Field Notes Ohio

Ohio's parks, forests and wildlife areas with camping, the ancient mounds beside them, and the Buckeye Trail that links them. Stories, trails, wildlife, and where to eat and fuel up nearby. Book campsites on ReserveOhio.

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Explore Ohio

One map for every park, mound, historic site, beach, cave, waterfall and oddity in the app.

Tap a symbol for a preview, or search for a place. Open the key to show or hide categories.

117 parks in 7 regions

Old Man's Cave Section

Hocking, Vinton · Southeast Ohio

Buckeye Trail Association

53miles

10 of 26clockwise

2counties

Gorges, waterfalls and forested paths through Hocking Hills and into rural Vinton County. The most famous section on the loop.

Passes Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls and Ash Cave along the Grandma Gatewood Trail, then quieter woods in Hocking State Forest.

Highlights

Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls and Ash Cave
Grandma Gatewood Trail
Hocking State Forest and its horse camp
Pretty Run Preserve

Parks on this section

Hocking Hills State Park

The most famous stretch of the trail

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Hocking State Forest

Quiet woodland after the gorges

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Lake Logan State Park

Listed on the ODNR trail overview map near the route

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Section map and alerts

Show this section on the map Distances between stops in this section

The Buckeye Trail Association sells a detailed map for this section and posts current trail alerts.

Official Old Man's Cave Section page →This section on AllTrails →

Camping

Hocking Hills State Park Campground
Pretty Run Preserve (Point 26): primitive campsites kept by the Buckeye Trail Association; reservations required
Private fee camping such as Top O' the Caves and Campbell Cove

Campsites are run by different agencies and owners, and the rules and fees change, so confirm before you go.

Water

Water at state park visitor centers, modern campgrounds and trailheads; filter anything from creeks or falls.

Take the stops with you

Save the camps, resupply, lodging, trail towns and parks for this section as waypoints.

Google Maps: stops 1 to 6

The file holds 6 waypoints and a stop-by-stop route line. Locations are approximate, often a town center, so use the stop notes to find the exact spot. Your maps app chooses the roads between stops, usually the fastest, so follow the byway signs where they differ. The GPX arrives in a zip file; unzip it and open the .gpx in a GPS or hiking app. The CSV imports into Google My Maps.