I’m so tired but vacation was weeks ago and I need to get this finished!
Wednesday was our last day, the day we had to check out of the cabin and head home. But we still had lots of fun planned before leaving! I was stressed about having to be out of the cabin by 11 am (we’re not morning people), but we did it.
Before heading out for more hiking, the husband cooked the best breakfast I have ever had. The secret is cooking the sausage in the bacon grease. I ask him to make it again every chance I get. So good.
First on the schedule for today was Old Man’s Cave. It’s the most popular area and with good reason. It’s absolutely breathtaking. I had read that, because of its popularity, especially since this has been the summer of getting outdoors for SO many people, it would be less crowded early in the morning. I hoped it wouldn’t be too bad in the afternoon since it was a weekday. It was more crowded than we are used to when we go hiking closer to home, and we did choose to wait and let quicker-moving groups pass us sometimes, but it wasn’t as bad as I’ve seen in pictures from weekends. Thank goodness! No one wants to hike in a crowd.
While we were exploring down on the trails, we heard some very ominous thunder. We didn’t really have a choice, so we continued on the trails, but chose not to take the longer route to the lower falls area. As we came back up, we started getting rained on. By the time we reached the visitors center, it was pouring. We took refuge under the steps.
When the rain slowed, we headed back to the van and decided it was a perfect time to go see Ash Cave. The waterfall there, as with the others, is very rain-dependent.
At some point on this day we got ice cream. On our travels to various spots, we kept passing this little general store that advertised 33 flavors… or was it 43? I don’t remember. Anyway, we went once and the power was out so they were closed. Then we were looking for it and couldn’t find it. THEN we finally happened to find it, stopped, and found that their ice cream machine had been affected by the previous night’s power outage and all they had was a freezer full of prepackaged ice cream treats. Still delicious.
At this point we were headed for the beach at Lake Hope. On the way we passed Hope Iron Furnace, which I had read about and then forgot about. We drove past and husband was like, “WHOA, WHAT WAS THAT?” So we turned around and waited while he geeked out a little bit.
Next was the beach! Tiniest beach I’ve ever seen and also apparently a prime spot for algal blooms. Fun anyway. I didn’t take many pictures because I was too busy being a vigilant parent.
After leaving the beach, Evelyn asked if we were going to another hike, and I said no. The lie detector proved that was a lie. Well, not really a lie. I didn’t intend for it to be another hike.
The last stop before going home was the Moonville Tunnel. It’s rumored to be haunted, if you go for that stuff, but I heard it was cool regardless. The road to Moonville is mostly one way, curvy, hilly… basically DEADLY. I gripped the door handle the entire way. I would like to say that I would have turned around if I had been driving, but the truth is, I couldn’t have. There wasn’t room. It was just as treacherous on the way out. I’m not anxious to go back there EVER AGAIN.
My downloaded map said the short and easy trail to the tunnel started right before the bridge. So we got to the bridge, backed up, pulled off, and parked. The “trail” was only about a foot wide and surrounded on both sides by dense vegetation. Sure, to some this might be considered a trail, and I’ve hiked trails like it before, but from all my reading, the trail to Moonville was one that could be done easily and quickly. In fact, Melonie and I were wearing sandals.
I wanted to get back in the van and drive a little farther. I had a feeling this couldn’t be right. But husband insisted we head forward. He had done no research, but based on the surroundings, he just had a feeling we were close to the tunnel. We hiked on, at risk of bug bites, snake bites, and impending spouse-on-spouse violence (if only I could have caught up to him!). Finally he said for everyone to wait there and he would go a few steps ahead. If the tunnel wasn’t right there, we could head back.
And wouldn’t you know, as we emerged from the wilderness, there it was, on the left. And on the right, a gravel path leading to a parking lot. Curse you, Pinky the Chihuahua.
It was a super cool place and would have been worth it if we had parked at the small parking lot and walked the short gravel path instead of traversing the narrow jungle path. It’s very dark inside and was fun to explore. There’s apparently a stable nearby that does trail rides through. (Ask Thomas’s shoe how we know.)
After taking the road back to the van and checking each other for ticks, we were back on the one-lane highway of DOOM, in search of my first Dr Pepper of the day and a fast food parking lot dinner.
We got home extremely late that night because we always get home late from everywhere. It was a very fun trip and if you haven’t been to Hocking Hills, I highly recommend it (if that wasn’t obvious). I don’t know if we will get to go back, but I hope so. It’s just a little bit long to drive down and back in one day, and there’s too much to see in so little time, anyway.
The Coffeeless Mom 