Hocking Hills

Just some days after my trip to Hueston Woods, Thomas and I went down to Hocking Hills State Park. As always, it was a fantastic trip.

We drove down to the park and started getting lost. We stopped at some place called the Rock House that we had never been to before. It was beautiful. We hiked along a trail in the forest and arrived at a large, natural rock structure that seemed like an alternate version of those pueblos at Mesa Verde.

It felt so great to be back in this kind of landscape; to be climbing around on all the rocks and such. I remember at first I was running down the trail (and off of it), climbing rocks and sidling against bluffs. It felt like I was so light and free!

On the actual Rock House structure, there were three large window-like openings on the side, and at the end of the Rock House was a cliff sprinkled with boulders.

Well, I observed this cliff and decided that I could climb down it. On the left you'll see a picture, with that large dark cave on the top being my starting point. I had to make my way down those boulders (I'd say it was 3-5 stories high total). At one point, I had to drop down from one rock to a ledge below it, but my feet wouldn't touch the ledge till I let go, so it felt like a leap of faith.

Then came the best part: The rock slide. That distinct slope in the picture was where I slid down, Bear Grylls-style. It was thrilling! I was going so fast, and when my feet hit the bottom, I was exhilarated.

Thomas was being quite the naysayer, but it was an experience that was absolutely worth it. He was actually talking to someone we met who apparently told him of a person that climbed down a similar cliff and died.

Well, I knew what I was doing.

Anyway, after thoroughly exploring the area, we drove up to the lodge and got some delicious buffet food ($5 a plate if you only have one; 8+ if you get more). Our waitress told us that the place I had been at was the Rock Slide, and she had gone on it as a kid (despite now being a little more protective of her own).

Top: My plate

Bottom: Thomas's

So Dericious...

After eating, we drove to Old Man's Cave and parked there (that's the place we always parked in the past). We started hiking all over, and this time we were going all the way to Cedar Falls.

We saw lots of cool land formations, plants, and animals on the way there. We followed a Blue Heron for a while.

When we finally got to Cedar Falls, it was beautiful. Many people stood around it, gazing at the rock formations. I loved the trickling water and the growing vegetation that sprouted from the rocks.

This was my first time seeing Cedar Falls in person; last time, we had turned around on the trail before reaching it.

The waterfall was trickling, and the shallow pool of water was calling to me. As if by divine command, all the people there cleared out just as I stepped into the pool. I kicked off my shoes and socks and opened up my shirt, and waded around quite a bit, feeling the slippery rock or soft sand below me.

With each step, the sand would cloud up in lazy wisps. I walked up to a rock and sat on it for a bit meditatively. I also walked over to the waterfall and felt its cooling drops drizzle on my head.

I took many slow motion videos of the waterfall and the sand. I think more people need to experience nature in this intimate of a fashion. People need to let their bare feet touch the rocks and dirt and moss, and let the cool waters fall onto their heads.

It was so fun to get down and dirty with nature like that. To literally let my feet sink into the mud.

Well, on the hike back, Thomas and I ran out of water, and we became extremely thirsty. I started developing pains in my stomach (the kind where you can't tell if you're too hungry or too full). We walked back, taking the old secret pathway along the way (though there was no waterfall flowing, so it wasn't quite as cool).

When we got back to the car, we opened up the trunk and grabbed the igloo thermos thing that contained ice cold water. I poured some into Thomas's bottle and then drank straight from the container itself. We chugged down so much water, and it was the most refreshing thing I had ever tasted in my life. And man, instantly, my stomach pains dissipated entirely.

After this, we made our way to the campsite. It was in a Youth Group area (meaning it can be used by youth groups). The site was very nice - secluded, forested, etc.

Well, we got the tent set up, started a fire, and got to cooking. We had bread (flat bread dough actually works quite well in a bread-shaped toaster device) and vegan sausage and hot dogs and stuff. Thomas wasn't too into the food.

As the night came over us, we sat gazing into the fire, talking about how there weren't any girls our age (other than one who was living in some crazy strict army family or something). Ha. Well, really, I was more disappointed that there weren't people our age period. It was mostly just families that we didn't feel like approaching.

I just wanted to try and meet some people and talk and eat with them. But even with ourselves, we had a great time talking and laughing. We talked about times where we felt hurt or frustrated, and about people we had hurt pretty badly. We mused about life and such.

That isn't to say that there was never time for any Baby Bel cheese, aged Gouda (which Thomas surprisingly or not didn't like nearly as much as I did), and, of course, S'mores (with cookies & cream Hershey bars, not that plain crap, and the option of gummy worms or strawberry marshmallows).

It was just a really good time. Kept drinking straight out of that ice water container. At one point we just lied right down on the ground and watched the fire, listened to the insects, and gazed at the smoke.

At one point we walked a bit down the road to try and see some stars, and there were a good amount, but it was too cloudy to see all of them. So we headed back and packed everything up and went to the tent to sleep.

When we woke up, it was a beautiful, early morning. I grabbed all the cooking utensils from the car and got started on making some delicious breakfast.

Mmm... I made me some eggs in a basket using my dough, an egg, and Thomas's bread-toasting thing, and a piece of pepper jack cheese. It turned out fantastically! Then I fried up some eggs, vegan sausage, and Gouda cheese in a pan and ate it up. Also delicious.

Thomas attempted to make eggs in a basket without poking a hole in the dough. He also put the egg in the other side of the toasting apparatus and didn't even put it together. I have no idea what he was thinking, but it turned out pretty awfully hahaha.

I offered to cook him some stuff, but he refused, lying and saying he wasn't hungry. Whatever, though. I had a delicious breakfast. Those pans were covered in charcoal...

Well, after eating, we packed everything up, and drove off to Conkle's Hollow. We hiked all the way down, and I found the Cherry wood plant I was told about back in the winter. I snapped off a twig, shaved it, sniffed it, and then chewed it. I even ran into a Mennonite person who was chewing a toothpick, mistook it for being a twig, and then told him about it.

Cherrywood.

We hiked all the way down to the beautiful end of Conkle's Hollow, and climbed up on some rocks. Then, as we were going back, Thomas thought he left his car unlocked, so he rushed back, while I walked calmly down the trail, stopping to examine bugs and plants and people.

Well, we got in the car after that, and drove ourselves to good old McDonald's... Thomas wanted breakfast.

It was a fantastic trip overall, just wish we had talked to people, even if they were just families. But we talked to each other about a lot of things, and I got to climb some cliffs and jump in some water, so it was all good.

-Andrew