Waterfalls, caves, rock formations and more! You will NOT be disappointed when you hike at Old Man’s Cave in Hocking Hills State Park.
The Old Man’s Cave area of Hocking Hills State Park offers a lot of scenic bang for your hiking buck.
On our two-day hiking itinerary for Hocking Hills, we scheduled this for our very first hike. We were hiking with our children, and I knew that they would be excited to see the cave and waterfalls along with a few other well-known features. We were delighted to find that these hikes were even better than we had anticipated. It left us all (even the kids!) excited to hike more trails.
READ MORE: The Ultimate Guide to Hiking at Hocking Hills
Highlights of Hiking at Old Man’s Cave
This area of the park features over 3 miles of trails. (Click here to view a map of the hiking trail system.)
Our family hiked about 1.5 miles total– Upper Falls Loop Trail, Grandma Gatewood Trail, Broken Rock Falls Trail, Lower Access Trail, and Gorge Exit Trails. With the exception of a short detour to see Broken Rock Falls, the trails we hiked were easy to moderate. (The short hike to Broken Rock Falls is a much more difficult hike.)
OUR HIKING ROUTE: We started our hike on the Upper Falls Loop Trail and then took the Grandma Gatewood Trail down into the gorge. We followed that trail all the way past Lower Falls and then caught the Lower Access Trail. We made a small detour along Broken Rock Falls Trail to see that waterfall. Then, we caught the Gorge Exit Trails in order to pass through Old Man’s Cave and return to the parking lot.
This area of the park features a gorge carved by a creek through about 150 feet of Black Hand sandstone. Well-known features along these trails include Upper Falls, Old Man’s Cave, Devil’s Bathtub, Lower Falls, and the Sphynx Head rock formation. Additionally, there are a lot of other neat features that are not as well-known.
Here’s what our family considered to be the highlights from our hikes: Upper Falls, Lower Falls, unexpected waterfalls, beautiful bridges, Devil’s Bathtub, tunnels, rock formations and, of course, Old Man’s Cave.
Upper Falls
This is the iconic waterfall featured in promotion materials for Hocking Hills State Park. There is a lovely arched bridge that going over this waterfall. If viewing the waterfall from down in the gorge, you can get an Instagram-worthy shot of the waterfall cascading under the arched bridge.
Lower Falls
At the other end of the hiking trails inside the gorge, you will find the Lower Falls. These falls are also quite impressive (even though they its cascade isn’t framed by a pretty arched bridge). Additionally, this area of the hiking trails is not nearly as crowded as the areas surrounding the Upper Falls.
Unexpected Waterfalls
Between the two bookmark waterfalls of the gorge trails, we were pleased to discover a few surprises along the way (including a couple of waterfalls).
Our maps had only shown Upper Falls and Lower Falls. As it turns out, there is also a Middle Falls.
Additionally, we found a small detour leading to Broken Rock Falls on the maps during our hike. It was a short-but-difficult hike to see them but this waterfall was worth the sore muscles.
READ MORE: Why Broken Rock Falls is Worth the Hiking Detour
Beautiful Bridges
The trail system at Old Man’s Cave crosses back and forth over the creek several times. The bridges are not just functional but they are also beautiful. Each one is unique featuring stonework, arches, and in one instance, even artfully floating slabs of concrete.
Devil’s Bathtub
The Devil’s Bathtub is located not too far from the Upper Falls. It is a swirling vortex of water where the creek bottlenecks in a narrow, constricted area. In this section, the sandstone is denser so the creek was unable to cut through it as well as in other areas of the gorge. The constricted water causes the water to swirl and cut downward for several feet. The water forced downward then comes out further downstream. Don’t be fooled by the rounded bathtub shape though! Hikers are reminded to stay on the trails and out of the water here. It is practically impossible to pull yourself out of this “bathtub” if you were to fall in. Additionally, legends claim that the tub is so deep that it goes all the way to Hades. And, thus, it is known as Devil’s Bathtub.
Tunnels
Surprise! We were not expecting the hiking trails at Old Man’s Cave to take us through any tunnels. And, not just once, but two times! The kids were so excited!
In two areas of the hiking trails, tunnels were dug into the surrounding sandstone for hikers to pass through. One tunnel was longer than the other and, thus, earned itself the name of “Long Tunnel.”
Rock Formations
The surrounding cliff areas contain some remarkable rock formations. While hiking, my children pointed out several interesting rock formations and even thought they had found the famed Sphinx Head and Turtle Rock of Old Man’s Cave. However, we are not sure if they correctly identified these two well-known rock formations in the park or not. Regardless, we had a lot of fun admiring them anyways.
Old Man’s Cave
This large recess cave was created by wind and water carving into the mid-layers of the Black Hand Sandstone in the gorge walls. Old Man’s Cave is located about 75 feet above the stream. It is roughly 50 feet tall and 250 feet long.
The thing that makes this particular recess cave special is its history. True to its name, Old Man’s Cave was once the home to an old man – a hermit by the name of Richard Rowe. Rowe lived out his senior years in the cave with his two hounds in the early 1800s. It is rumored that Old Man Rowe was buried in the cave upon his death
READ MORE: Who Is Old Man Rowe? – Hike It Forward
When Will You Hike at Old Man’s Cave?
With its unique history and interesting sights, a hike at Old Man’s Cave is a really fun adventure. I would love to hike there again someday.
- Do you think you would like to hike at Old Man’s Cave?
- Which of the featured highlights did you find most interesting?
- Lastly, when are you going to hike it for yourself? (And, can I hike it with you?)
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Thanks for this very detailed article. We are visiting Hocking Hills in June and have 2 kids. Nice to hear about HH from a parent perspective!
I’m so glad you found it helpful!! I know that I always appreciate hearing another parent’s perspective before hitting a new hiking trail with my children. Hiking with kids is such a different experience than hiking with other adults!
You had me at “Devil’s Bathtub.” 😀 This place looks amazing!
It is definitely an impressive area – rock features, waterfalls, two tunnels, a large recess cave and a fasinating history. It’s worth a stop if you’re ever in the area.
A map showing where Hocking Hills is would be a great update to this post.
Thank you for the helpful suggestion! I provided a link to a map in the post.
Great story/review April! It’s been 17 years, but my kids had a blast! Such a beautiful place to stimulate the imagination of young and hungry minds!
What state is this in??