Park office Location and
Mailing Address:
Hocking Hills State Park
19852 State Route 664 S
Logan, Ohio 43138
Park Office Phone: 740.385.6842
Cottage Office Phone: 740.385.6841
Email: parkinfo@hockinghillsstatepark.com
Reservations for Camping, Cottages,
Getaway Rentals: 866.644.6727
Hocking Hills State Park Map
Old Man's Cave Campground Map
Old Man's Cave Hiking Trail For
additional maps of the Hocking Hills visit:
HockingHillsMap.com
Cottages
 
- 40 gas-heated, air-conditioned, family housekeeping cottages
sleep up to six persons
- Each cottage has two bedrooms (one with two twin beds; one
with a double bed),
- Living room with a trundle sofa,
- Bath with a shower
- Gas-burning fireplace
- Complete kitchen including microwave
- Dining area
- Screened porch
Camping

- 156 electric sites, with 20, 30 or 50 amp electric
- 13 non-electric sites
- Each site has a paved pad and can accommodate up to a 50'
unit
- Heated showers
- Flush toilets
- Laundry facility
- Camp store
- Swimming pool
- Playgrounds
- Volleyball court and horse shoe pit
- Tent-only group camps are available by
reservation
- There are also 30 walk-in family sites with pit latrines.
Getaway Rentals
 
- Three Camper Cabins equipped with cots and bench beds, a
cooler, stove and camp light
- Available May through October
Picnicking
- 5 Picnic areas with tables, grills, latrines and drinking
water are located at each of the recess caves.
- Shelters are available at Old Man's Cave, Ash Cave, Rock
House, Cedar Falls and Cantwell Cliffs

- All picnic shelters can be reserved
online or by calling (866)-644-6727
Fishing
- A valid Ohio fishing license is required to fish in Rose
Lake.
- Access is off State Route 374 via a 1/2-mile hiking trail.
Swimming
- The swimming pool outside the dining lodge open 11 a.m. to 7
p.m. daily, Memorial Day to Labor Day
- Registered cottage guests may use the pool for free
- It is open to the general public for a small daily fee
More To Do
- Archery range with 5 static targets and 22 3-D targets is
open from daylight until dark year-round
- Special events and nature programs are offered year round
- Visitor center at Old Man's cave features interesting
displays and a gift shop
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Nature of the Area
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 360 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.
Other features of the rock include cross-bedding, honeycomb
weathering and slump blocks. The first is noticeable as diagonal
lines in the rock intersecting horizontal ones. It is actually the
cross section of an ancient sand bar in the delta and was caused by
changing ocean currents. Honeycomb weathering looks like the small
holes in a beehive comb. They are formed by differential weathering
which comes about when water, moving down through the permeable
sandstone, washes out small pockets of loosely cemented sand grains.
Finally, the huge slump blocks of rock littering the streams tumble
from near by cliffs when cracks widen to the extent that the block
is no longer supported by the main cliff.
Although the glaciers never reached the park areas, their
influence is still seen here in the form of the vegetation growing
in the gorges. The glaciers changed the climate of all Ohio to a
moist, cool environment. Upon their retreat, this condition
persisted only in a few places such as the deep gorges of Hocking
County. Therefore, the towering eastern hemlocks, the Canada yew and
the yellow and black birch tell of a cool period 10,000 years ago.
History of the Area
The hollows and caves of the park complex have long attracted the
peoples of Ohio. Evidence of the ancient Adena culture illustrates
man first inhabited the recesses more than 7,000 years ago.
In the mid 1700's several Indian tribes traveled through or lived
here including the Wyandot, Delaware and Shawnee. Their name for the
river from which the park gets its name was Hockhocking of "bottle
river." The name comes from the bottle-shaped valley of the Hocking
River whose formation is due to its one-time blockage by glacial
ice.
After the Greenville Treaty of 1795, numerous white settlers
moved into the region and Hocking County was organized in 1818. The
area around the parks began to develop in 1835 when a powder mill
was built near Rock House and a grist mill was constructed at Cedar
Falls.
The cave areas were well-known as scenic attractions by 1870. In
1924, the first land purchase by the state was made to preserve the
scenic features. This first parcel of 146 acres included Old Man's
Cave. Subsequent purchases built acreage while the areas existed
under the Department of Forestry as State Forest Parks. The
Department of Natural Resources was created in 1949 and the new
Division of Parks assumed control of the Hocking Hills State Park
complex, which today includes the six park areas. A dining lodge and
cottages were opened in 1972. These cottages, together with a
campground, provide overnight facilities in one of the most
beautiful areas of our state.
|
Activity |
Facilities |
Quantity |
Resource |
Land, acres |
2,356 |
|
Water, acres |
17 |
|
Nearby State Forest, acres |
9,238 |
Activities |
Fishing |
yes |
|
Hiking Trail, miles |
26 |
|
Picnicking |
yes |
|
Picnic Shelters |
4 |
|
Visitor Center |
yes |
|
Summer Nature Programs |
yes |
|
Restaurant (seasonal) |
yes |
|
Game Room (seasonal) |
yes |
|
Outdoor Swimming Pool (seasonal) |
yes |
Winter |
Ice Fishing |
yes |
Cottages |
Family Cottages, # |
40 |
Camping |
Non-electric Campsites |
12 |
|
Campsites with Elec., # |
156 |
|
Campground Pool |
yes |
|
Showers |
yes |
|
Flush Toilets |
yes |
|
Pets Permitted |
yes |
|
Dumpstation |
yes |
|
Youth Group Camp, capacity |
160 |
|
Group Camp, capacity |
140 |
|
Camper Cabins, # |
3 |

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Hiking
- There are miles of trail located throughout the park and
adjacent state forest
- These trails are beautiful as well as potentially dangerous:
caution and common sense are advised

- Young children should be closely supervised while in on the
trails
- All park visitors must remain on the marked trails at all
times
- Ash Cave Gorge- Hiking- .25 Miles, Easy- Handicap Accessible
- Ash Cave Rim- Hiking- .5 Miles, Moderate- Handicap
Accessible
- Cedar Falls- Hiking- .5 Miles, Moderate
- Old Man's Cave- Hiking- 1 Mile, Moderate- Handicap
Accessible
- Conkles Hollow- Hiking- 1 Mile, Easy- Handicap Accessible
- Conkle's Hollow Rim- Hiking- 2.5 Miles, Moderate
- Rock House- Hiking- .5 Miles, Moderate
- Cantwell Cliffs- Hiking- 1 Mile, Difficult
- Buckeye Trail- Hiking- 6 Miles, Moderate
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