Hocking Hills State Park is a state park in the Hocking Hills region of Hocking County, Ohio, United States. In some areas the park adjoins the Hocking State Forest. Within the park are over of hiking trails, rock formations, waterfalls, and recess caves. The trails are open from dawn to dusk, all year round, including holidays.
The park contains seven separate hiking areas: Ash Cave, Cantwell Cliffs, Cedar Falls, Conkle's Hollow (nature preserve), Old Man's Cave, Rock House and Hemlock Bridge Trail to Whispering Cave.
More than 330 million years ago, the area was covered by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean's currents deposited immense amounts of sand and gravel over time. The ocean gradually receded and millions of years of groundwater and streams eroded the soft sandstone to form immense rock formations and waterfalls.
Hocking Hills were hemmed in by the ancient north-flowing Teays River to the west, and the then north-flowing Hocking to the east. When the Wisconsin Glacier began melting back to the north about 10,000 years ago, the landscape would undergo dramatic changes. The ancient Teays River was buried under tons of glacial silt, and the direction of the Hocking River was reversed.
The Hockhocking enters the county from Good Hope Township in the northwest and then flows southwest, touches Marion Township, continues through Falls and Green Townships, and exits the county through northwestern Starr Township. The river is then in Athens County.
Hocking County was named after the Hockhocking River. Hockhocking, in the Delaware tongue, signifies a bottle. In Shawnee, Wea-tha-Kagh-Qua-sepe, meant bottle river. The Hockhocking River had a waterfall of nearly 20 feet located about 6 or 7 miles northwest of Lancaster. Above the falls, the creek was very narrow and straight, forming the "bottle" neck.
Early settlers in Muskingum County found an ancient black human handprint on a cliff that is part of this same sandstone formation. That is the same "Black Hand Sandstone" that is seen in six areas of the Hocking Hills State Park.
The Adena culture is believed to be one of the first inhabitants of the area of Hocking Hills. In the 18th century, the Native American Tribes of Delaware, Wyandot, and Shawnee travelled through and lived in the area. In 1818, Hocking County was created in Ohio. A powder mill was built in the area in the 1830s and in 1840 Hocking Canal was completed, allowing for more settlers to travel there.
Richard Rowe, an 18th-century trader and hermit, is believed to be the namesake of Old Man's Cave. Rowe and his hounds lived in the cave from 1796 until his death in the early 1800s.
The State of Ohio began acquiring land for state forests in 1916, initially to test reforestation methods. Acquisition in the Hocking Hills region began in 1924 with the goal of repairing land harmed by farming and wildfires.
In 1933 the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was formed as a way to provide employment to single young unemployed adult men. Multiple CCC camps were located in the Southeast Ohio region, all focused on various public work projects to help the area recover economically from the Great Depression. Company 505 was one of the first in Ohio and based at Camp Hocking near Conkles Hollow. This company worked on numerous projects including erosion control, trail construction and maintenance, and stone masonry for newly formed trails in sites like Tar Hollow, Ash Cave, and Old Man's Cave. The main cabin of Camp Hocking has been preserved and is located next to Conkles Hollow.
Another troop, Company 526, was based at Camp Logan and largely employed Black workers who were twice as likely to suffer from unemployment during the Depression. Workers from Company 526 improved places including the Cantwell Cliffs, Rock House, and Rockbridge sites. By the time of the camp's closure in 1937, Company 526 had built and paved miles of roadways, improved over 2,000 acres of parkland and planted 300,000 trees.
Additional planting and reforesting work took place during the 1950s by prisoners from the Hocking Honor Camp. Inmates planted trees and pruned plantations. The prisoners earned between half a cent to five cents an hour for their labor. According to the Logan Daily News, Hocking Honor inmates "worked closely with the Hocking County area and the community, an idea that seems absurd today"
The park grew to become a popular and widely visited area. In 1967 Grandma Gatewood began leading a January hike in the park which continued as an annual tradition after her final time leading it in 1973. The trail she took was later named in her honor.
There are about 200 campsites in Hocking Hills State Park Campground, including full hookup and electric camp sites with 20-, 30- or 50-amp service, and camping shelters. The park also offers primitive "hike-in" tent-only sites and a primitive Group Camp in their own areas of the park. The campground is close to all of the hiking trails in the area and has flush toilets, shower houses with hot water, vending machines, a camp store, a pool, and other amenities. Reservations for camping may be made up to 6 months in advance.
The first Hocking Hills Lodge was built in 1970 and destroyed by fire in 2016. A new lodge and conference center opened in the state park in autumn 2022 with 81 guest rooms as well as a restaurant, fitness room, and indoor and outdoor swimming pools. There are also many privately owned cabins and hotels in the surrounding region.
In 2017, over 2 million people visited Hocking Hills. To handle the growing tourism, a summer shuttle service from downtown Logan began to lessen the overtaxing on the park's parking facilities.
The area is very popular with tourists and collectively is known as the Hocking Hills Region. It features many private inns, campgrounds, cabins, restaurants, and other related businesses, including a recently developed zipline. Other attractions include:
Flora Several rare plants are known from this area, including plants that are outside their normal range. Canadian yew, bigleaf magnolia, and many others are here.
Trails
There are numerous hiking trails, including several safe for pets, located throughout the state park.
Some trails in Hocking Hills State Park include:
Many of the adventures in Jeff Smith's comic book series Bone take place in Old Man's Cave, a place inspired by the Hocking Hills State Park, which Smith enjoyed since he was a child. The waterfalls of the park also influenced Smith's frequent use of water as a recurring visual element in Bone, calling it "an age-old storytelling symbol".
Fictionalized versions of areas within Hocking Hills State Park appear in the Burning Springs region of the video game Fallout 76. This update, released in December 2025, allowed players to explore a camp inside Ash Cave and collect pieces of loot.
As noted, Hocking Hills State Park is embedded within the Hocking State Forest. Crane Hollow Nature Preserve, a private preserve, fills in a large part of the non-public area. On the south side, Camp Oti-Okwa, owned by Big Brothers-Big Sisters, is also a sizeable protected area. There are three state nature preserves within the Forest, but only Conkles Hollow State Nature Preserve is open to the public. Also nearby are Clear Creek Metro Park, Lake Logan State Park, and Rockbridge State Nature Preserve.
Hocking Hills State park on ohiodnr.gov
Visitor Bureaus