HockIng Hills Fam of 4 Trip

Every summer I make it my mission to get the 4 of us away together. Traveling with family friends or grandparents is fun, but it's important to me to make memories just our crew. 

This year we went hiking in Hocking Hills, Ohio, and WOW. This trip just blew our minds! 

We stayed in a perfect little AirBnB north of downtown Logan, Ohio. It very much seemed in the middle of nowhere, but going up up up the hills and then WAY UP the super steep and long driveway we were rewarded with our own private place, no one nearby, with a big front porch with cozy swing, hot tub, fire pit and AMAZING view. 



What interested me in Hocking Hills to begin with was hearing from a few people the hikes were super attainable for small kids. That couldn't be more true.

Ash Cave
This was our first hike on day 1. From the parking lot there's a smooth paved sidewalk all the way to the cave itself (disability friendly). After about a half mile hike through some beautiful woods you're dropped into an amazing cave, with massive rock walls, a dribbling waterfall and several shallow clear pools perfect for rock throwing. 





Old Man's Cave
In the afternoon we hiked Old Man's Cave. This one has a legit Hocking Hills welcome center/gift shop. The hike itself takes you through upper water falls, lower water falls and Old Man's Cave itself. TONS of amazing rock formations, tunnels/caves you can walk through, bridges, rock walls, a winding shallow river. The total hike was about 1-1.5 miles. Lots of steps but the boys did this one almost completely on their own.



Conkle's Hollow
This technically is not within Hocking Hills State Park, it's its own hike, but whoa, cannot be missed. I'd say about .5 of a mile is stroller/wagon accessible. Then you need to stow that to the side and walk the remaining 1/4 mile which leads to massive stone caves with a dark waterfall and beautiful shallow pools with little rock and twig bridges. 

What else?
Logan is the "biggest" town nearby, and worth staying near or visiting. You've got your grocery store, Walmart, some grocery stores, a little downtown with shops, lake Logan (which we were too busy to spend time at but sounded promising), a petting zoo (meh), mini golf (YES!), ice cream shops (double YES!). I also spotted a river kayak/canoe rental area.

Each morning we watched the fog lift from the valley below and spotted mountain bunnies in the yard. Each day we filled with hiking and exploring, pretending to be inside dinosaur homes and looking at their "scratch marks" on the rocks. Each night we finished with dinner and "tub time" in the AirBnB's hot tub or a bonfire, watching the sun go down over the treelined hills. It was a big time core memory trip!

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