Cedar Falls 2

Around Ohio

After capturing a number of pictures of the falls, I had to start the inevitable hike back to the car. The top of the falls is accessible by nearly 100 stone steps which swing out around the pool at the base of the falls, rising along the edge of the cliff to the top. They are known as Democracy Steps, and were specially designed by artist, architect, and mathematician Akio Huzume to provide a comfortable pace and rhythm to hikers by reflecting mathematical principles of the Fibonacci sequence and one-dimensional Penrose lattice. Personally, I thought they just seemed like . . . another set of steps.

 

At one point I passed by this enormous rock wall. It seemed to reach well above the treetops.

Rock Wall

Farther along, the trail wound between these two huge rock towers.

A Treacherous Trail

Back at the car this sign warned of the dangerous area I had just hiked through.

Warning Sign

Cedar Falls

Around Ohio
 

Our next stop was Cedar Falls, a waterfall located near the lower gorge of Old Man's Cave. Despite the name, there are no cedars in the area. The falls were named by settlers who mistook the plentiful hemlock trees for cedars. Cedar Falls is the largest waterfall in terms of volume in the Hocking Hills area. However, a lack of rain prior to our time there had reduced the flow to a trickle.

Cedar Falls

 

The light from the evening sun shining through the trees onto a cliff on one side of the waterfall made a beautiful pattern on the rock face.

Sunlight on Cliff

 

This massive chunk of rock protruding from the side of a cliff along the hike back seemed like it might be a little unstable.

Bulge on Cliff

Rock House 2

Around Ohio

Here are a few more pictures from Rock House. It is the only actual cave in the Hocking Hills area. It sits about halfway up a 150-foot-high cliff of Blackhand sandstone. The main corridor is about 200 feet long and 20 to 30 feet wide, with an average ceiling height of 25 feet.
 

This view shows one of the openings at the front of the cave and the cliff above it.

Cliff and Trees

Below you can see one of the "windows" from the inside of the cave.

Cave "Window"

This last picture looks up at the cliff on one side of the cave. Only moss and small ferns were able to hang on to the rocky side of the precipice.

Mossy Cliff

Rock House

Around Ohio

Since I'm done posting pictures from Newport Aquarium, I'll start back where I left off with photos from Hocking Hills. This next rock formation is known as Rock House. It's a long recess about halfway up a rock cliff lined with massive rock pillars along the front. It looked as if it would have made a perfect house for Native Americans hundreds of years ago.

This first picture looks out between two of the rock pillars at the forest outside. The cave was almost on the same level as the tops of the trees in the valley below.

Between Pillars

 

The view below is looking down the cave recess, with the rock pillars along the left opening out onto the cliff face.

Rock House

 

This picture shows part of the cliff on one side of Rock House. There were stone steps carved into the side of the cliff that gave access to it.

Cliff