Ohio · Destination guide · 3 min read
Hocking Hills Travel Guide: Indoor Pools, Park Rules, Seasons
Hocking Hills cabins with private pools: why to choose an indoor pool, the park rules that catch visitors out, and when the October crowds arrive.
Sandstone, hemlock and water
The Hocking Hills are made of Blackhand sandstone, and water has had a long time to work on it. At Old Man’s Cave the gorge cuts through the whole 150-foot thickness of the rock, according to Explore Hocking Hills, the area’s tourism site. Conkle’s Hollow is deeper and tighter, with cliffs nearly 200 feet high and a floor only 100 feet wide in places. Ash Cave sits under a horseshoe-shaped rim 700 feet across, the largest recess cave east of the Mississippi. Rock House, halfway up a 150-foot cliff, is the one true cave in the park.
Cedar Falls takes its name from a mistake. The early settlers took the hemlocks for cedars.
Why you want the pool indoors
Ohio has real winters. At Logan, NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals put the average January high at 39 degrees and the low at 19, and the temperature falls to freezing on about 27 nights that month. From June through September it almost never does. An outdoor pool gets one season out of the year.
A heated indoor pool gets all four, and that is the pool to look for here. Four of the five Hocking Hills stays we list have one: Pool House Lodge, Laikyns Lodge, Hummingbird Cabin and Daisy Glen Retreat. The fifth, Grizzly Ridge, has an outdoor pool, and its listing doesn’t say whether it is heated.
Several of these places are built for a crowd. Laikyns Lodge sleeps 26 and Pool House Lodge sleeps 20, which makes them reunion houses more than weekend cabins.
The park is strict, for good reason
ODOT’s 2020 plan for the Hocking Hills Scenic Byway calls this Ohio’s most visited state park, with more than 3 million people coming each year. The rules follow from the numbers.
State rules forbid leaving the posted trails in Hocking Hills State Park. The park map says there is no swimming or wading in any water, and points out that every identified waterfall can be seen from the trail. Trails close at dark. Dogs are welcome on a six-foot leash but not in the state nature preserves, and Conkle’s Hollow is one of those.
Inside the park, then, the only swim you will get is the one back at the cabin.
When to go, and when not to
The tourism site expects fall color to peak in mid-October and warns that cabins, lodges and campgrounds fill up fast on fall weekends. Its own planning guide is candid about the result: Old Man’s Cave “at 2 pm on a Saturday during the middle of October is probably going to be a bit chaotic.” Go on a weekday if you can.
The park stays open all year. In winter, ice can linger on shaded trails even after the air warms up, so pack boots with some grip. It is also the season when an indoor pool stops being a nice extra and becomes the reason you booked.
Getting there
The hills are roughly an hour southeast of Columbus. The tourism site’s directions from the city follow US 33 east through Lancaster to the State Route 664 exit, the Logan-Bremen exit. State Route 374 connects all six park sites: Cantwell Cliffs, Rock House, Conkle’s Hollow, Old Man’s Cave, Cedar Falls and Ash Cave.
ODOT’s byway plan admits a gap in cell coverage across the region, though it says coverage improves each year. Save your directions before you leave town. The same plan mentions the rental cabins and lodges that come with telescopes, which tells you something about how dark the nights are.
Two lakes
Lake Logan limits boat motors to ten horsepower under state rules. Lake Hope allows electric motors only, at no-wake speed. Lake Hope State Park covers 2,983 acres and lies entirely within the 26,824-acre Zaleski State Forest.
The tax on the bill
Hocking County collects a 6 percent lodging tax, split between the county and the township. It applies to stays of less than 30 days, house rentals included, so expect it on the final bill.
Pool questions for a Hocking Hills host
- Is the pool indoors, and is it heated all year or only part of it?
- Is it only for our group, or shared with another cabin on the property?
- If it is outdoors, what dates does it open and close?
- Are there pool hours or rules for a large group, and is the hot tub in the same room?
Before you book, read what to know about private indoor pools, or see the cabins for large groups.
