Hocking Hills Ohio: Ash Cave and Cedar Falls

This post is part of a travel series of our road trip in the midwest where we traveled to four states:  Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Indiana. We visited one state park, two national parks, and a historic farm..  To start at the beginning, go HERE.  The rest of the posts in consecutive order are HERE and HERE!

Hello!  I am back from my 4th of July holiday break and continuing on with my midwest road trip travel series I took back in May.  If you missed any of the previous travel posts in this series, you can quickly catch up by clicking on the links in blue small print above.

This week I will finish up our last day in Hocking Hills State Park and then next week I'll start covering America's newest National Park:  New River Gorge!

Ash Cave

Ash Cave is so cool!  It's a short out and back trail, 0.3 miles one way.  Even though it's a short hike, it's totally worth it because Ash Cave is the largest, most impressive recessed cave in the state of Ohio.

The horseshoe cave is massive!  It is 700 feet from end to end, 100 feet deep,  and 90 feet tall!  And the best part?  There is an awesome waterfall too!

A small tributary from the Queer Creek cascades gently over the edge into a pool of water below!  Boy, would this be fun to wade in or stand under on a hot summer day!

I don't know what I enjoyed seeing more, the massive rock formations or the waterfall.  I think it was a tie!

They had a sweet selfie platform where you could pose for pictures.

Look how tiny me and all the other people are against these massive rock walls!  We look like ants.

I can't leave without sharing the cutest outhouse ever at the trail head.  Just look at that moss roof!  😀

Here are some short videos of this cave and waterfall:

                                  Cedar Falls

Next up is Cedar Falls.  The trail to Cedar Falls is as awesome as the falls.  We loved all the crazy rock formations we had to scramble through.

Cedar Falls trail is a short 1/2 mile one way trail but it is considered strenuous because of all the rock formations and steps you have to work around.  To me, that was the fun part!  Just bring a pair of walking sticks and you will be fine!

At this point, you can just do the Cedar Falls trail or you  can intersect with the Gorge Overlook Trail and add more mileage to your hike.  Because this was my first time out hiking with my new hip, we just did the Cedar Falls trail.

Yes, the rocky steps can be tricky, but with walking sticks, I did great! Walking sticks are like handrails for me;  they keep me on my feet!

Halfway through this trail, you are treated to a beautiful waterfall.  You can read all about these falls in the plaque pictured below.

Of course it was picture time!  What an amazing back drop!

I really enjoyed this hike.  I found it just as interesting and beautiful as the falls itself.

And, like most of Hocking Hills, the trail has a pretty bridge on it.

Here is a short video of Cedar Falls for your viewing pleasure.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

 

The Ark Encounter - The Outside Grounds

This week's travel post is part of a travel series of our visit to see our grandchildren in Carmel, Indiana.  If you want to start at the beginning, go HERE. Other posts in chronological order are HERE,  HERE, HERE, and HERE.

For he past two weeks on my blog, I shared about our visit to The Creation Museum in Kentucky.  The very next day we visited the Ark Encounter, which is the sister attraction of the Creation Museum.  This time, we left the grandkids at home.  We thought they needed a day at home to rest because all the day in/day out of traveling was getting to them.  They only live two and half hours from the Ark Encounter, so hopefully they can visit another time.

Just like I did with my posts of the Creation Museum, I am going to divide our visit to the Ark Encounter into two separate posts:  the outside grounds, and inside the ark.  Otherwise, this post would be way too long.

  Using the Bible as their guide, the Ark Encounter built a full size ark according to the dimensions given in the Bible, spanning 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high. It is really something to see this in person!  It is the largest timber frame structure in the world.  It is built from standing dead timber, in part by Amish craftsmen.  What an architectural marvel!

The grounds of the Ark Encounter are absolutely beautiful.  There are stunning floral displays everywhere you look.  The next three pictures were all taken on a path as we entered the ark.  The lush plant displays created an atmospheric mood of how the world might have looked in Noah's time.  There were audio sounds of wind, rain, and animals as you proceeded up to the ark.

I loved these giraffe topiaries!  So perfect for the theme of the park.

The ark has three decks of exhibits, (all of which we will explore in next week's post).  After we finished exploring the first deck, we were hungry and decided to head to lunch.  Of course we had to stop for a photo shoot at the bow of the boat first.

Like the Creation Museum, there are many dining options available at the Ark Encounter.  You can choose to have a picnic lunch on one of their tables or in a pavilion, they also have plenty of outdoor food venues like the Village Smokehouse and Grill, Zofars, and the Village Ice Cream and Sweets.  It was all so tempting, but ultimately we chose Emzara's Kitchen.  It is a two story, cafeteria-style restaurant with spectacular views of the ark and the surrounding area.

You can choose to eat inside or outside on one of their decks.  We chose to eat outside and enjoy the stunning views!

The food was incredible!  We couldn't believe how much food they gave us for $14.99 per person.  We couldn't even eat it all!

Did I say the views were amazing?

And in case you don't like eating outside because of bugs or heat, here is a peek of the inside.  Lots of taxidermy!

The front of ark, as you can see in the very first picture of this post, is very realistic, but the back side of the ark tells another story.

Of course hubby had to play a little photo illusion game. 😂

Unlike the Creation Museum, the Ark Encounter did not have a big beautiful botanical garden, but they made up for it by having gorgeous floral displays scattered throughout the park.

The Ark Encounter has many of the same activities that the Creation Museum had but because we were child-less this time, we didn't go to all of them.  They have a Virtual Reality Experience (Pictured below. Extra charge), a children's playground, zip lines, Aarat Ridge Zoo, Fossil Find (extra charge), and lots of special presentations and musical concerts.

 

Because we didn't have our grandchildren with us, we were able to attend a special presentation this time and to our great delight we got to hear Ken Ham himself speak.  We were also treated to a southern gospel concert, which was so much fun!  More on that next week!

After Ken Ham's presentation and the concert, we decided to check out the Aarat Ridge Zoo.

The zoo appeared more modern that the Creation Museum's zoo, but it seemed a tad smaller.  It also looked as if they were not quite done finishing it and were still adding more exhibits.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed looking at all the animals, like this funny looking guy here, an African Crowned Crane.

There are daily  20-minute animal shows where you can learn all about the different kinds of animals.  

They have a petting area and camel rides.

This is an African Spurred Tortoise.

The Kangaroo Walkabout was my favorite part of this zoo.  You could walk right into the kangaroo enclosure and get so close to the animals. 

I also loved being able to see the ark from just about anywhere in the park.  Of course, with something that big, how could you miss it?

 I hope you enjoyed walking around the grounds of the Ark Encounter with me.  Next week, is the most exciting part:  going inside the ark!  I can't wait to show you!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!