Hocking Hills SP

Tips for Birding

A series of State Park areas all of special interest, from north to south:

  • Cantwell Cliffs (especially good for raptors)
  • Rock House (historic interest and northern breeding species)
  • Conkles Hollow (the premiere nature preserve for breeding birds of southern and northern affinities in southern Ohio)
  • Old Man’s Cave (historic interest, accommodations, pine plantings attracting species of northern affinities)
  • Cedar Falls (unique natural area, recently upgraded trails and access)
  • Ash Cave (Native American interest, species of northern affinities).

Total land acres 2331, water acres 17, nearby state forest acres 9238. Hemlock gorges, sandstone cliffs, rock shelters and waterfalls, planted and native pines, northern affinity plant species such as Canada yew, yellow and black birch.

16 miles southwest of Logan, Ohio on OH-664.
Open all year during daylight hours.
Parking at Cantwell Cliffs, Rock House, Conkles Hollow, Old Man’s Cave, Cedar Falls, Ash Cave.

Birds of Interest

Winter
Northern irruptive species such as Evening Grosbeaks, crossbills, Pine Siskins, etc.
Spring
Hermit Thrush, Blue-headed Vireo, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Magnolia Warbler, Pine Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Canada Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Pine Siskin.
Summer
Hermit Thrush, Blue-headed Vireo, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Magnolia Warbler, Pine Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Canada Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Pine Siskin.
Fall
Northern irruptive species such as Evening Grosbeaks, crossbills, Pine Siskins, etc.

About this Location

It is most helpful when submitting eBird observations at Hocking Hills to start a new checklist for each hotspot within the park. Use this general hotspot when you have a checklist that includes multiple locations or there was not a hotspot or personal location appropriate for your sightings.

About Hocking Hills State Park

See all hotspots at Hocking Hills State Park

The natural history of this region is as fascinating as the caves are beautiful. Here, in these sandstones and shales, one can read Ohio’s history from the rocks. The scenic features of the six areas of the Hocking Hills State Park complex are carved in the Blackhand sandstone. This bedrock was deposited more than 350 million years ago as a delta in the warm shallow sea which covered Ohio at that time. Subsequent millions of years of uplift and stream erosion created the awesome beauty seen today.

The sandstone varies in composition and hardness from softer, loosely cemented middle zone to the harder top and bottom layers. The recess caves at Ash Cave, Old Mans Cave, and Cantwell Cliffs are all carved in the softer middle zone. Weathering and erosion widened cracks found in the middle layer of sandstone at the Rock House to create that unusual formation.

Other features of the rock include cross-bedding, honeycomb weathering, and slump blocks. The first is noticeable as diagonal lines in the rock intersecting horizontal ones. It is actually the cross-section of an ancient sandbar in the delta and was caused by changing ocean currents. Honeycomb weathering looks like the small holes in a beehive comb. They are formed by differential weathering which comes about when water, moving down through the permeable sandstone, washes out small pockets of loosely cemented sand grains. Finally, the huge slump blocks of rock littering the streams tumble from nearby cliffs when cracks widen to the extent that the block is no longer supported by the main cliff.

Although the glaciers never reached the park areas, their influence is still seen here in the form of the vegetation growing in the gorges. The glaciers changed the climate of all of Ohio into a moist, cool environment. Upon their retreat, this condition persisted only in a few places such as the deep gorges of Hocking County. Therefore, the towering eastern hemlocks, the Canada yew, and the yellow and black birch tell of a cool period 10,000 years ago.

Notable Trails

The AllTrails website has descriptions and maps of hikes at Hocking Hills State Park.

Features

  • Restrooms on site

Content from Hocking Hills State Park Official Website and Ohio Ornithological Society