of the Hocking Hills State Park complex are carved in the Blackhand sandstone. This bedrock was deposited more than 350 million years ago as a delta in the warm shallow sea which covered Ohio at that time. Subsequent millions of years of uplift and stream erosion created the awesome beauty seen today.

The sandstone varies in composition and hardness from softer, loosely cemented middle zone to harder top and bottom layers. The recess caves at Ash Cave, Old Man's Cave and Cantwell Cliffs are all carved in the softer middle zone. Weathering and erosion widened cracks found in the middle layer of sandstone at the Rock House to create that unusual formation.