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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117 parks in 7 regions

Ash Cave Falls

South Bloomingville · Hocking County

Seasonal plunge over the rim of the largest recess cave in Ohio

90 ftheight

Easywalk

Yesaccessible overlook

Visiting information you can trust

Check before driving — this site is seasonal, approximate, privately run, or otherwise uncertain. Confirm hours and access with the official source above.

Content last reviewed: September 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Primary official source: Official page
Location confidence: Approximate — boundary or exact point not confirmed
Approximate location, use the address or trailhead
Check current conditions: Official conditions or closures

Prices, hours, closures, campsite availability and trail conditions shown elsewhere on this page are not live — always confirm with the official source before you go.

Ohio's largest recess cave, with a thin seasonal waterfall spilling 90 feet from its rim.

Height: About 90 feet
Trail: About 0.5 mile round trip, paved
Accessibility: Lower gorge trail is wheelchair accessible
Managed by: ODNR Division of Parks and Watercraft
Best time: Late winter through spring, after rain or snowmelt
Cave rim: Horseshoe shaped, spans about 700 feet

When it flows

Runs best in late winter and spring after rain or snowmelt. Often thins to a light trickle or stops entirely by summer and fall.

The story

Ash Cave is the largest recess cave in Ohio, a horseshoe shaped overhang about 700 feet around, formed as groundwater and frost slowly undercut a softer layer within the Blackhand sandstone while the harder cap rock above stayed intact. The falls is simply the small creek above the cave dropping off that rim, so it depends entirely on recent rain or snowmelt to run with any force. Archaeological evidence shows people used the shelter as long as 7,000 years ago, and Shawnee, Delaware and Wyandot travelers passed through in the 1600s and 1700s on routes between villages in what is now West Virginia and central Ohio.

Early settlers named the cave for the huge piles of ash found on its floor, reportedly as much as three or four hundred bushels in 1837, most likely built up from centuries of campfires used by travelers sheltering there. The state of Ohio bought 146 acres here in 1924 to establish what became Hocking Hills State Park, and Civilian Conservation Corps crews, including Company 505, built trails, steps and stone masonry throughout the site in the 1930s. The cave's unusual acoustics, sometimes called a whispering gallery, have made it a site for outdoor meetings, weddings and concerts.

Stay behind railings and on marked trails. Wet rock at the top and base of a falls is slick in every season, and most Ohio falls do not allow swimming, wading or climbing. Flow depends on rain: many falls are a trickle in late summer and at their best after a wet spell, in spring, or frozen in a hard winter.