Slump Rock Gorge

I finally made it to the other side of the road at Cantwell Cliffs to do some exploring of the gorge over there. The gorge and its cliff faces is pretty obvious from topo maps; there just aren’t any trails through the area.

It turns out that the place has a pretty good selection of slump rocks, with a lot of them tilted at pretty steep angles.

In many ways, bushwhacking through these gorges is probably one of the more challenging kinds of barefoot hiking. The surface to walk on is steeply sloped, with a surface composed of a few inches of dead leaves with a lot of old twigs and branches. One does not go skipping lightly through these woods. Slow and easy does it.

Here’s a topo map of my path.

Topo Map of my Path

I think “Henley Hollow” is a good name for it; the property was owned by a Mathias Henley back in the 1870s.

Looking at the map it should be pretty obvious where the cliffs and other interesting features are. Part of the challenge, though, is getting there without getting stuck at features that don’t show up on the map. (An eight-foot drop or rock face won’t show up, but is still pretty-much impassable.)

The area is pretty typical of Blackhand sandstone. The ridge and cliff tops have the hard cap of the Blackhand, which leads to a cliff face of anywhere from a few feet to 60 feet. I found a nicely sloped area to get down into the hollow, and then hugged the bottom part of the cliff face.

The first interesting part was this “menhir”.

Menhir, Mein Herr

(Photo taken at point “A” on the map. As always, click on an image for a larger version.)

OK, it’s not really a menhir, but it sure looks like one. It’s a slump rock, except you usually don’t see slump rocks at this angle. It obviously did more than slump, since you can see that the bedding is now horizontal. It must have cracked and fallen, or something.

This was just a taste of things to come—the whole area was littered with tilted slump rocks.

From just beyond the menhir I could look down towards the waterfall at the tip of the gorge. More slump rocks, and big ones.

Bigger than a Breadbox

Those things are huge. Here’s a view from the bottom looking back up at them.

Slump Rocks Above; Slump Rocks Below

(Photo taken at point “B”. On the map you can see how my path had to curve around the slump rocks.)

The rock in the foreground is yet another slump rock nearly blocking the entrance to the waterfall. This is the other end of that lower slump rock, with the waterfall in the background.

Looking Towards the Waterfall

Here’s the close-up of the water and the recess cave, with the slump rock out-of-picture on the left.

The Recess Cave

And I couldn’t resist getting myself into the picture.

In the Picture

Yes, that white stuff in front of me is ice. Our nights have been below freezing so overnight the water dripping from above has coated the rocks and twigs. By the way, that blob in front of my left shoulder is a falling leaf that just happened to get into the shot at the right moment.

From there I went north and came across yet another of the interesting rock formations that litter the Hocking Hills area. That crack looks to have some interesting recesses (but I’m afraid I passed right by with nothing more than a picture).

More Scenery

(Photo taken at point “C”.)

The bottom of the hollow was actually pretty wide (as these things go). Often the sides come together in a pretty sharp “V”, but here it was probably 60 feet across, with the stream meandering from side to side.

The Floor of Henley Hollow

(Photo taken at point “D”.)

Then it was time to tackle those other two waterfalled gorge tips. There were more slump rocks.

This one I managed to clamber onto, so this photo is looking straight down from the top (about 15 feet up).

Atop a Slump Rock

(Photo taken at point “E”.)

This rock had managed to completely block the rivulet from the waterfall, to the water disappeared slightly upstream of the rock, and re-emerged from under it.

Have I mentioned slump rocks? Here’s another one.

More Slumping

(Photo taken at point “F”.)

Again, what’s with the angle?

I eventually made it to the other waterfall (point “G”), which was so disorganized I didn’t even want to think about trying to get into it.

The South Tip Waterfall and Recess Cave

From here, it was time to return to the top of the cliff to head back to my car. I needed to find a point I could climb up past the cliff faces.

Again, a slump rock to the rescue. They didn’t all tumble down. This one was quite upright, and separated only a short distance from the remaining cliff face.

Escaping the Gorge

What often happens in these instances is that the gap fills with soil. And that soil often is sloped right to the top. So up I went.

The rest of the hike was along a ridge top that had been logged fairly recently (maybe 10 years ago?) The only really hazard there was a mess of green briars, just starting to leaf out. I definitely had to watch my step.

By the way, this illustrates why I rarely need to consult a compass. The topography inside the gorges and hollows dictates where you are and where you go. Once outside, following a ridge top is pretty easy.

Anyways, here’s another part of the hidden, but spectacular, Hocking Hills. Most of the fun of these hikes is the exploration and being in a location that so few other people have ever been in. I’d be surprised if more than a handful of people have been there in the past year (those were probably hunters).