This is a very cool park! My children tend to gravitate toward parks and playgrounds where there…read moreare open-ended and tactile features available, and this park has that. There are boulders to climb, outdoor musical instruments to play, a treehouse to play pretend in (and is wheelchair accessible!), a merry-go-round, swings, a traditional playground structure with slides, and lots more. The playground area is lined with wood chips. There is also lots of space to run around, and lots of trees. Like the name of the park suggests, this is a very sensory-friendly park, and there are nature stations set up all around where you can use your senses to explore. There is also a short, paved trail that goes around the park, which is wide and smooth enough for strollers and wheelchairs. The trail goes by a creek, which is nice. As of right now, this is the only sensory-friendly park in the state of Ohio! It's definitely worth a visit.

This is a really neat and wonderfully inclusive park. This features a short, paved path that is…read morewheelchair and walker accessible. Along the path are a variety of interactive stations that are also designed to be accessible. If you start near the entry sign, you'll find a Little Free Library, which, on our recent visit, was loaded with a lot of great kids options. Just ahead is a variety of benches and a little music garden, featuring musical instruments that can be played, and you can also interact with the Rough Bark Tactile Display to learn more about different tree barks. A little further down are the cutest animal looking instruments that can also be used. As you continue down the path, you find a swingset with a variety of swings that include both traditional and accessible options. There's a nice little shaded bench area with information about the creek, Fetter's Run, that can be seen from the location. As you proceed along, a very exciting find is the Treehouse, which is built within the forest trees as opposed to up in one, which allows a wheelchair ramp to make it accessible. This overlooks the creek and has things to explore, like neat nature art and a second floor (not accessible) with a fire pole. At the end of the path is a shelter house with picnic tables and nearby grills. Most, if not all, of the signage included Braille translations, as well. There is a large parking lot here, but I do note that this is located behind a school, so I'm not sure how that would affect parking for a visit during a school day.

Pretty spot for a day in nature. They have a nice playground, boat launch, and plenty of bench's…read moreoverlooking water. They do have bathrooms too!

Beautiful lake and hiking trails but not well marked. We stopped here on the way to Athens and the…read morepark is really beautiful. We had a hard time finding a map that had the actual mileage of each trail. We decided to take the white pine trail to vista point and then back down the thunderbunny trail. We found way but the trail splits a lot and is unmarked at points. The trail is also not blazed. We stopped right after a rain so the lake had a beautiful fog covering it.

At some of Ohio's State park it's hard to be a human powered vessel when so many boats are zooming…read moreby. You are almost relegated to smaller coves as you try to escape the waves caused by power boats. Not at Lake Hope State Park as boaters are restricted to electric motors only. My wife is all about the well maintained mountain bike trails. We were both all about the small camping pads and many non electric sites. This meant that as tent campers we were not back to back with massive RVs. And our dog was all about all of it, especially since a state park means that he gets to hang out with his pack!  On the down side, there was only one water spigot, one near the check in, that was marked as potable. Perhaps the others throughout the campground are and are not marked. However, we chose to only get water from that spigot. The spigot that was closest to our campsite was way too close to the pit toilet for me to feel comfortable drinking without filtering/boiling.  While we didn't get the chance to actually take our boats off the car, thanks to thunderstorms, we did drive around and find some spots that would work perfectly as put ins. There's a space just off the main road that would work for those who are kayaking, canoeing, or SUPing. The drive to and from LHSP was beautiful, with the visual elevation changes. I loved that it was almost in the HHills area but lacked all the folks (and the restrictions on dogs)! Lake Hope State Park is a place that we will hands down visit again. Although, our first visit there was filled with thunderstorms- we managed to stay dry and camped anyway!

Have you wanted to have a family day on the lake? Lake Hope has the paddle boats and paddle boards!…read moreAffordable, relaxed and fun family day!

This was such a peaceful way to start the day. We chose this path because it's kid-friendly (and…read morewheelchair accessible). We arrived by 9am and there were only a few other cars in the lot. This location also offers bathrooms (no guarantees on toilet paper though ). The half mile trail was filled with shade and beautiful views from start to finish. They also offer an upper trail thats more challenging and apparently not ideal with little kids due to the rim. Highly recommend this spot while in Hocking Hills!

This trail was super cool! There was a significant portion (probably about 3/4 of the length of the…read moretrail) was accessible... but if you are able continue on to the end (you have to climb on some rocks) definitely do so!!! We were easily able to park our stroller and carry our baby and the 8&10 year old handled the rocks easily. This is an amazing hike for kids - IF YOU STAY ON THE GROUND. Do *not* do the rim trail with kids... there are severe cliff drops offs. This was peaceful and beautiful and slightly less traveled than typical Hocking hills trails. There was an abundance of wildlife and the views are phenomenal! The water level on the waterfalls was low when we went, so it was more like 1 trickling fall rather than three falls. Worth. It.

Neat little place. Hike can be difficult if you're out of shape. I had never seen these before.read more

Definitely a nice hike but a little challenging for super small kiddos. The glyphs are cool but…read moresome have been vandalized.

A lot more strenuous hike to get to the lower falls, but gorgeous. You have to take this option…read moreversus going to the cave/regular exit.

This particular section of the Hike in Hocking Hills State Park near Old Man's Cave is actually…read morecalled MIDDLE FALLS not the Lower Falls, I put in for an edit and I hope they correct it. If you take the path straight over the hillside in front of the OLD MAN CAVE VISITORS CENTER, you immediately drop down beside this fall. This stream is not a huge stream but after the heavy rains lately, it is flowing full. Once in the gorge, if you look up at the rock cliff across the creek line you will see this jagged edge of the rocks sticking out near the rim like a perch. I would be scared to death to stand out there on that ledge, but can you imagine the adrenaline rush???!!!!???? I love hiking in this gorge. If you take the entire trail you will go through 2 tunnels, see several caves and visit three falls in addition to the water swirl known as the Devils' Bathtub. What do I love most about this adventure..? The trails down in the gorge are wide and easy to traverse, but mainly my biggest pleasure it is all FREE. I highly recommend if you are in the area and have about 2 good hours to enjoy this outdoor wonderland .....STOP HERE and ENJOY but be safe...high cliffs, steep steps, crowds and breathtaking views can be a hazard!!!

Absolutely love to go hiking at Cedar Falls in Hocking Hills State Park. It was my son in-law first…read moretime here and he fully loved it. We went yesterday April 25, 2021, the group included my hubby, daughter, son in-law and myself. We also hiked Ash Cave Waterfall as well. It was absolutely gorgeous day and plenty of others out hiking enjoying weather as well. Always free to enjoy and definitely recommend you go hiking here if given the chance.

The signs are really confusing here to be honest. The trail maps were confusing. We went down a…read more*ton* of stairs and went back the same way. It mentioned on climbing on the rocks and going one way, but everyone was confused and things weren't super clear directionally. If we weren't tired from other hikes that day we would have tried the loop but we just did the predictable thing with toddler meltdown on the horizon and dinner and dark coming fast.

This is an absolutely stunning nature preserve! It sets a whole new standard for the phrase "hidden…read moregem." It can only be accessed by state permit, and, to that end, the address is unpublished. To obtain a permit, complete the form offered by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources on their website (http://naturepreserves.ohiodnr.gov/Portals/0/Forms/dnap/permits/ApplicationAccessPermit.pdf) It's well worth the effort. There are four caves on the property, all located in a relatively small area that makes for a beautiful hike. We visited recently, when a blanket of snow and ice was in the region, so we didn't get to see everything - we chose to be a bit cautious about going on the sheerest areas that were ice covered. It just means we can't wait to go back again! Regardless, the stunning ice displays were well worth the winter visit. The calm and quiet was relaxing. Highly recommended!

It's no surprise that Hocking Hills is noted as one of the best state parks in the country. We…read moreLOVED both of the Old Man's Cave trails (short half mile loop and one mile loop). We lucked out and visited when it wasn't too packed (get there early!). I don't think I would have enjoyed it quite as much with hoards of humans in the mix. This trail is easily accessed from the Hocking Hills visitors center and offers a short half mile and one mile loops. We loaded our two year on a hiking backpack and our four year old was able to manage the trail (keep a close eye- there are lots of narrow trailways). Every bit of the trail hosted incredible views- caves, waterfalls, mossy rocks, tunnels, etc. Just thinking about makes my heart rate drop. Cannot recommend this spot enough! PS: clean family-friendly bathrooms are available in the visitors center.

Beautiful! We did upper falls old man's cave and lower falls. It was such a beautiful hike! Scenic…read moredoesn't even begin to describe it. It's breath taking. But really it's breath taking. Those stairs on the way out are NO JOKE haha one way trail so be prepared to stomp it out up those stairs! Well worth it!!!!!