Yet, even without running water, the park is one of Mother Nature's masterpieces. Start by picking up a map of the park at the Visitors Center at Old Man's Cave or the Dining Lodge and Park Office just down Ohio 374. The Visitors Center also houses a small snack bar, gift shop and interpretive center. With windows overlooking the rolling forestland, the Dining Lodge offers three family-style meals daily from April through October. The Park Office here is the place to reserve one of the park's 40 cabins or 172 campsites.
Directional signs are erratic in the sprawling park, so the park map is essential.
Conkles Hollow is a good place to begin. Old Man's Cave is the most frequented site, despite the 1998 storm damage and the lack of water this season. Its three waterfalls are dry, but the site offers seven hiking trails from easy to difficult that traverse the lush woods and ravines from top to bottom. The longest trek, a hardy 2.2 miles, takes the hiker all the way south to breathtaking Cedar Falls. Many consider the majestic waterfall named Cedar Falls when early adventurers mistook its towering hemlocks for cedars to be the most beautiful in Ohio.