Blackhand Gorge — Part 1

There are a number of places in Ohio where the rivers run “backwards”. I’ve written about Clear Creek and Salt Creek. Their current configurations came about when their original outlet was blocked by glaciers and they carved a new route in the other direction.

Blackhand Gorge, through which the Licking River flows, is another such location.

Here’s a colored relief map that shows the Newark valley with Blackhand Gorge to the east.

Licking Valley Relief Map

[Click for much larger version, 2000×900.]

This valley has a long history with Native Americans. Newark itself is/was filled with spectacular earthworks. The Gorge itself is just a few miles north of Flint Ridge, where the natives mined flint. This flint has been found all over the nation, probably because of its multi-colored beauty (and because the Newark earthworks were probably visited from folks from all over as a pilgrimage).

And as Jeff Gill, one of the docents for the earthworks tours, has pointed out, it would have been quite intriguing for the Indians to be heading downriver along the Licking, see a range of hills in the distance with no hint of a route through them, get closer and closer while things look like they should come to a dead stop, only to suddenly pass through the gorge.

As I already mentioned, the gorge was formed when Wisconsinian glaciers blocked the western outflow of the area. A lake formed (now called “Licking Lake”) that eventually overtopped the rocks in the gorge and formed the gorge.

Here’s a picture of that, read from the geology of the area, from the paper Glacial Lake Licking: Late-Glacial Drainage Diversion and the Formation of Black Hand Gorge, Licking County, Ohio, by Tod Frolking and Matthew Pachell.

Glacial Lake Licking

It is called “Blackhand Gorge” because there used to be a twice-life-size black hand painted on the side of the gorge. The rock there is called “blackhand sandstone” and it fills a large portion of eastern and southern Ohio. The recess caves in Hocking Hills are formed in blackhand sandstone.

The black hand is no longer there. When the Ohio and Erie Canal was built, they put it through Blackhand Gorge. In order to make room for the tow path, they blasted away a lot of the side there, including the black hand itself. (Geez Louise!) The current manager of the Blackhand Gorge Nature Preserve speculates that that piece of rock may still be at the bottom of the river there. But the water is so deep it is probably irretrievable.

There is a nice trail system on the north side of Blackhand Gorge. I visited it last week. It rather looks like Hocking Hills (unsurprisingly) but not quite as spectacular.

Here’s a small waterfall along the Marie Hickey trail.

“Waterfall”

Well, it was a waterfall. Things were too dry this time of year. One time when it did have water the Ohio Barefoot Hikers did a hike there. The picture of my foot in the water was taken at that little waterfall.

Just downstream is an interesting swirl area.

Small Feature

Later in the hike the trail runs along the southern rim of the gorge. This shot looks down into the gorge a bit, but the view is blocked by a railroad bridge.

The Railroad Bridge

The Gorge has long been an access route across Ohio. It was major for the Native Americans. Then the Ohio and Erie Canal came through. Later came railroads (one called the “Interurban”), with one on each side of the river. Today there is this one railroad that starts on one side, ends on the other, and uses this bridge to cross.

You might notice that the tree is slowly eating Nature Preserve sign.

That’s nothing.

Earlier along the trail is this tree:

The “Nitro” Tree

That tree is at the site of what used to be a nitro factory (!). That factory blew up in 1930.

On the south side of the gorge is where the old Interurban Central Ohio Railroad went. [Corrected: The Interurban ran on the north side of the river, and through the tunnel. Thanks to Bob Platt of Trek Ohio for the correction.] It is now a bike path (which they are just starting to repave today). Here’s a picture of the “Deep Cut”, where they blasted right through the sandstone to fit in the tracks.

Deep Cut

At that location you can also see Blackhand Rock, the monolith upon which the black hand was located.

Blackhand Rock

There’s a drop-off and the river between me and the rock there.

I was at Blackhand Gorge twice last week. The first time I did the hike. The second time, I did something a bit different. Next entry I’ll write about that.

[Part 2 is here.]