Rock the House

Yesterday’s blog entry talked about my hike south of Rock House in Hocking Hills. After I got back to where I had parked in the Rock House parking lot, I visited the Rock House too.

Remember how, in Cantwell Can’t Very Well the map at the park totally misplace the trails? Well, the map at Rock House, while better, is still a bit off.

Don’t get me wrong—it’s great that somebody went to the trouble to make the maps. I just wish they’d gotten them more accurate. Yes, I’m anal that way.

Here’s the map that was on the signboard:

Map of Rock House on Sign

Or, for one that’s easier to see, here is the on-line version that the signpost map was based on:

Web Version of Rock House Map

And here is where the trails really are, on a topo map:

My Topo Map of Rock House Trails

The signpost is where the red and blue trails meet on that map. The red trail starts behind the signpost, dipping into vegetation. Oh, and the latrine is really about 20 feet down the blue trail. The thing is, based on that map, the average person is going to think that they should follow the blue trail to get to Rock House, but it will instead take them to the gas well.

I followed that trail just to see where it went, and then bushwhacked back towards Rock House.

Rock House it quite a unique place. Here, the erosion of the Blackhand sandstone left a gallery of rooms behind a thick rock face. Here are some pictures of what it looks like from the outside, showing some of the “windows”:

Rock House from Outside

More Rock House from Outside

I didn’t take a picture of the inside, but here is one that is on-line:

Inside of Rock House

As I returned to my car, there was a family with a young boy just getting ready to head down. They boy was maybe 4 or 5 years old, and bundled up like you wouldn’t believe. And there I was, no jacket, barefoot, just walking along.

As I passed I could hear that the boy was having all sorts of questions (I heard “bare feet”, but that was about all.)

I sure would have liked to hear more of that conversation.