This morning we planned to drop cars at one of the Old Man’s Cave parking lots (the one at a rappelling area) and, again, hike backwards. But in the middle of the night I realized we had no cell service here, so we didn’t know the route to that Old Man’s Cave parking lot. Long story short, we drove in the general direction until we got cell service, then found it. But we wasted a fair amount of time.
Old Man’s Cave is one of seven major hiking trails at Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio’s most popular state park. The scenery around the rappelling area was beautiful almost immediately, showcasing intriguing sandstone rock formations.
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Destination: Old Man’s Cave
After the pretty rappelling area, the trail became scruffy and rather unsightly. Strangely, right before leading us to Old Man’s Cave proper, it took us through crappy vegetation in a U before leading us into the park. Why in the world did the trail run there, rather than straight into Old Man’s Cave?! Who knows.
Old Man’s Cave was a gorgeous area filled with more pretty rock formations, loads of small waterfalls and, yes, some caves. The one called Old Man’s Cave got that name because an old hermit once lived there. It was relatively crowded, considering it was a Thursday in late April. At some point we lost the NCT in the park and had to backtrack. Rats.
But we found the trail, thanks to the app, and were excited to explore more of the park. Unfortunately, once out of the Old 
Man’s Cave area the trail became difficult. Lots of rocks, roots and downed trees. Thank goodness the scenery was still gorgeous, which took our minds off of the difficulties, which included crawling through some rocks!
Itching to Reach the Car
Once out of the park, we had some easy miles to Ash Cave. Then we were on a road walk. Once again, it featured some killer climbs. When we got to the final trail segment leading to the car, we saw a FarOut warning about possible instable trail. So we hiked on the roads the rest of the way.
The reward for our hard day? We now have four nights in a really cool log cabin near Endeavor and Logan.
Snowshoe
Ohio NCT miles today: 18.2 (29.3 km)
Ohio NCT miles to date: 570.9 (918.8 km)
Total NCT miles to date: 3,418.6 (5,501.7 km)
Total NCT miles to go: 1,181.4 (1,901.3 km)
Most useful gear today: My Kahtoola shoe gaiters, which kept lots of stones and gravel from getting into my shoes.
