New places, new feelings, and new memories. Hocking Hills State Park was one of our first trips where we stayed one night due to distance. Hocking Hills is a part of a Allegheny Plateau in Ohio, that features cliffs, gorges, rock shelters, and waterfalls. There are many things to do, which include countless outdoor attractions, rock climbing, backpacking, canoeing, horseback riding, dining, camping, ect. We decided to explore one of the main trails since we were only staying one day, which is about 5 miles long and connects Old Man’s Cave to Cedar Falls to Ash Cave. There are actually eleven trails to walk with different attractions.
We ended up staying about 10 minutes away from the park at The Holiday Inn in Logan. We did accidentally sleep in, and we missed the morning shots but we couldn’t have asked for better sunlight in our videos and images. We did get to the trail about 10am and the weather was perfect. This trail is about a moderate hiking level when it comes to climbing, steps, and tight spaces. We did walk the entire trail to see all the wonderful stops along the way. I think that this trip brought us the closest together due to the pictures we got to take. There were falls, caves, nature, bridges, and breathtaking scenery. We were discovering different places in this area and discovering who we were as a couple.
One of our favorite places was a little hidden cave off the trail near the Upper Falls. We were completely alone the entire time, got the best photography here, and was awesome to just spend alone time with one another. At this point we were still getting to know one another, what eachother loved, dreams, goals, and ambitions when it came to traveling. I remember looking back at Bob and his camera, knowing he would be one of the biggest adventures I was blessed to be apart of. We learned that we both had a passion for seeing the world in a different light, the beauty people take for granted, and how just exploring could build the foundation of our relationship.
A little background on us both, we both have been through plenty of relationships that made us frightened, skeptical, and not able to trust easily. Our advice to you, is throw that all out the window when it comes to finding “the one”. We know that things will be hard, but overcoming all the battles together with communication, love, honesty, and staying true to who we both were as people has brought us so much joy. We both never knew that we could have such strong feelings for one another so soon, but we feel as the little adventures holding each other’s hand has been the key to growing strong so quickly. When was the last time you forgot about work, money, family, your cell phone and just spent genuine time with someone? Do it!
The video featured in this blog was not as educational as some of our others but we wanted this adventure just to be about us. Between the smiles, laughs, dirty butts, and surroundings, we couldn’t be happier with the trip and the video. Some of the best places we saw were the Upper, Lower Falls and The Devil’s Bathtub. You can find the Devil’s Bathtub between the Upper Falls and the A-Frame Bridge. The bridge is a really neat place to take pictures as well. It gets its name due to stories saying that the pool extends deep into the depths of Hades, but after careful research it’s actually only a couple of feet deep. Devil’s Bathtub actually consists of two smaller falls that leads into the smaller bowl which swirls into a larger water area. The noise is actually really loud and you can hear it before even getting to the area.
The entire trek took us about 6 hours and that was stopping different places. After Hiking from the Visitor’s Center and the entire trail to the other end, we decided to go get something to eat. We went to a restaurant called The Hungry Buffalo. This restaurant was actually right next door to our hotel and which again was only about a 10 minute drive from Hocking Hills. This restaurant has a variety of foods for everyone and has a bar. We loved that it had a small general store connected to it with local artists work, little snacks from the area, and unique house decorations. In general it was a great experience and we will go back to try more of their one of a kind menu options.
Overall, Hocking Hills was one of our favorite places due to the memories and the foundation we created in our relationship. Walking the trails, seeing the waterfalls, taking pictures and video, and getting to spend time together was a perfect day. We did get to see my family as well which was great for Bob to meet my dad, stepmom, and uncle. The day was perfect and the ride home was actually fun since it was mostly backroads. We would recommend Hocking Hills to everyone and would suggest going for at least two days due to the long trails and all the things you can do. It was certainly worth the trip, which was about 3.5 hours. Great mini vacation and we can’t wait to go back! Stay tuned…
Hocking Hills Photo Gallery
