Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio

GREAPERGREAPER Registered Users Posts: 3,113 Major grins
edited October 21, 2006 in Journeys
I have been working long hours for months, but I have been looking forward to a long weekend at Hocking HIlls.

We planned the trip around fall colors hoping for peak colors.

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It was a chilly fall morning when we set out on our first hike of the day. The woods were dark and wet.

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We started out with the trail to the upper falls at Old Man's Cave. I had never walked this trail before. There was a spot with a nice veiw of the falls from above. I had trouble getting the shutter speeds I wanted because a was too stupid to bring the tripod from my trunk.

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We walked down a long set of stairs to get to the bottom of the falls. At this point I really wished I had my tripod. Even for the shots I was not trying to blur the water I had to use slow speeds as it was rather dark down in the canyons. (there is a lesson here...)

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Even if the pictures suffered for my stupidity, it is very beautiful country.

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By the time we got to Old Man's Cave the crowds had increased to the point that it was impossible to shoot the features without a dozen people in the shot.

We went and had lunch, then drove down by Lake Logan. There were some nice colors down by the lake but the light was rather harsh. I did like thios shot of a fisherman at work.

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We had driven down this morning (5 hours) and we were tired so we looked for a place to stay. We got lucky and found a Bed and Breakfast that had a room available. We checked in, and went to see a movie. (The Departed... not one for the kids).

The next morning, I had very high hopes and every intention of taking my tripod everywhere. One of the places where the crowds were too heavy the day before was Cedar Falls. We drove straight there and found that there were only three cars in the lot. We started down the stairs that led to the falls.

That's when disaster struck. I stepped into a hole and my ankle bent completely over to the side, I heard a crack and it hurt... BAD. I went down on my knees. I am sure I muttered words that should not be spoken in mixed company. I sat for a few minutes. The pain was intense, I thought I would throw up. I decided to try to walk it off (as all of us real men would).

I got up and despite the pain, I continued down the trail. We got to the bottom and I hobbled around atking photos of the falls. Here are a couple.

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I could hardly stand the pain and thought it best if we went back to the car. I started up the trail that led straight back to the parking lot thinking it would be shorter. It turned out that this trail was very narrow and rocky. It was hard going but we made it back to the parking lot. My wife drove me to a local urgent care center. They x-rayed my ankle and said nothing was broken. It was badly sprained and I would need crutches for a week or so.

So much for our three days of hiking the hills.

My wife drove us all the way back. What a bummer.

Comments

  • TommyboyTommyboy Registered Users Posts: 590 Major grins
    edited October 16, 2006
    A bummer to be sure, but you shot through the pain and got some really great photos. Well done. I love the waterfall over the rock.
    "Press the shutter when you are sure of success." —Kim Jong-il

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  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,938 moderator
    edited October 21, 2006
    Gotta put that place on my list of places to visit...

    Ian
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
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