Liking and hiking Ohio’s Hocking Hills State Park with Kids

Hiking Hocking Hills State Park with kids was exactly what we needed for our short Fall Break trip – gorgeous fall colors, unique and interesting hikes, social distancing, and a break from work, school and the craziness of the world.

Hocking Hills is located about an hour south of Columbus, Ohio (in Logan, OH) with dozens of great outdoor activities – hiking trails, canoe and kayak trips, ziplining adventures, horseback rides and more. For this trip, we stuck with hiking and two cool experiences – an evening at the John Glenn Astronomy Park and a trip to the Jack Pine Glass Studio.

We stayed in a cute, newly renovated “cottage” – basically a cute, ranch house on a bunch of land. Our younger son said, “Oh, so this is what ‘out in the middle of nowhere” means.” Deer were our friends each morning as they snacked their way across the front field — a great place to unwind and take in the autumn colors.

There are hundreds of cabins and homes for rent throughout the area as well as camping sites.

Hiking Hocking Hills State Park with Kids

Hocking Hills is a unique geologic area with stunning rock formations and ravines formed when oceans covered the land and then receded millions of years ago. It gets its name from the Native Americans who once lived there and called the river that runs through the area “hockhocking.”

Even from the first steps we took on our hike at Old Man’s Cave, I imagined woodland sprites and fairies peeking around trees and under stones. It has a certain primordial feel that you don’t get in many places in the U.S. In some ways, it reminded me of another old growth forest that we hiked in, Muir Woods, California. Even though they were experiencing some drought, there was still a mystical, misty feeling about walking through the gorges and other trails. 

I have a self-proclaimed non-hiker in my family, while the other three of us love it. On occasion, and with the right incentive, we have been able to get him out into nature, trekking a trail and actually enjoying himself. He knew in advance that we’d be hiking alot on this trip, so that preparation was key. 

The Park is huge and very spread out – the individual trailheads can be several miles apart, so unless you’re looking for longer hikes, you’ll need to drive to each one. Also, many of them are one-way trails, so you’ve got to be committed once you start. Luckily, we stuck with short trails – all were less than 2 miles. One of my sons has gross motor issues so we are particularly sensitive to challenging and dangerous hikes, both of which reside at Hocking Hills on the ridgeline trails so make sure you read about the hike before you venture out. There’s a great app to orient yourself to the area – The Hocking Hills app. Download it before you go – it’s got detailed info on all of the trails, plus information about restaurants, lodging and other activities. Cell service is spotty in the area and it doesn’t require cell or wifi to run, so it’s so it can help with directions and trail maps

For us, splitting up the day into four kid-friendly hikes was the best way to keep the boys moving and interested. I did quite a bit of research on which hikes were best for our family. Here’s what we did and what I’d recommend for others with kids under 10 or for kids with gross motor or balance issues:

Old Man’s Cave/ Lower Falls

Old Man’s Cave is the most popular hike in the area, so we decided to hit it early to beat the crowds. It’s also where the Hocking Hills Visitor Center is. The visitor center is currently closed, but the restrooms are open. 

We started at Grandma’s Gatewood Trail which and switched over to the Exit trail, both of which were very kid-friendly. At the trailhead, we immediately walked down a set of stairs and were cornered by impressive stone walls. Beautiful scenery surrounding us on all sides. What we loved about this hike is that it wasn’t “just walk on a trail” — you go through tunnels, up and down stairs, cross bridges and search for waterfalls (which were elusive due to drought). Keep your eyes open for the Sphinx rock – which juts out from a stone ridge and looks just like the half-nosed Sphinx of Egypt at the right angle.

The “cave” was so-named because an old man lived there for a time in the 1800’s. The cave is not completely enclosed, so it’s no problem for the claustrophobic, but it was cool to imagine living in the cavern carved into the stone.  Approx. 1 mile

Ash Cave – Gorge Trail

Ash Cave is another nice hike for kids and people with strollers as it is pretty level on the way to the cave, but there are some tricky steps and narrow passages if you go the one-way route out. If you are in a wheelchair or can’t make the tougher hike out, you can double back and exit the same trail you entered. The ferns and hemlocks were plentiful along the gorge floor. The cave is actually the largest recess cave east of the Mississippi River.

It’s a short ½ mile trail.

Conkles’ Hollow – Gorge Trail

My favorite of all of the hikes, the Gorge Trail of Conkle’s Hollow is a down and back hike of about 1 mile. It’s perfect for those with wheelchairs or strollers because it is paved most of the way, but the best part of the hike is actually the short walk that’s off the paved path and to the end of the gorge. Be sure you stick with the Gorge Trail with littles, as the Upper Rim hike has a couple of treacherous areas (signs do warn you of the danger). 

With the sunlight filtering through the trees to the bottom of the gorges, it has a magical feeling. There are a couple of small mini caves in the rocks here that you can explore, too. While it didn’t have as much hiking through different terrain or obstacles, hiking beyond the pavement was well worth the reward.

Unfortunately, I saw an update (October 2020) that the trail is currently closed due to parking lot construction, but I think it is only going to last a few weeks.

Rock House Trail – Gorge Trail

Rock House also has a Gorge Trail and and Upper Rim Trail (more treacherous). We couldn’t locate the entrance for the Gorge Trail, and while wandering about, a dad with two young kids told us that the Upper Rim going to the Rock House wasn’t too bad. He was right. It was a wide trail along the edge. We stayed on the opposite site of the ravine, and it was just fine for both my more experienced and more unsteady hikers.  

Once we got down into the gorge (via stairs, not too scary), we were treated with a super cool cave to walk through with high ceilings, echos and cut-out “windows” – truly a rock house. And even though it was mostly enclosed, you could stand up, see lots of light and not feel claustrophobic. ½ mile

In addition to hiking Hocking Hills State Park with kids, we also checked out the John Glenn Astronomy Park. A dark sky park (only a few designated with that title in the entire U.S.), on a clear night after sunset, you can see a ton of celestial sites. A wonderful amatuer astronomy photographer who goes most clear nights, helped us identify The Milky Way, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, several constellations, and even a passing satellite – really some jaw-dropping moments for us. “That’s really the Milky Way?” my 12-year old marveled. I love experiences that leave them awe-struck (it also entailed a detailed and in-depth conversation about astronomy on our way back to the cottage that night).

There are several high-powered telescopes housed at the Park that visitors can peer through to see faraway wonders, but due to COVID, they are closed.

I recommend taking a pair of binoculars, downloading one of the star gazing apps and orienting yourself to the sky even before you go. You might not be as lucky as we were to find a guide to navigate the stars. Covid-19 restrictions are in place to limit the number of people at the park, and you’ll need to register for a parking spot on their website before you go.

Another quick diversion from hiking is a trip to the Jack Pine Glass Studio where you can watch  artisans create glassworks. The main viewing spot is actually outside (nice for social distancing), and they have stools set up to watch and plexiglass dividers to keep safe. The artists will give you details of what they are doing as they manipulate the liquid glass into a sculpture – in our case, they were making glass pumpkins. 

The boys were mesmerized by the lava-hot glass, cool tools, and fun nature of the artists. I couldn’t resist a souvenir and snagged a cool pumpkin with metallic colors, but I went into the shop solo – not a great place for two young boys, even if they are well behaved!

The only bummer about our hikes throughout Hocking Hills is that the lack of rain inhibited the plentiful waterfalls that are typically running off the rocky faces of the cliffs and overhangs, but that will just give us a good excuse to return soon.

A stop at the visitor’s center is also worth the trip – they have great trail maps and other information, but most importantly, it’s also the location of the Paul A. Johnson Pencil Sharpener Museum. Yes, that’s right, a pencil sharpener museum! Thousands and thousands of all shapes and sizes, antique and new, Disney characters to Peanuts’ Snoopy are on display in a small outbuilding at the visitor’s center.

Hiking Hocking Hills State Park with kids was exactly what we needed. Nature soothes our souls and basking in the tree-filtered sunlight of the many trails we trekked was the perfect way to recharge, enjoy stunning and unusual scenery, and make memories.