My next stop in Ohio's Hocking Hills is the Old Man's Cave, which is perhaps the most popular spot in an already visited state park. Parking the jeep in the massive parking lot, I first get my bearings. While there are numerous interconnected trails here, my somewhat tight schedule prevents me from visiting all of them. Once I find the trail to the Cave, I join the tourists making their way into the large gorge formed from black hand sandstone.
The area is amazing geologically with cliffs, pools, and waterfalls around every turn. It is a bit touristy for my taste though. Several staircases and stone bridges have been constructed to make the trek easier for visitors. It seems the park has made efforts, via natural materials, to blend these "improvements" into their natural surroundings, I would still much rather see this place in its pristine natural state.
As I reach the area of the cave, I notice a large line of people waiting to enter and decide to skip the cave itself in lieu of exploring the gorge further. However, my forward progression is blocked by a medical situation just ahead of me on the trail. While I don't know the full details of the situation, it involves two patients, both of whom are being evacuated on one-wheel gurneys by an army of EMT's and firefighters. With my training, I would pitch in and help, but there are at least 20 people involved in the rescue and they seem to have it well in hand. While they bring one of the gurneys across a small bridge, I can see the woman involved moving and speaking. Perhaps it was just a fall. Meanwhile, I third gentleman tells one of the EMT's hr is feeling very short of breath and needs assistance. Two or three team-member immediately begin to examine and assist him. I'm unsure of the final outcome, but hopefully all three patients will be fine.
Once the path is cleared, I make may to the next trail junction, before turning back and heading for the exit. I would like to explore more, but time isn't on my side and the rescue delayed me nearly thirty minutes. That's not a complaint. I'm happy to wait while the injured visitors were evacuated, but it does force me to adjust my plans a bit. Returning to the jeep, I see I hiked about 2.1 miles, but I'm not sure how accurate that is given the intermittent signal in a gorge like this. If I'm ever in this area again, I may return and more fully explore this place.
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