We recently drove up to Ohio for my sister’s Ohio wedding reception and then did a few days as a family in Hocking Hills. I can’t believe this was my first time there, especially given I went to college only thirty minutes away. Located about an hour outside of Columbus in southeast Ohio, the Hocking Hills area is home to Hocking Hills State Park, as well as several lakes and nature preserves. It was such a beautiful, peaceful place to visit, especially if you like the outdoors, and it was very family-friendly.
Here’s how we spent our recent visit! We will absolutely be back!
HIKING
We went on six hikes in the three days we were here! All of the hikes we did were relatively short (under two miles, most closer to one mile) and doable for our kids. Here’s the hikes we went on – you can see more here on my Instagram!
OLD MAN’S CAVE
This was our first hike/stop in Hocking Hills State Park and we really started off strong! We loved it here! Old Man’s Cave is one of the most popular and family-friendly hikes in Hocking Hills. There’s a well-marked, one-way trail loop with lots of fun rock formations, waterfalls, and bridges. We saw both the Upper and Lower Falls and it was approximately 1.5 miles total. There was recently (July 2025) a flash flood in Old Man’s Cave soon after our visit – I’m so glad we got to see it before then, but make sure you check online that’s it’s open before visiting.
ASH CAVE
This was such a beautiful view! There’s an easy and flat path that leads to a massive recess cave and waterfall that you can walk behind. The hike was about a half mile and very doable with the kids! More about Ash Cave here.
ROCKHOUSE
This is a one-way, one mile loop that is slightly more challenging, but still was doable for us with five and seven year olds. There’s a tunnel-like recess cave you can walk through. The rock formations were truly stunning! More about the Rockhouse hike here.
CEDAR FALLS
Pretty waterfall spot! Cedar Falls is only about a half mile hike, but was more challenging than some of the other hikes we did. FYI you can’t swim in the waterfalls/creeks in Hocking Hills State Park! More about Cedar Falls here.
CONKLES HOLLOW
Conkles Hollow is a state nature preserve within Hocking Hills State Park. This was the only place we visited that dogs were NOT allowed. Daisy actually fell asleep right when we got there, so I stayed in the car with her and Jack and E took the older girls to explore. There’s two trails, one that’s about ¾ mile long and wheelchair/stroller accessible and the other that’s more challenging and 2 miles long. More about Conkles Hollow here.
CHAPEL CAVE / 21 HORSE CAVE
This hike seems a bit more under-the-radar and was way less busy. It’s technically a horse trail, but hikers can go too! The hike to and from the cave is approx. 1 and ¾ miles. Note: it’s VERY muddy! That made it quite the (messy) adventure, but honestly, the girls had so much fun here (with lots of horse poop sightings/mentions 🫣).
FOOD & DRINK
We did a lot of picnics or easy dinners/lunches at our cabin, and I wouldn’t say this area is known for food. 🙂 That being said, we had a really lovely brunch at the restaurant at the Inn and Spa at Cedar Falls one morning after a hike. Another night, we had dinner on the patio at Capt Ron’s Pirate Pizza – very casual order at the counter pizza spot, but tasty! We also drove into Logan and visited Hocking Hills Winery one afternoon.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
I also drove the girls to Athens (where my alma mater, Ohio University is located) one morning. It’s such a quirky, charming little town that obviously holds a million memories for me! The girls and I bopped along Court Street, stopping at some favorites like Donkey Coffee and Casa Nueva. We went to the bookstore to get some OU t-shirts, and wandered around campus a little bit. After lunch, we drove around campus before picking up a coffee and treat at Village Bakery on the way back to Hocking Hills. If you have a longer visit, it’s worth driving the ~35 minutes over to Athens for sure!
We visited Fox’s High Rock Farm and the girls LOVED it here! It’s $6/person to get in, but there’s a lot to do! We got to see and pet donkeys, goats, horses, alpacas, cows, cats, sheep, and pigs. You can pay a little bit more to feed them. We also paid extra so the girls could go gem mining which was a HUGE hit. They loved this so much! There’s also a shaded picnic area with tons of games, coloring supplies, bubbles, etc. This was really a great stop in the Hocking Hills area with kids.
After our visit to Athens, I took the girls to the Hocking Hills Children’s Museum in downtown Logan. We ended up spending a couple hours here! It was a really sweet, small children’s museum and the girls loved it! There’s were lots of hands-on exhibits (water play, imaginary downtown, art, theatre, dig pit, STEM area, and more) and it was very clean and just easy with the three kids. I heard there’s a larger children’s museum in Lancaster, Ohio (which is in between Columbus and Hocking Hills) too!
We did a quick pop-in at the Paul A. Johnson Pencil Sharpener Museum right next to the Hocking Hills Regional Welcome Center. It’s a small, free museum featuring 5,000 pencil sharpeners!
