Old Man's Cave is located in Hocking Hills, Ohio (USA). When I was much younger, I visited this cave and walking trails with my parents and brothers. It was one of the few places that we got to visit when I was younger as we did not get to take days out. The "cave" is part of a nature trail, which can be explored in the immediate vicinity or serious hikers can walk to other parts of Hocking Hills State Park. This area of Ohio is known for its hemlock forests. The cave is actually named after an old man.
The old man that the cave is named after was Richard Rowe. He made his home in the recess caves after moving from Tennesse in 1796. He lived there with his dogs and established a trading post. After him, two others lived in the caves. All are said to be buried by local Indians near the entrance to the cave.
Hocking Hills was named so after the Wyandot Indians, and the name means bottleneck in reference to the creek narrowing here. The area of bedrock was carved out over thousands of years by water eroding away the rock, forming gorges and recess caves.
The trail consists a walk from the parking to the Upper Falls and then to the Lower Falls. The start of the parking (furthest from the visitor centre, which is currently being rebuilt) contains the Upper Falls, which cascade down into the gorge. The waterfalls are beautiful. We visited at the end of October when the colours of the trees should have changed, but Ohio has had a very strange year with the weather and the seasons seem to be two weeks behind.
However, despite the lack of colour (it would have been much prettier with autumn colours), the waterfalls still looked stunning.
A little further along on the trail is "The Devil's Bath Tub". Here, the water falls into a deep pool with erosion in the rock. A small stone bridge is placed over this little waterfall. In many years, this waterfall will grow and a cliff will be made from the erosion. For now, it is just a deep pool.
Part of the trail narrowed above the gorge here, and then we got closer to Old Man's Cave. Lower Falls were on the other side of this tunnel, which is carved under the rock.
Again, more beautiful views of waterfalls and some yellow leaves were in view.
We walked to beautiful stone recesses here with cliff climbs. The climb was actually quite steep with some nice views, and the trail went through a carved tunnel up to the tops of the cliffs.
From the cliffs, we walked along the top until we saw a sign that pointed down to Old Man's Cave. (We could have gone to the cave first before continuing the trail as it was in front of us, but we waited to catch it on the way back.)
The scale of the size of the cliffs is amazing here, though I don't think I would have wanted to live here. It must have been cold, even though it does look pretty.
After seeing the cave, we were on our way. The visitor centre is being rebuilt, so some of the trails have been closed off at the time of writing. I found the way back to the car okay, but others seemed to struggle with the signage. The cliffs had some great views, but do be careful around the edges as there are sheer drops (keep and eye on kids and pets).
That concludes my little walk around Old Man's Cave! Keep checking back for more visits to attractions around Old Man's Cave, such as Ash Cave and Cedar Falls.
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