I am behind you on 33 heading into Logan Ohio. If you do not have it on your list of places to stop, you must! Old Man’s Cave. Look it up!!
On our drive from Toledo to Athens, I received the above email which was sent through the contact form on this site. Someone called Breanna had seen the back of our car (we have stickers saying NOHOMEJUSTROAM.COM on our rear window) and had messaged us to let us know we should visit Old Man’s Cave.
We’d booked a cabin in Athens as it was near Hocking Hills State Park which we knew had plenty of caves and waterfalls. We hadn’t made a decision on where to visit though, but this email helped make up our minds – we needed to visit Old Man’s Cave.
After arriving just before 1pm, we made our way down towards Old Man’s Cave. There are trail maps at several points along the way, but it’s worth taking a photo before you start so that you can easily see where all the main attractions are.
Those maps are very helpful as each one has a letter in the top left corner to help you identify where you are on the map. All the trails are very well marked too, so it’s easy to find your way around.
Old Man’s Cave
Old Man’s Cave is one of the first features you’ll come across. The cave received its name due to its former resident. Richard Rowe was a reclusive old man who lived in the cave with his hounds in the 1800s until he passed away.
After walking through the cave’s recess, you head down some steps and arrive in the gorge below. Old Man’s Creek runs through the gorge and beneath a stone bridge.
Crossing over the bridge, you’ll see a fairly short waterfall – this won’t be the last one you’ll see during your visit.
Once you’re on the other side, you can climb down the short rock wall to get closer to the waterfall.
If you clamber over the large rocks to the right, you can walk behind the waterfall.
One of the features you’ll probably notice as you walk around is all the tree roots growing through and over the rock formations. As Jurassic Park so aptly put it, life finds a way.
Sphinx Head
Following the trail along, we passed another rock formation known as the Sphinx Head.
Another feature you’ll notice as you walk around is all the steps. It’s not so bad early on in your visit, but if you hike to Cedar Falls later on (keep reading for more on that), your legs won’t welcome the extra workout.
Lower Falls
After following the trail a little further, you’ll arrive at the Lower Falls. It’s a peaceful spot, so we sat on some stones by the bridge and ate our lunch.
There were signs by the Lower Falls stating that swimming and wading is prohibited, but that didn’t seem to stop several groups we saw from wading in the water.
Cedar Falls
Once you’ve spent some time at the Lower Falls, you have a couple of options. One is to follow the trail back towards Old Man’s Cave on the other side of the bridge.
Alternatively, you can hike two miles south (so four miles round trip) along the Grandma Gatewood (Buckeye) Trail to visit Cedar Falls which is what we decided to do. n.b. If you want to visit Cedar Falls but don’t want to hike that far, you can drive much closer to the falls and take some steps down.
It’s a pretty walk along Old Man’s Creek to get to Cedar Falls though. Despite there being a lot of trees, quite a bit of the hike wasn’t in the shade. You’ll therefore want to bring plenty of water – we both had large bottles but were both low by the end of the hike.
I’m always curious what it would’ve sounded like back when giant rocks like these fell to the ground, as well as how much the ground must’ve shaken.
Something else I found fascinating along the walk were these small holes in the rocky ground. Water dripping down from the rocks above has slowly eroded the rock below.
I mentioned earlier that it’s best to bring plenty of water when hiking to Cedar Falls. There are also a couple of waterfalls along the way to help you cool off if needed.
I was content with getting sprinkled when the breeze blew some of the water on to me. Shae decided to go all in and Truffles joined her, although Truffles didn’t have any choice in the matter.
After what felt like longer than two miles, we finally reached Cedar Falls.
We visited at the beginning of May, so it was still too cold to go for a proper dip in the water.
That didn’t stop us from sitting with our feet in the water though. Next to where we sat, there was what looked like a natural slide into a pool below. The slide looked a little bumpy though, so I’m not sure how comfortable of a ride it’d be.
After spending about half an hour relaxing by the falls, we made our way back along the trail we’d entered on. We could hear another waterfall when we were about 1/3 of the way back, so we crossed over the creek to go find it.
Once we reached the Lower Falls where we’d split off earlier, we were greeted by what felt like never ending steps in order to get out.
Upper Falls
We were completely out of water by this point, so we headed back to our car where we had another bottle in our cool bag, as well as a bottle of Gatorade.
Feeling a little more refreshed, we walked to the top of the Upper Falls which are near the end of the parking lot.
There’s another stone bridge nearby which gives you a good look at the start of the falls.
That’s not all there is to the Upper Falls though. Follow the trail along and you’ll come to the lower part of the Upper Falls.
There are steps down to the clearing so that you can get even closer to the falls.
There are ledges on both sides of the clearing, although you can’t (well, I couldn’t) get too close to the falls as they were either too slippery or too narrow at certain points to be able to safely walk closer.
Devil’s Bathtub
The fun doesn’t stop there though. Head back up the steps and along the trail and you’ll soon arrive at the Devil’s Bathtub.
A small rock opening was, over many years, eroded by swirling water and sand to become the Devil’s Bathtub as you see it today.
Other Caves And Falls
As we followed the trail along, we came across a fairly large cave. I headed in there for a look around, but soon regretted doing so. The low roof meant crouching down the entire time which my thighs didn’t appreciate having hiked ~7 miles that day.
Our final stop on the way back to the parking lot was another waterfall which was at least the eighth we’d seen that day.
Final Thoughts
Shae and I were extremely grateful to Breanna for contacting us and suggesting we visit Old Man’s Cave. The caves, the waterfalls, the trails, the stone bridges – all of them were beautiful (not so much all the steps though 😉 ).
It was extremely peaceful even though there were quite a few other visitors the day we visited. Venturing further afield to Cedar Falls helped with that as fewer people went that far.
When giving recommendations here on No Home Just Roam, I sometimes suggest that you visit something or eat somewhere if you find yourself near its location. That’s not the case with Old Man’s Cave in Hocking Hills State Park though. You shouldn’t visit if you happen to be staying nearby – you should be staying nearby specifically because you’re planning on visiting Old Man’s Cave!
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