#4 Conkle's Hollow State Nature Preserve - Gorge and East and West Rim Trails

In early July of 2023, I stumbled upon the Book 50 Hikes in Ohio by Ralph Ramey, sitting on a display endcap at Dark Star Books in Yellow Springs, Ohio. I had been on several hikes in my fifty-five years, but I wasn’t what I’d call a hiker. My current hobby was using beer and pizza to grow a stomach in the correct fashion. I wasn’t overweight, but I was getting close. My BMI was the highest it had ever been. I knew I could stand to lose ten to fifteen pounds. Maybe this hiking thing could be the ticket. Walking is pretty good exercise, especially for burning fat off your body; why not buy this book and attempt to complete all 50 hikes? Why not? Who doesn’t appreciate a walk in the woods?

The first hikes I chose from the book were all in the Hocking Hills area because I knew their reputation for being the best place to go hiking in Ohio. I did Conkle’s Hollow solo for the first time in early July of 2023 as one of my very first hikes, and I was so impressed I couldn’t wait to go back in the Fall and share it with my family. This blog post is from that second trip on October 21, 2023.

Conkle’s Hollow is one of twenty-two hikes in the book categorized as “Low Difficulty.” (The book includes twenty “Moderate” and only eight “High Difficulty” hikes.)

Here are a few callouts about this hike:

1. If you’re looking for an ideal first-time out beginners hike, put this one at the top of your list. I rank Conkle’s as the best hike in the Hocking Hills region. It’s not nearly as crowded as Old Man’s Cave, Ash Cave, and Cedar Falls, and its scenery and accessibility, as far as the skill required to hike, simply can’t be beaten.

2. Make sure you do both the Rim Trail and The Gorge Trail. Combined, you’re only doing 3.5 miles, and except for the 200-foot climb and descent to and from the Rim Trail, the hike is nearly all flat, well-defined trail. 

3. Arrive at sunrise in the Autumn for the optimum breathtaking experience, but return during any season to appreciate the ever-changing beauty of this area.

4. Once you get some experience, return to Hocking Hills for the “Moderate” number 7 hike, The Grandma Gatewood Trail, which hits all the popular features in Hocking Hills: Old Man’s Cave, Ash Cave, and Cedar Falls, in one long hike. I made the mistake of driving around to all these locations and making separate small loops at each site. If I could do it over, I would have just done the six-mile number 7 hike, which is a long day at six miles but only has 361 feet of climbing.