Hocking Hills State Park: TRAILS AND NATURE

If you have read my campsite review first, then you might wonder how it is possible that we still enjoyed our trip?  What we lacked in campsite space was more than made up in opportunities to explore.  Hocking Hills area is incredible.  So if you are someone who is looking at all the options and wondering where to start, I thought I would post some trail reviews.  Here is a link to the trail maps.  If you buy a map, they cost $2.00, so I recommend going to this site and using your printer before you leave.  There are trails for the older, more hard-core hiker.  What I loved was how easy it was to get to most of the cool sites via more short trails.  The areas we visited were:  Cedar Falls, Old Man's Cave (cave, upper, and lower falls), Conkles Hollow, and Rock House.  At Old Man's Cave we talked it up with a park ranger.  He volunteered many horrifying stories of people who ventured off the trail to fall to their deaths in graphic ways.  He said something along the lines of, "People often ask if we give helicopter tours when they see we have a helicopter pad.  I tell them that we do.  It only costs $12-14,000 depending on the hospital we airlift them to."  After hearing from the ranger, my 11 year old refused to go on any more trails because he was convinced he would die in some grisly manor.  So you may, or many not, want to avoid conversations with the rangers.  Apparently they are prolific ticketers to people who venture off the designated trail, so do not do it!         

CEDAR FALLS:  Our first stop, it was .5 miles total.  We completed it in an hour, with time for the kids to explore the standing pools and rocks at the large falls area.

My 11 year old found a crawdad, which was exciting.

BEGINNING (at Parking Lot)

It was well paved, and only got tricky toward the end (or beginning, depending on where you might start) where we had to climb through rocks to get up to the concluding trail.  Our 3 year old did just fine, with help (of course).  The best part is the fantastic picnic area off of the parking lot.  The gazebo wasn't reserved so we made use of it.  Also, it was not crowded in the late morning.   

TOWARD END (comes out down from parking lot)

OLD MAN'S CAVE:
The nature center here is not much, but it still gives a good overview.  We did learn who the old man was who actually lived in "Old Man's Cave."  There is an ice cream / snack place, but it only takes cash.  This loop is probably the most popular.  It was definitely the most crowded while we were there.  There is an upper and lower falls, as well as the large cave.  It is maybe a mile long, so we were still able to see a lot in short distances.  This is where we encountered the ranger, so be sure to stay on the trails.  You do NOT want the scenic helicopter tour.

The Lower Falls

The Upper Falls

Old Man's Cave

Fun Tunnels and Bridges are throughout the area!

"Devil's Bathtub" (Do not jump in...we were warned by the Ranger you will not get out!)

 CONKLES HOLLOW:
After the talk from the Ranger, my boys wimped out.  Figures that it would be just us ladies still standing!  So my 3 year old, and my friend, explored the last two areas with me.  We had such a blast.  I loved Conkles Hollow.  The trail was wide and mostly smooth.  It was an easy going mile round trip.  Really, I think you could probably roll a stroller almost the entire way there (just a few steps toward the end).  We saw the most wildlife and plant life here, including a doe and her spotted baby!  Pets are not allowed, which might aid the natural growth.  Either side of the trail is covered in green plants and ferns, and the abundant, tall, trees create a cool (temperature) canopy.  There are plenty of small rocks on the trail that are safe enough for children to climb up onto.  My 3 year old was so very, very, happy.  There are also several rocks that are not safe, so DON'T DO IT!

Rock formation that is suppose to have image of horse...I can't see it.

GREEN!  As far as the eye can see. 

My budding rock climber...on safe, trail rocks.

Almost at the Hollow!

It was just a little trickle (and dark), but the fall at the Hollow was still neat. 

If you look closely, the doe and her baby are camoflaged by the green.  It's not a great picture, but they were actually really close and easy to see. 

        

ROCK HOUSE:
We saved Rock House for last.  Although this trail is only .5 miles, it is very sloped.  Going there was not so bad.  Coming back is rough!  We hiked it without really looking at the trail map.  I just looked to discover that we actually only hiked half the trail, then backtracked (not realizing it continued past Rock House).  Oops.  So maybe it gets more interesting after one gets to Rock House.  But the trail on the south side of the map is steeply sloped, just so you know.  What we hiked was also not particularly child friendly.  Getting into (and out of) the rock house was a little tricky climbing.  That said, my 3 year old did fine with help.  The inside of the Rock House is cool, but it is also worth it to consider bringing a flashlight.  It was wet inside, and really dark!  We were reminded of the Ranger's words when we witnessed a group of people trying to climb out the Rock House (off trail).  I'm telling you, DON'T DO IT!  I'm glad we went, however this was my least favorite of all of the sites due to the grade of the hike down.  Also, Rock House is really the only interesting thing about the part of the trail we hiked, so that was a negative.  Looking at the map, the trail ends in a different parking lot.  So I would also guess that it will actually be a little further than it says it is (to allow for the walk back to the other lot to your parked car).      

Rock House from outside...

One of maybe seven (?) openings.

The inside is cavernous and dark.

The entrance to the Rock House is down, then climbing up and to the left.

After more than 4 miles total, she was feeling very proud!

 

Hocking Hills State Park: Camping

Hocking Hills State Park: Camping

OUR FIRE PIT, DOWN HILL FROM OUR TENT, WHICH IS DWARFED BY THE BIG RV NEXT DOOR.

I decided to break our Hocking Hills adventure into two posts.  This past week we tent camped for 2 days in this memorable Ohio state park.  It is about 45 minutes south of I-70 (and Columbus, Ohio).  Although very few Hoosiers seem to have even heard about it, my Columbus friends gave it raving accolades.  I have to admit, it was pretty fantastic.  For my Hoosier readers, think Turkey Run State Park, only bigger.    Unfortunately, I came down with strep throat the day before we left.  Needless to say, I was not in my typical camping ninja fighting form.  We still had fun, which goes to show that even strep throat cannot defeat the fun of a good camping adventure.

ARRIVING (I AM STANDING IN THE MAIN ROAD TO TAKE PICTURE)

So this post is dedicated to our review of the campsite and grounds.  We stayed at site #131 at Hocking Hills State Park Campgrounds.  Hands down, it was THE smallest site where we have set up camp.  It did not help that we were the grass hut between two skyscrapers, sandwiched between two of the largest RV's ever created.  I'm only exaggerating a little bit.

The site description said it was level, which also may have been a misnomer.  "Mostly level...maybe," would be a more apt description.  I always like to drive around to find the better sites, in case we return.  There weren't any!  I asked the welcome center lady, and she said that site # 141 might be the best.  Yet, she admitted it was not all that great.   Many of the sites are not even "mostly level," so if you brave it anyway, be sure to read the description carefully.

The bathrooms were clean-ish.  Not the best or worst we have seen.  I disliked the showers because there was just one curtain and no dressing area.  The shower head sprayed sideways so it drenched my stuff every time I opened the curtain to get shampoo.  I know, I probably should have put the shampoo in the shower and not on the shelf.  Cut the step throat lady a break here!  Still, bad showers make me cranky.  Just a word to the wise.

If we ever camp in Hocking Hills again, we will be trying someplace else.     

 

LEAVING (This is the entire site...just that strip to the trees and the driveway.  Picture does not convey the slope to the fire pit)

 

Breakfast Crepes?

This is much easier than you might think.  On our recent trip to Cheyenne, WY, we pre-froze a batch of these up and kept them on ice during the week.  We re-heated them on the electric griddle (fire ban so no fire was allowed), eating the crepes stuffed with nutella, strawberries, and bananas.  I have no doubt we were the envy of all our camping neighbors.  They smelled divine, were easy and delicious.  

A crepe is a very thin, eggy, french pancake.  It is filled with either sweet or savory foods, and rolled or folded.  Some great filling ideas include:  nutella, yogurt, strawberries and chocolate chips, banana slices, peanut butter and/or jelly, and sausage.  

These are best made ahead and frozen before filling.  My recipe is based on a recipe from allrecipes, altered considering recommendations and personal experience.  

In a tuperware container, add all the following ingredients:  

Ingredients

·         1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk

·         1 cup milk

·         2/3 cup all-purpose flour

·         1 pinch salt

·         1 1/2 teaspoons canola or olive oil

Cover the container tightly, and shake vigorously.  I like to let the mixture sit in the fridge overnight, and cook them up in the morning so it blends better.  

Heat a pan on medium heat.  Some tips for cooking the crepes include:

*Use a non-stick pan.  We don't have a large non-stick pan, so I make mini crepes with our 5-6 inch pan.  These are easier to turn than the large, 9" crepes.  

*Brush butter on the pan.  

*Add a little less than 1/4th cup of batter to the pre-heated pan (1/3 cup for a larger pan).  Tilt/Swirl the pan so the batter spreads evenly into a circle.  

*Cook it for about 2-3 minutes.  When the crepe is solid enough to flip, use a spatula to get underneath the crepe and flip it.  This may take some practice since they are very thin and fragile.  Cook the other side for just about a minute.

*Stack the crepes on a plate to be filled if eating immediately.  

FOR FREEZING:

Put a sheet of foil on the table.  Layer crepes with parchment paper (or foil) between each crepes.  Wrap the entire stack in foil and seal in a ziplock bag.  Freeze.  When ready to eat, can be microwaved or placed with foil/parchment paper on a griddle (or grill) for reheating.  

As I said, we put the entire bag in the bottom of our cooler and kept on ice for a week when we camped to Cheyenne.  The crepes (reheated on the griddle) were still delicious.  

Cheyenne Mountain State Park (Colorado Springs, CO)

 http://www.parks.state.co.us/Parks/CheyenneMountain/Camping/Pages/Cheyenne%20Mountain%20State%20Park%20%20Camping%20Page.aspx

For those in the know, Cheyenne Mountain is the location of…the Stargate!  We aren’t totally crazy.  Feel free to rain on my parade and tell me that it is only NORAD, and Stargate is a television show that does not really exist.  It was still all sorts of fun to be there.  

 If you find yourself in Colorado Springs, Cheyenne Mountain is also wonderful for several other reasons.  Cheyenne Mountain State Park area is much less crowded than the other places we visited.  It is on the south side of Colorado Springs, so it is out of the touristy craziness of Manitou Springs.  We were within a quick drive to grocery stores and other amenities (a huge movie theater and Chuck E. Cheese were 12 minutes away).  The state park itself has a GORGEOUS view of the city.  Almost every camping site seems to benefit from the awesome view.  

We were at site 48 in the Meadow loop...

 

(48 has an upper area for the tent, and lower area for cooking)

  

 (above is the trail down from our site to the parking lot)

 

 (The cooking/picnic table area of site 48)

There are a string of walk-back camp sites on that path which are fantastic.  48 is the “penthouse” of campsites.  I had read other reviews that said this was the best site, and they are probably correct.  It is the most spacious with a great view.  The only drawback is the walk up to it.  Since there are no bear boxes, all food has to be lugged up and down.  We ate every meal out, packing sandwiches for lunch.  So for our purposes it was just fine. 

For those who are only over-nighting (or campfire cooking), 46 is a good option.  It is right next to the parking lot, yet still quiet and close to the bathroom.  Note, even though these are walk back sites, they are closer to the bathroom than the other sites in the Meadows loop.  We didn’t see any bears, but we did see mule deer, rabbits, and lizards.  All the walk-back sites have some shade and, I think, are prettier than the other sites at the park. 

The bathrooms were very clean and new.  We were not a fan of the pay showers.  Although they were clean-ish, $1.00 for 4 minutes of showering is a little ridiculous.  The water was sometimes cold, leaving me amazed I had actually paid a dollar for a cold shower.  There is a main building with a laundry room, many pay showers, and a playground.  The kids loved that playground.  Next to our site in the meadow loop, however, there is just one shower in the “family” bathroom.  That was also annoying on a morning when there was a line for that one shower.  Not so annoying that we got in the car to drive to the main shower house, though. 

In regards to trails, there is a trail that goes down from the amphitheater.  We took it to the “cougar shadow” trail.  With the three kids, this had some great views and nature “stuff.”  We did turn around about half-way through when a runner told us they had spotted several bear cubs up ahead of us.  Which leads me to the final aspect which I loved about Cheyenne Mountain: the trails were not crowded, yet there were enough people around to give a heads up if a bear or rattlesnake was spotted.  (picture of trail below)

Over all, we loved it.  If life takes us back to the gorgeous world of Colorado Springs, I'm sure we'll stay there again.

 













(above and right:  The Main shower/office/laundry facility with fenced playground)

WaKeeny KOA (on HWY 70 in Kansas)

http://koa.com/campgrounds/wakeeney/

If you camp very many KOA's, you will discover that not all KOA's are equal.  They are each privately owned, so it depends on the owners.  This little stop was a gem.  The ownership was friendly.  We were put right next to the bathrooms, pool and playground.  After a 7.5 hour driving day, the kids were ecstatic.  We heard it was 104 degrees when we arrived!  Since there was a burn ban, our plans for hot dogs and bannock bread was a bust over the fire.  So we busted out the electric griddle.  I'll post the bread recipe, because even over the griddle it was fabulous.  After a swim, the kids were happy to scarf down the hotdogs and s'mores, and drift off to sleep.

The sites were large enough.  There was a partial fence on three sides, which helped with privacy.  The only downside is each site shares the grills with 3 other sites, and you also share electricity with many other sites.  But since there was no one at those neighbor sites, and we couldn't use the grill, it didn't matter.  There is a large street light above our neighbor site, which might be annoying (seen in above picture).  You should avoid site 2 (due to the light).

Bathrooms were modern, clean, and wonderful.  Everything was kept up nicely, including the showers. Definitely worth the stop on hwy 70.

Cheyenne KOA

http://www.cheyennekoa.com/

Every tent camp situation seems to present it's own challenges.  Here, we had yet another first:  putting up our huge (something by 15 tent) in Cheyenne wind.  The site of this camp grounds, so far, is perpetually windy.  There is a wind break, but it is not actually big enough to break the wind for a tent the size of the tent pad.  SO, our lovely rain fly was ripped at the seams last night during an especially windy storm.  Man!  Of course I look around and compare, and everyone around us seems to be ninja camping just fine.  I'm sure we've done something wrong!

Advise #1:  In high wind camping, it is apparently not good to tether the rain fly super tight?

Advise #2:  Should duct tape not stick to your rain fly (yes, you read that right.  There is something duct tape seems unable to fix!), here is a great resource for doing a self-repair:  http://www.backpacker.com/gear/11204?page=2

We took the advise, and found nylon adhesive patching at Hobby Lobby.  You can see the big rip (and our white patchs) in the picture.  It mostly held through the next storm, but I'll have to use a stronger adhesive glue when I get home.

To get on with the review of Cheyenne KOA...so it is not terrible.  The owners were so friendly and fantastic.  I'll add that I love the "convenience" house with the microwave and sinks.  I really wished we had those microwaves in Kansas at the WaKeeny KOA.  It makes operating under a burn ban a little easier.  There is a pool, and the playground is also decent.  The mini golf is a little run down, but still a nice amenity to have here.  

Cons would include the small sites and the small wind break.  Bathrooms and showers are not very clean, and I dislike the fact that the showers are outside the bathrooms.  Considering that this stay comes following our stay at WaKeeny KS KOA, it is hard not to compare the two experiences.  There was a three sided fence around each site in WaKeeny...which would be really helpful here.  Also, their sites were bigger.  Our tent really does not fit very easily on this site.  Since we are late in our camping week, and thus have run through the perishable items in our cooler, I wish they offered some sort of pancake breakfast option.  Otherwise, it is quite livable.  I'll be hunting down some "nylon patch" today as we visit with family!  

Graham Cave State Park, Missouri (on Hwy 70; outside St. Louis)

http://mostateparks.com/campgrounds/graham-cave-state-park

Here's my first review on all the many camp grounds and sites we have used over the past few years.

After 6 hours of driving, we pulled through the beautiful state camp grounds of Graham Cave State Park.  A glance at the rolling hills and rocky outcroppings, made it easy to imagine the earliest nomadic men and women roaming these hills some 10,000 years ago!  Today, however, all seems almost deserted.  We pass rows of empty campsites, until we find the “camp host.”  Turns out he is our camping site neighbor, and this nice man lets us use his electricity to pump up our air mattresses.  Site 34 doesn’t look like much, but it is near the bathrooms and next to the “playground” (a swing set). 

Without a thermometer, our imaginations tell us we have arrived in the center of a lava churning volcano.  You might say it was hot.  We leave off the rain fly, laughing at the likelihood of rain in the middle of this drought.  We all sprawl out in the tent and fall asleep marveling at the starred sky. 

I should add, the bathrooms and shower house were clean and wonderful.  My kids excitedly tracked down several lizards and a tiny toad, an added bonus.  However the best moment was our parting trek to the Graham Cave.  .3 miles up the trail, it was worth the stop before heading back on the road.  I was reminded why we love to stay at state parks, as we considered the huge cave and the people who walked those grounds so many, many years ago.  We will definitely keep this place in mind for future cross country treks.