hocking hills

COVID-19 Update: we are reopening on May 4

Mary
perfoliate bellwort
The Hocking County Health Commissioner has approved the reopening of rental cabins beginning May 4, 2020. We are accepting reservations! The Health Department is going to provide COVID-19 prevention guidelines. However, we already have a good start on how we plan to keep our guests, our family and our community safe. One way to manage our extra sanitation procedures is to allow at least 24 hrs between reservations. Today, our Operations Manager John worked with our guests to move reservations around a bit to make this possible. Their cooperation was immensely helpful. We are hopeful that we will only have to do this in May, but are prepared to continue on if needed.
 
We do not yet know when the Hocking Hills State Park and Forest will reopen. ODNR is not ready to say anything official yet. However, guests will receive a list of nearby parks, forests and nature preserves that are open. Plus we have our own hiking trail for the private use of our guests.
Stay safe, keep your distance and wash your hands. Stay tuned!

Guest journal entry at Pinewood Cabin

Mary
hot tub guest journal

While we remain closed through May 1 per Ohio’s and Hocking County’s stay at home orders, I’ve had time to look through our guest journals. Now that John is our operations manager, I don’t stop by the cabins often. I was going to write a blog post, pulling out some of my favorites, but this one from March 22, right before we closed, thoroughly enchanted me. And I think our guests were under a bit of a spell as well:

3/22/20

We had a most lovely weekend here at the cabin.

A sasquatch tried to get into the hot tub with us but we were able to scare it away with the help of some enchanted dice that we acquired from a minotaur that we met while exploring Old Man’s Cave.

Will definitely be back! 5 stars !!!

Z & R

I think Z & R truly enjoyed Pinewood Cabin, its hot tub pictured above, and all that the Hocking Hills offers. I truly enjoyed this guest journal entry!

Hoping you will visit soon and leave an equally entertaining entry,

Mary at Marsh Hollow

Last minute specials even on Valentines Day

Mary
A blank list titled this year I will

Did your New Year’s resolutions include enjoying nature more? Here’s a great opportunity to visit the Hocking Hills at a lower cost. Throughout the entire year, we offer last minute specials. Right now, if you have a little flexibility, you can book Thursday, February 13 and Friday, February 14 at a 20% discount at The Cottage!

Please call 740-499-8205 to book your last minute reservation.

Mary at Marsh Hollow

Video tours of our cabins!

Mary

We belong to HockingHills.com which provides a great listing service for us, as well as our reservation system. Recently, the new owners offered to record cabin video tours. We signed on to that opportunity! They also have provided us with a large number of still photographs which we are in the process of reviewing to see which we want to add to our web site. The tours include some outside views and more of these will be added in the spring.

The tours start with a dollhouse view. That’s where you can click on icons to see outside views before or after entering the cabin. The video walkthroughs can be accessed with mouse clicks or with touchscreen. We found it easier to manipulate on our laptops, maybe because the screen is so much bigger than a phone screen. We haven’t tested them yet on a tablet. In the meantime, enjoy these three video tours. They will give you a great idea of what to expect when you visit us on your Hocking Hills vacation.

The Cottage

Pinewood Cabin

Shadyside Cabin

Come visit us! Great winter rates available through February 29!

Mary at Marsh Hollow

Playing tourist

Mary
old mans cave bridge

Last week, we hosted family at Marsh Hollow. We decided to play tourist and pretend we were visiting too. I think our itinerary turned out to be a pretty good plan for a day trip to the Hocking Hills, or for just one of your vacation days if you’re staying in the Hills. We left the house at 10 am and returned home just after 4 pm to give you an idea about how long our tour lasted. Note: click on photos for larger views but only if you have a good Internet connection.

Jack Pine Studio furnacesJack Pine Studio

Our first stop was Jack Pine Studio on Route 180, about 10 minutes from Marsh Hollow.  Jack Pine is an artist who creates blown glass masterpieces. We were amazed as soon as we stepped into the showroom, where many of Pine’s beautiful art pieces are on display and for sale, along with work of other glass artists and craftsmen. The Studio’s other glass artists also create affordable blown glass pieces, with a heavy emphasis on pumpkins. A very cool (or hot!) feature of this studio, is that they are making glass pieces every day and visitors can watch art being created. Practicalities: they have a single indoor restroom, very clean.

Rock House

Inside Rock House

Inside Rock House with flash camera

Our next stop was Rock House, the only true cave in the Hocking Hills. There was dispute in our group about whether or not it is truly a cave since there’s so much light in it. Here’s the definition of cave from Wikipedia, which I think supports the “cave” designation:

A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word cave can also refer to much smaller openings such as sea caves, rock shelters, and grottos, though strictly speaking a cave is exogene, meaning it is deeper than its opening is wide, and a rock shelter is endogene.

Hikers at Rock House steps

At the steps up to Rock House

Rock House trail is all downhill to get to the cave area, then hikers must climb up some old rock steps to get to the cave entrance. It is dark inside. Have your phone flashlight ready for the dark spots. After exploring the cave you will continue on the trail up and out of the gorge. It’s not as steep or long as the downhill.  Practicalities: We’ve taken small children and dogs to Rock House in the past, but it is definitely less stressful with an all adult group. Also, you will be glad you used the restroom at Jack Pine when you walk past the one at Rock House.

Conkles Hollow

Our next stop was supposed to be the gorge trail at Conkles Hollow State Nature Preserve on Big Pine Rd., about 11 minutes from Jack Pine Studio. As we turned onto Big Pine from Route 374, we saw that the road was closed. A worker told us a bridge had just been torn out and advised us of a long detour. We decided to skip this short gorge trail and head out to our next stop, which was lunch at….

Grandma Fayes

Grandma Fayes Grocery and Deli is a Hocking Hills institution and only 5 minutes from Conkles Hollow. Their motto is “if you forgot it, we probably have it.” Our lunch was delicious! Among the five of us we enjoyed: haddock sandwich, deep fried mac ‘n cheese bites, deep fried mushrooms, french fries, pizza sub, tuna sandwich, and turkey swiss cheese sandwich. Our only criticism was that the buns/bread were just so-so. Practicalities: this was a heavier lunch than most of us needed. I think we all could have napped. Pack a lunch, but stop here for the mac ‘n cheese bites to share. Also save your restroom needs for the next stop.

Hocking Hills Visitor Center

Hocking Hills Visitor Center

New Hocking Hills Visitor Center

It took us about 5 minutes to drive to the brand new Hocking Hills Visitor Center at Old Man’s Cave.  There are very informative exhibits about the region’s history, development and natural resources, plus great trail information. There’s a small cave for the little ones to explore, detailed information about the trail system, seating and convenient access to the Old Man’s Cave trail system. A small gift shop with Hocking Hills themed merchandise is also on site. Practicalities: The water bottle filling stations are just what every hiker needs. The restrooms are large and clean.

Old Man’s Cave

Hiker in small cave

Small cave at Old Mans Cave

Several entrances to the Old Man’s Cave trail system are steps away from the Visitor Center. We hiked down into the gorge, where I got completely disoriented because it wasn’t my usual way into this site. However, others got me righted and we headed to the Devil’s Bathtub, which did not have much water in it. We then hiked along a nearly people-less trail, across the awesome bridge pictured at the top of this post with my dancer cousin posing on it, to Old Man’s Cave. We thought about hiking to the lower falls’ basin, but the thought of hiking UP the steps, then down, then back UP again, wore us out. So we ended up exiting the gorge near the Naturalist’s Cabin, then back to the car. There is so much more to do at Old Man’s Cave, but we had one more stop on our tour and needed to get home by 4 pm.

Ash Cave

The falls at Ash Cave in skummer

Summer falls at Ash Cave

Ash Cave was our final destination, about 10 minutes by car from Old Man’s Cave or a six mile hike along the gorge trail, plus six miles back to your car. We wanted to leave on a positive note. The Ash Cave trail is very short and completely flat (wheelchair accessible). It’s a paved trail until you reach the actual rock shelter. There was very little water in the falls, but the spectacularly high rock shelter impresses even without water. Practicalities: This is a great destination if you’re touring with little kids.

It took about 20 minutes to return to Marsh Hollow. Some took the opportunity for a nice soak in the hot tub. Others started to gather ingredients for dinner. At least one checked into work online. One sat in a rocker on the front porch and just enjoyed this little slice of heaven we call home.

Last practicalities: To avoid crowds, visit the Hocking Hills during the week. Our tour occured after the start of school so that helped too. If you must visit during busier times, go early or late to the various sites. Take a long break in the middle of the day. And visit during off season, generally November through mid-March. Our lodging rates go down, along with the crowds.

Happy hiking!

Mary at Marsh Hollow

July 11 Weekend Update

Mary

And another weekend rolls around, with lots to do in the Hocking Hills. If you are visiting this weekend and want to enjoy the natural sites in some peace and quiet, get up early and get out. Summer weekends are super busy in the Hills and parking at the major sites can fill up quickly. An alternative is to go late. There’s plenty of daylight in the late afternoon and evening. However don’t start a long hike too late or you’ll be stumbling out of the park in the dark! Check out everything to do this weekend in the Hocking Hills Tourism AssocIation’s WEEKEND UPDATE.

There is no public pool in the Hocking Hills

Mary

Recently we’ve been approached by visitors looking for a pool at Marsh Hollow. The park people have been visited by people looking for the public pool at the old dining lodge. These pools do not exist. In our case, there never has been a pool at Marsh Hollow. As for the one at the lodge, when the lodge burned down the pool went away too. So no pools at these locations!

Recent interest in these pools can be traced to a blog entry I wrote in 2009 about the old pool at the now burned down lodge. I recently updated it to say that it no longer exists but apparently  people are reading cached pages that have not been updated. Not sure how people translated that post into Marsh Hollow having a pool, but we never had one.

One more time: there is no public pool at the old Hocking Hills Dining lodge, which burned down about 1 1/2 years ago. There has never been a pool at Marsh Hollow.

Visitors can swim at Lake Logan, which has a public beach. If you are camping both the KOA and Hocking Hills State Park campgrounds have pools, but you must be camping there to use them. There are also public pools in Logan and Nelsonville.

One last time: there is no public pool at the old Hocking Hills Dining lodge, which burned down about 1 1/2 years ago. There has never been a pool at Marsh Hollow.

 

Shadyside Haiku of High Praise

Mary

Marsh Hollow attracts the best and most talented guests. Recently, Debbie and Denny stayed with us at our beautiful Shadyside Cabin. Debbie was inspired to write a poem:

Shadyside Haiku of High Praise
 
Shadyside Cabin
Is a true woodland icon
A pristine retreat
 
Nestled by the creek
Offering peace & quiet
A haven for man
 
Hot tub bubbling near
Wood floors beneath your bare feet
Beams soaring o’erhead
 
Soft strains of music
Decorated in fine taste
Expertly designed
 
The place is perfect
My husband wants to live here
For eternity
 
I’ll miss him.


Another Level I Snow Emergency in the Hocking Hills

Mary
Pinewood cabin at Marsh Hollow

The Hocking county sheriff just announced a Level I snow emergency. There are only  few inches of snow, but township roads like ours are very hilly, curvy and only slowly plowed or sanded. We are lucky to be so close to a well-maintained county road and state highway.

New snow is so beautiful. I think it adds more romance to a weekend in the Hocking Hills. It’s usually very quiet and peaceful. While I was out getting the hot tub ready for this weekend’s guests, I listened to softly played classical music on our outdoor speakers. It didn’t bother the birds at the birdfeeder at all.

Birds are extra active when snow covers the ground. They also love the corn we put out for the deer. That usually draws in the bluejays – bold, noisy critters! In the photo on the left, a male cardinal is sitting on the feeder tray. Mrs. Cardinal is not in the shot, but she’s just off to the left. On the right side of the suet cake, a male red-bellied woodpecker is ready for his snack. On the left of the suet, a tufted titmouse has his/her rear end pointed at the camera.

I took this picture through the cabin living room window. I wish I had taken my Canon Rebel with me instead of the little pocket camera. Some of our guests have taken amazing pictures of wildlife they’ve seen at the cabin. I just don’t have the skills yet.

Mary at Marsh Hollow