7 Ideal Destinations For A 3-Day Weekend In Ohio
Flat and forgettable. That is how a lot of people dismiss Ohio, the 17th state to join the Union. The dismissal works for the corn-and-soy farmland of the northwest, but it falls apart the minute you reach the southeastern corner of the state. The country around Hocking Hills is hilly, hardwood-forested, and full of sandstone cliffs and waterfalls that look nothing like the rest of the Midwest. The seven stops below put together a 3-day weekend in Ohio built around that part of the state.
Ravenwood Castle
Ravenwood Castle, an hour southeast of Columbus in New Plymouth, makes a useful basecamp for a Hocking Hills weekend. The property is built around a stone castle theme with medieval rooms, themed cottages, and a forested setting that puts you within easy reach of several state forests and natural areas. If you want a touch of romance, an on-site scavenger hunt, or just a quiet atmosphere, Ravenwood fits the bill. If the castle is booked, the Hocking Hills area has dozens of cabin rentals at every price point.
Conkles Hollow State Nature Preserve
Conkles Hollow sits about 15 miles from Ravenwood and is the kind of place that gets overshadowed by Hocking Hills State Park next door, which works to its advantage on a busy weekend. The preserve protects one of the deepest gorges in Ohio, with sandstone walls climbing 200 feet on either side of a narrow creek. Two trails cover the area: the half-mile Gorge Trail at the base of the cliffs, easy enough for almost any fitness level, and the 2.5-mile Rim Trail along the top, with steeper grades and serious drop-offs that reward more capable hikers. Horsehead Grotto, a vertical sandstone alcove visible from the Gorge Trail, is the most photographed feature in the preserve.
Hungry Buffalo
Hungry Buffalo, a 20-minute drive east-northeast of Conkles Hollow in Logan, is the right kind of stop after a morning of hiking. The kitchen runs on bison burgers, wings, waffles, and a long beer list, and there is an axe-throwing facility next door for anyone with energy left to burn. The on-site gift shop carries handcrafted work from regional artisans. The atmosphere is loud and casual, which after two hours in a quiet sandstone gorge actually lands well.
Hocking Hills State Park
Hocking Hills State Park is the centerpiece of the trip and the reason most visitors come to this part of the state in the first place. The park covers 2,356 acres of sandstone cliffs, recess caves, and waterfalls, with about 30 miles of hiking trails connecting the major features. Old Man's Cave, the most popular section, follows a mile-long gorge past three waterfalls and a natural rock bridge. Cedar Falls, despite the name, drops about 50 feet over sandstone (the cedars in the original survey turned out to be hemlocks). Ash Cave is a 700-foot-long, 100-foot-deep, 90-foot-high recess cave at the southern end of the park, the largest of its kind in Ohio, with a paved accessible trail that makes it reachable for almost anyone.
Hocking Hills Canopy Tours
Day two starts moving fast. Hocking Hills Canopy Tours opened in 2008 as one of the first commercial zipline operations in Ohio and has since collected the "Best Outdoor Adventure in Ohio" recognition from Ohio Magazine. The standard tour runs riders along ten ziplines and several rope bridges that cross over creeks, recess caves, and the same sandstone gorges visitors hike through on foot the day before. Eat first; the tour takes about three hours and burns through a surprising amount of energy.
The John Glenn Astronomy Park
The John Glenn Astronomy Park sits inside Hocking Hills State Park near the Old Man's Cave area and opened in 2018, named for the Ohio-born senator and astronaut. The Hocking Hills region was designated an International Dark Sky Park, which means the surrounding area protects against light pollution and the views of the night sky here are some of the best east of the Mississippi. The park's free Saturday-night programs include guided observation through the on-site telescopes, presentations on what's overhead, and the kind of stargazing experience that is hard to find anywhere within a day's drive of a major city.
Bodhi Tree Guest House and Studio
Bodhi Tree Guest House and Studio, on the Appalachian hillsides outside Athens, is the kind of place that exists almost nowhere else in this part of Ohio. The Buddhist-inspired retreat runs a small set of guest rooms and a sensory deprivation float tank, where the water is heated to skin temperature and saturated with Epsom salt so the body floats effortlessly with almost no external sensory input. After two days of hiking, ziplining, and stargazing, an hour in a float tank is one of the more genuinely restorative ways to spend a third night.
Bonus Entry: Yellow Springs
If your weekend has an extra day, or if you want to see a small Ohio town outside the Hocking Hills orbit, Yellow Springs is worth the drive. The village, in Greene County about 20 miles east of Dayton, has one of the strongest arts and counterculture identities of any small town in the Midwest. Xenia Avenue runs through a downtown of galleries, record stores, cafés, and longstanding local stores like the Emporium and Tom's Market.
Just outside town, John Bryan State Park and the adjacent Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve give Yellow Springs its outdoor counterweight. The Little Miami River cuts through a limestone gorge here with dramatic cliffs, dolomite outcrops, and several miles of hiking trails. Glen Helen Nature Preserve, owned by Antioch College in town, covers about 1,000 acres of forest, springs, and trails and includes the Glen Helen Raptor Center, a long-running rehabilitation facility for injured birds of prey. Young's Jersey Dairy, a working dairy farm with farm-store food and ice cream, is a short drive north and a classic Yellow Springs outing.
The Takeaway
Ohio's reputation outside the state has not caught up to what's actually on the ground in the southeast. Hocking Hills holds sandstone landscapes that look nothing like the cornfields most people imagine when they think Midwest, and the small operations clustered around it (Ravenwood Castle, Hungry Buffalo, the canopy tours, the astronomy park, Bodhi Tree) make the area easy to spend three days in without ever feeling like a list of stops. Pack hiking shoes, a headlamp, and at least one change of clothes that can get muddy.
