Every year there is a huge hike at Hocking Hills State Park, with upwards of 5,600 people. It is scheduled on the Saturday as close to January 21 as possible, and this year that is January 19.
For those familiar with the park, they start at the top entrance to Old Man's Cave, head through the gorge to the cave itself, then back up to the rim, across the A-frame bridge, and then along the rim trail to Cedar Falls, where there is bean soup and cornbread available. From there it continues to Ash Cave, where there are buses waiting to take you back to your car.
I think the weather will be weather-compatible (depending on you cold-weather barefoot conditioning). Starting temperature will probably be at right about 32 degrees, and the high for the day should be around 48. There is no snow on the ground and none in the forecast.
The tricky part is that there is often a line to get into the gorge (but then I've always gotten there around 10am, and continuous starts begin at 9am, so it might be better earlier). Or, one can bypass the gorge portion and head straight across the A-frame bridge. So, this year I'm contemplating getting there by 8:30am to see when a good time to start might be.
I've done this 3 times before (and, unbeknownst to me, got my picture taken by a reporter).
I wrote a little something about it on my blog, here: http://ahcuah.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/the-hocking-hills-mid-winter-hike/
Here's a page discussing the hike: http://www.heartofhocking.com/Winter_Hike_Hocking_Hills.htm
And one more: http://www.hockinghills.com/winter_hike.html
It is always fun, just for the comments, if nothing else. A whole crowd of barefoot hikers would be awesome!
For those familiar with the park, they start at the top entrance to Old Man's Cave, head through the gorge to the cave itself, then back up to the rim, across the A-frame bridge, and then along the rim trail to Cedar Falls, where there is bean soup and cornbread available. From there it continues to Ash Cave, where there are buses waiting to take you back to your car.
I think the weather will be weather-compatible (depending on you cold-weather barefoot conditioning). Starting temperature will probably be at right about 32 degrees, and the high for the day should be around 48. There is no snow on the ground and none in the forecast.
The tricky part is that there is often a line to get into the gorge (but then I've always gotten there around 10am, and continuous starts begin at 9am, so it might be better earlier). Or, one can bypass the gorge portion and head straight across the A-frame bridge. So, this year I'm contemplating getting there by 8:30am to see when a good time to start might be.
I've done this 3 times before (and, unbeknownst to me, got my picture taken by a reporter).
I wrote a little something about it on my blog, here: http://ahcuah.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/the-hocking-hills-mid-winter-hike/
Here's a page discussing the hike: http://www.heartofhocking.com/Winter_Hike_Hocking_Hills.htm
And one more: http://www.hockinghills.com/winter_hike.html
It is always fun, just for the comments, if nothing else. A whole crowd of barefoot hikers would be awesome!
