Although my wife and I can now claim to be experienced campers, this was not always the case. I recall many years ago when the two of us embarked on one of our early camping trips to Hocking Hills State Park in southeastern Ohio.

 The first mistake we made was in choosing to camp on Memorial Day weekend (don’t do it!); our second mistake was not reserving a campsite ahead of time (do it- use AAA CampBooks or TripTik Travel Planner to find locations and phone numbers, see below). We headed out with a tent, two sleeping bags, a packed cooler, camping tarp, and a small charcoal grill—what else could we possibly need?

Upon arriving at the family campground check-in station, we were told that there was no room at the inn (no available sites). A worker told us to check back in a few hours, as someone might be leaving later in the day. In the meantime, we decided to park our car and do a little hiking through Old Man’s Cave Gorge—one of several wild and rugged areas located within the park.

We checked back at the campground station a bit later, and were told that there were still a few primitive campsites available—hallelujah! Why they didn’t tell us that initially (about three hours earlier) is still beyond me. I think they may have changed shifts and personnel in the interim.

Anyways, we reserved a primitive campsite and drove to the parking area. The challenge with the primitive campground was that we had to haul all our gear from the parking area up a gravel road through the woods to our campsite.  Our “site” was about a half-mile back in the woods, and consisted of a post in the ground with a number on it. In order to minimize the number of trips we would have to make between our car and the campsite, we loaded our gear (with the exception of the filled cooler) onto a tarp and walked it side-to-side back to the site.

After setting up our tent, we roasted a few hot dogs on our little charcoal grill. As nightfall began to approach, (it gets dark much earlier when you’re in the woods) we gathered some kindling in an attempt to get a campfire going—all to no avail. Since there wasn’t a picnic table at our “primitive” campsite, my wife sat atop our cooler while I sat on a tree stump. Without a fire, our only source of light was a small citronella candle we had packed. It got really dark and cold in a hurry.

Fortunately, some nearby campers took pity on us greenhorns and brought by some dry kindling and firewood (Thank you, whoever you are). I still remember sitting around a crackling campfire that night listening to the distant howling of a pack of coyotes or wild dogs as the wind whipped through the trees. It turned out to be a really great outdoor experience after all.

Many years and dozens of camping trips later, Hocking Hills is still my favorite natural area to visit in Ohio. There are seven different units within the park and surrounding state forestlands, replete with deep forests, high cliffs, massive recess caves, waterfalls, and miles of hiking trails. The area is located near the small town of Logan, about an hour’s drive southeast of Columbus. Here’s what you’d find on TripTik Travel Planner:


                 









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